Film on Film

[booby trap]

In the days before video and dvd, i used to collect films (started when i was still at school) on standard 8 and super 8 sound and silent. There were no video libraries then, but i was lucky enough to have a super8 library close to where i lived. The features came in cases of four x 400 foot reels some times more. In those days you had the film for a week.

I made a projection port so the that the projector could be placed in another room and you would not hear the clicking of the film passing through the gate.

Watching films at home was a big event and on a big screen in the lounge. Friends would come, and of course for the kids birthday parties it went down well, as most children had never seen the like of this home entertainment before.

As i remember Hammer Horror's were a big favourite on super 8 "Lust for a Vampire" being one that i remember showing. Jason and the Argonauts was always a big favourite with the kids and those old Robert Youngson comps "Days of Thrills and Laughter", "When Comedy was King" and "The Golden Age of Comedy", also the full length original version of "King Kong" about 7 x 400 ft reels.

I still have the old Bell and Howell stereo sound projector with 800 ft reel capacity, and a copy of "The Marathon Man" with Dustin Hoffman, plus various shorts and Disney cartoons. I also have copies of the "Movie Maker" magazine, in which super 8 releases were reviewed and various companys like Derran Films advertised films for sale.

[smudge]

I used to enjoy picking up old reels in the local second hand shop - for some reason they nearly always seemed to be in plain boxes () and occasionally the hand written title on the box didn't match the film inside. I was chuffed the day I picked up THE MUMMY (Karloff) and VAMPIRE CIRCUS in one particular anonymous batch....



Smudge

[booby trap]

Are there any other collectors of Film on Film out there?.

[earlb]

I used to be a collector and I still have my cine projectors. As a cinema projectionist I remember putting a mirror in the porthole and copying the chariot race from Ben Hur on 8m/m with sound. Bob Monkhouse offered me a copy of the silent version in exchange. I didn't.

[christoph404]

name='earlb']I used to be a collector and I still have my cine projectors. As a cinema projectionist I remember putting a mirror in the porthole and copying the chariot race from Ben Hur on 8m/m with sound. Bob Monkhouse offered me a copy of the silent version in exchange. I didn't.

Didn't Bob end up in court accused of film piracy? You were obviously his accomplice! Nowadays film projectionists just stick a video camera in the projection booth I remember Bob making some funny wisecracks regarding piracy when he was found not guilty, bless him.

[earlb]

christoph404 those were the days before video and I was just armed with an

Ilford Elmo 8m/m. If today you used a video, you'd have to watch the shutter speed or you'd get a strobing effect.

[christoph404]

name='earlb']christoph404 those were the days before video and I was just armed with an

Ilford Elmo 8m/m. If today you used a video, you'd have to watch the shutter speed or you'd get a strobing effect.

More importantly you would have to make sure no one was looking while doing it as making recordings of films from a commercial cinema screen is highly illegal! I think they might still have film nights in prison though. The far eastern movie pirates seemed to have figured out the shutter speed problem though not the problem of irritating members of the audience getting up and going to the toilet and blocking the view.

[earlb]

I'm not sure (being a young lad) we were aware of copyright problems but as you see on a lot of sites I was doing it for my own use and not to make money. No excuse I know but filming was in my blood and I was persuing my hobby and it gave me many happy hours of enjoyment trying to synch the soundtrack with the picture.

[cinemal]

I'm still using super 8mm & 16mm film. Attended the British Film Collectors Convention in Ealing on the 24th May where there was plenty of new and used films for sale. There was also a varied programme of films screened throughtout the day on 8mm and 35mm.

Super 8 cinemascope on a 24ft screen is incredible.