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 ...
KEN FILMS - Super 8 Film
Commercial release for the Home Movie market
Catalogue # 331
ELVIS G.I. BLUES (1960) Selected Highlights
Yes, another Elvis motion picture (selected scenes), this one being very well known
G.I Blues ... Elvis in Germany, doing his bit to fight for the Red, White and Blue, sing and of course, girls - lots of them.
Housed in a stiff, two piece cardboard box, top section opening upwards.
Leader film fitted
7" 400' dark Grey 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 good condition, not damaged but it does have light signs of having been on the shelves waiting to be played one more time! Light scuff marks, particularly to the front of the cardboard box. 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 although I can detect an "Hey, I'm old" musty smell lightly
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 5 minutes or so, to observe the colour and sound.
The colour is degraded due to the dreaded Red shift (or lack of Blues in particular) although in my opinion, other colours can be seen as well (insignia on Elvis's shoulder shows in full colour for example) are not too bad. There is a definite shift towards the Pink/Red end of town but still some colours show at times and overall, still very enjoyable to watch - my goodness Elvis was so young!
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 emphasis the Red's in the photographs anyway - in real life the on-screen picture is not as Red as recorded in the photographs.
Here's a strange thing though ... if I "stop frame" with the projector lamp on, the colour is substantially better displayed - I am not very familiar with the art of film but to me at least, this seems peculiar.
Sound (English) is very good, crisp, clean and at a good level - not muffled. Actually I was really impressed with the sound quality coming off the film, although no doubt in mono. This film is as much about his music as the "storyline"
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 quite good "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