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 ...
COLUMBIA HOME PICTURES - Super 8 Film
Commercial release for the Home Movie market
Catalogue # Not Stated on packaging
MYSTERIOUS ISLAND (1961) Selected Highlights
Set during the American Civil War, a group of prisoners escape using a hot air balloon and after what seems like an eternity in a storm, find themselves beached on an unknown island ... but there is nothing ordinary about this island!
Housed in a stiff, two piece cardboard box, top section opening upwards.
Leader film fitted with clip
7" 400' Red PLiO MAGIC (USA) plastic reel
Colour
Sound
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
Film stock and the reel are both undamaged
The cardboard outer case is in really good condition, no tears nor seam splits - nice!
Graphics are clear and there is no personal writing
NO unusual smells detected coming off the film i.e no vinegar odours
NO personal names or other writing on the case or the film reels
TESTING:
Test projector is the ELMO 1200 that I have on hand at the moment.
Film looks to be clean and in good condition, sprocket holes are not damaged.
I ran the film through the projector for the first 8 minutes or so, to observe the colour and sound. Actually I ran the film for a bit longer than normal because it took quite a while to actually get to the island! Quite a bit of "preamble" dealing with their prison, the escape, the worst storm ever and the incredible hot air balloon trip, at one point without the basket! Finally they land on the island beach and the adventure begins ...
The colour is degraded due to the dreaded Red shift (or lack of Blues in particular) with not a lot of Blue showing most of the time although it's funny, in some scenes I can see Greens quite plainly and then they become swamped by the overall Redness of the image. Not full colour by any stretch of the imagination but still very watchable and the images are clean and sharp!
SPECIAL NOTE:
I always include a couple of "off screen" snapshots ... now my digital camera is antiquated and it's limitations are definitely showing up in these sample photographs.
I take the screen shot in very low light levels, the camera flash is turned off (otherwise the picture is flooded with White) and the camera shutter speed is very slow.
This means I have trouble getting sharp photographs, especially when there is movement on the screen and I have noticed that after viewing quite a few films now, that my poor OLD digital camera is tending to emphasise the Red's in the photographs anyway - in real life the on-screen picture is not as Red as recorded in the photographs.
Sound (English dialogue) is acceptable although a little lacking in the "highs" which means the spoken word is at times a little muffled, to my ears at at least.
In my opinion, after this very brief test, I am happy that the film is as stated on the case and looks to be in reasonable "technical" condition.
Anyway, I am very fastidious and careful with these films and I have now packed it back into the original cardboard box and sealed within a clear plastic packet - waiting for a Super 8 film enthusiast to give it a new home
