Starting a collection

[maturin]

That's interesting; I know next to nothing about prewar films. I very much enjoyed a clutch of 1935 films I received recently and developed a liking for Ian Hunter. He made quite a range of films that year. I know very few earlier films. I guess, if I start a collection, it'll have to be themed, maybe focused on social change: race relations, school, maybe class conflict....

[batman]

Ian Hunter was a very good Dr Watson to Arthur Wontner's Holmes in The Sign of Four.



I have a very eclectic collection of films. I primarily collect thrillers (preferably British) but also have a nice collection of westerns and Universal horrors. I also have many 'thrilling' TV programmes too. Individual actors whose films I have collected include ... Max, Brando, Stanley Baker, Nigel Patrick, John Mills, Eric Portman, Robert Shaw, Jack Warner, Errol Flynn, Tom Conway and Audie Murphy. I also have a large Sherlock Holmes collection.



My most recent acquisitions have been some nice collections of US B-thriller series including Boston Blackie, The Saint, The Falcon, Crime Doctor, Hildegard Withers, The Whistler, Torchy Blane and Bulldog Drummond. I have obtained some nice Francis Durbridge film and TV productions too.



I tend to collect whatever takes my fancy, but, as I said earlier, mainly thrillers. I particularly like UK B pictures which are often much more entertaining than A pictures. The difference between UK and US B pictures is often that the UK ones tend to have a degree of location filming whereas the US ones are predominantly studio bound. This usually leads to them having slicker production values but less atmosphere.



Bats.

[stevie boy]

I suppose that collectors like us get favourite movies that we can watch over and over again. I think my obsession started when I was much younger and you could only see a film on tv (before videos etc). It is good to watch a favourite film of your own choice at your leisure. I like to re view films to see what I have missed before (or not noticed) like the scene where Niven thinks he is in Heaven at the beach when the plane flies over, or where Holly Martins is whisked off to give a talk.(A Matter Of Life & Death & The Third Man). I like to re watch procedural police films like Jigsaw & The Long Arm. Also for sheer nostalgia the Hugget films & The Somerset Maugham Trio,Quartet and Encore. Also films that have killer lines in them like the Magee & The Titfield Thunderbolt. And finally when you want to see favourites like Margaret Rutherford,Alistair Sim, Stanley Holloway you can anytime you want. You cannot beat old British Films.

[smudge]

I realised I had the collecting bug when one day I found myself flipping through the filmography at the back of a reference book and counting off the number of films I had from that particular studio.



My collection grew out of a love of sitting at home on Saturday afternoons watching old British double-bills on BBC2, then (later) sitting into the night to watch the horror double bills on that same channel.



Then there were the schoolboy trips to the cinema - collect my pocket money early on Friday and go straight from school, with briefcase et al, on the teatime bus and back before it got dark with another 'flick' under my belt. Or trudging through the snow to catch a 'This week only' in the middle of winter.



As soon as the opportunity of video became affordable it was very much a case of, "If it's on TV, record it!" Like Topsy it just kept on growing - I kept buying reference books, rare books and magazines. Then memorabilia, ephemera and before you know it you have a full house and you are struggling to make more space.



But I wouldn't change it for the world. It is a great hobby and I've spoken to cast, crew and made friends all over the place because of it - and some of the nicest and most generous people I've met (including some who keep in touch on a regular basis and with whom we meet up with whenever we can) have been through this forum. What an honourable assembly this is - long may it continue.



Take a bow folks !



Smudge

[Steve Crook]

name='maturin']Although I'm cursed with the collector gene, it had never occurred to me that films could be collected. "Forget my etchings, come up and see my Powell and Pressburgers, My Dear...."

It works for me - but then again, I do have some very unusual P&Ps



It's not just the films themselves of course, it's also documentaries about them, books by & about them (or any of their regular team in The Archers) or about the films, stills from the films, lobby cards, posters, magazine articles (contemporary and recent) and other memorabilia.



But as obsessions go, it's fairly harmless - except to the pocket



Steve

[maturin]

Sadly, the only item of film memorabilia, or thankfully ephemera, I've ever had was a sore bottom from sitting too long on an old nag as an extra on Lion of the Desert.

I know what I'd like to have, a top ten anyway:



The wooden Bismark Kenneth More pockets after she's sunk

Colour Sergeant Bourne's swagger stick from Zulu

The smudged hankie from Brief Encounter

The cocktail shaker from in Which We Serve

The Wooden Horse

Lawrence of Arabia's white Sherrif outfit, complete with dagger

Katherine Hepburn's barge from a Lion in Winter

A bottle of whatever eau de Cologne Alfie uses

Alf's button (afloat or not)

Genevieve



Rikky

[suzepulcheria]

name='stevie boy']I suppose that collectors like us get favourite movies that we can watch over and over again. I think my obsession started when I was much younger and you could only see a film on tv (before videos etc). It is good to watch a favourite film of your own choice at your leisure. I like to re view films to see what I have missed before (or not noticed) like the scene where Niven thinks he is in Heaven at the beach when the plane flies over, or where Holly Martins is whisked off to give a talk.(A Matter Of Life & Death & The Third Man). I like to re watch procedural police films like Jigsaw & The Long Arm. Also for sheer nostalgia the Hugget films & The Somerset Maugham Trio,Quartet and Encore. Also films that have killer lines in them like the Magee & The Titfield Thunderbolt. And finally when you want to see favourites like Margaret Rutherford,Alistair Sim, Stanley Holloway you can anytime you want. You cannot beat old British Films.

Before Channel 4 (even before BBC2!) there was only one old movie shown per week- on Sunday afternoons. I used to leave my homework to the last minute (no change there) and sit with it by the TV, to the despair of my mother. From a tiny girl I watched (without much discrimination) every movie, good and bad, but mostly good, that the BBC offered. And my Latin unseens probably owed a lot to Alastair Sim, Margaret Rutherford, Fred and Ginger, whatever! That is what gave me the movie bug. Although it is much the same for my daughter who can order up any film she wants when she wants it.