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 ...
CAT BALLOU (With Lee Marvin)
COLUMBIA HOME MOVIES
Series: Comedy Classics
Title: Cat Ballou (1965)
Catalogue # CB5002
400 Feet
Colour
Sound (Mono)
Run time: approximately 17 minutes
The outer box does state it is extra length but I did not run the entire reel, nowhere odes the packaging indicate exactly how long this film is.
Normally this would be a 400' reel, I can only guess that perhaps the film stock is thinner to enable more film to be wound on this size reel.
Synopsis (very brief):
Howdy partner!
Cat Ballou (played by Jane Fonda) is out to seek revenge for the death of her father, the killer of whom was Tim Strawn who is played by Lee Marvin. The film is a Western with a comedic flavour (a spoof) and it has songs performed by Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye.
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
Very good
Film stock and the Light Grey reel (unbranded) are undamaged, there is a White leader film.
Outer all cardboard two part case is in good condition, clean, no substantial structural damage or graphic damage and no personal writing.
NO writing on the reel and just the front cover has full colour graphics and rear is basically a promotion for other Columbia Home Movies releases.
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 only ran the film for the first couple of minutes or so to observe the picture and sound.
The colour has definitely shifted badly towards the Red end of town still watchable but definitely the Reds/Pink dominate the colours, indicating the Blue dyes have substantially degraded after 50 years!
Sound is good and clean, easy to understand the dialogue or when listening to the musical numbers.
SPECIAL NOTE:
I always include a couple of "off screen" snapshots of each reel as it is played ... now my digital camera is antiquated (colour balance? what's that - like I said, this is one OLD camera) 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.
In my opinion, after this very brief test, I am happy that the film is as stated on the box and that the film stock appears to be in reasonable condition.
Anyway, I am very fastidious and careful with these films (I am afterall doing this on behalf of another person) 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 enthusiast to "enjoy"!
