HISTORY:
My "world" is 'the arts' and more specifically, music, artwork and hand crafted/decorated chinaware's.
I am not a film enthusiast but an associate has asked me to find new owners for THEIR large collection of photographic and film items ... this is one of those items.
While the world of 8mm/Super 8mm is not my area of expertise, I am doing my best to establish the condition of each item that I am listing.
I tend to be quite detailed in my item descriptions, please READ all the details to decide if this item may interest you.
Now, on with the description ...
IE INTERNATIONAL - Super 8 Film
IE International was based in Milano, Italy
Technicolor
Sound
Series: Peoples And Countries
Title: Australian Aborigenes (sic)
Catalogue # K 18
Released during the period 1965 ~ 1980's
Full Colour
200 Feet single reel (approximately 12 minutes run time)
Content description (extracted from a film database website)
Aborigines are a nomadic, mysterious people ranging over the northern and western part of Australia - Racial features - Usages and customs - Their refusal to accept white civilization - Fauna and flora of the Australian continent - Ancient graffiti discovered in the interior of the continent - The nomadic tribes hunting for food in the barren wastes.
Now that's an interesting "dated" perspective of our First Nations people!
COSMETIC CONDITION:
Very good
Film stock and reel are undamaged, leader is fitted - I did have to cut/shape the leader as it had a kink in it which would have caused trouble with the projector. The leader is now 65cm length.
Outer cardboard folded label and the plastic case are both in very good condition. The case is similar to an 'oversized" audio cassette case.
I did notice a "slight" smell of old age (mildew?) but cannot see any moulds growing!
I have given the case and cardboard label a "sterilisation spray" in any case.
NO personal names or other writing on the case or label
TESTING:
I have now setup the projector (BOLLERO P840T) and the screen, an old USA DA-LITE Flyer portable setup. Sound is built into the projector.
I personally do not like the Bollero that much, it will only fit small reels and seems quite "fiddly" to intially feed the film but once loaded up on the take-up reel, all is good.
Film looks to be clean and in good condition, sprocket holes are not damaged.
I only ran the film for the first couple of minutes (or so) to observe the colour and sound. Like others I have viewed recently, the colour has obviously shifted to the Red end of the spectrum. The picture is dominated by Red/Browns but the definition is fine. The sound track has accompanying music (tasteful and suits the documentary) although the vocal actor is not credited - a very "neutral" accent, not British or American but sort of Australian without the drawl. Actually there is very little credit given to not only the voice artist but also the music soundtrack creation and the filming - it is pretty good (for those days) and not your "home movie" standard.
My oh my, talk about a walk down memory lane when our First Nations people were considered savages, roaming nomadically around the continent in search of food. How our education of these people has changed over the last 50 years! Lots of good cinematography showing the people (often unclothed) and a myriad of our Australian wildlife. A good film to watch that clearly shows how attitudes towards First Nation peoples in Australian society have changed since the 1970's
In my opinion, after this very brief test, I am happy that the film is as stated on the box and looks to be in reasonable "technical" condition.
*** I can't help myself here ... I am so surprised that NONE of the reels I have examined so far have any ID markings on the reel itself. This must make it a nightmare if the reels are taken out of the boxes and get mixed up! In my world of pro audio, ALWAYS the reel was marked as to the contents to make identification easy. Imagine having a box full of CD's but with no face printing on them, what a nightmare!
Anyway, I am very fastidious and careful with these films and I have now packed it back into the original cardboard box AND sealed the film within clear plastic - waiting for a Super 8 film buff to enjoy!
