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 ...
20TH CENTURY FOX
Title: THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971)
Condensed (selected scenes) version
Catalogue # not indicated on the packaging or reel
400 Feet
Colour
Sound (Mono)
Run time: approximately 17 minutes
It's all about the drug trade, drugs bound for USA via France and attempts by two "tough" New York police to interrupt a massive shipment
COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
Very good
Film stock and the clear KELVIN (Made In Australia) reel are undamaged, there is a White leader film.
Outer all cardboard box is in very good condition, clean, no structural damage or graphic damage and no personal writing. I have left the original retail sticker on this box, my goodness films were expensive in the day! Purchased in England for £32 back in the 70's
NO personal writing on the reel or identification labels, and the cardboard box has no additional printed information on the rear, plain Yellow.
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 five minutes or so to observe the picture and sound.
The picture has considerable shift to the Red end of the spectrum which I believe indicates that after all these years, the Blue dye in particular has substantially failed. That said, I could still see some Greens, Yellows and Browns "at times" in various scenes.
The sound is a little disappointing though, quite muffled sounding which indicates a loss of the "high end" something that happens to magnetic stripes - I suspect this film had been played quite a bit in the past.
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 very OLD camera that I currently use) 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 shift images towards the Red or Yellow end of town, - 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 fair technical condition.
I am very fastidious and careful with these films (I am after-all 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 enthusiast to "enjoy"!
