Cinemaventure

Way back in the Dark Ages when I first started collecting movies the only format was film. The serious collectors concentrated on 16mm prints which could be projected on a really large screen. Those of us on a budget had to settle for 8mm and, a bit later, Super 8mm. Castle films offered digest editions of Universal movies and Paramount titles controlled by Universal. Best sellers tended to be the digests of the classic Universal horror movies. Columbia got into market and Ken Films which was heavy on Warner Bros and United Artists titles. Later 20th Century Fox and Disney also offered excellent quality prints. For feature films and classic short subjects Blackhawk was the industry standard. Mack Sennett shorts, Hal Roach (silent and sound) D. W. Griffith and more came from Davenport, Iowa, the home of Blackhawk. My first acquisition was The Laurel and Hardy Murder Case , a silent edition of the 1930 sound comedy. Later I added more L&H, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton&#