Looking Back

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's silent feature The General. It took me some years to work my way to getting a sound projector.

I also discovered other sources for movies on 8mm. From Niles Films I obtained a sound print of Eisenstein's Alexander Nevsky. Other companies included Thunderbird, Griggs Moviedrome and others I have sadly forgotten. And this doesn't even begin to consider companies located in Europe. I will admit to drooling over some of their ads in the British Moviemaker magazine. Oddly enough some years ago I stumbled over some Brit Super 8mm prints including Laurel and Hardy's Fraternally Yours, the British release title for Sons of the Desert.

Movies on film were certainly not cheap. A decent feature print usually ran $80.00 and up. It was not surprising to see prints nearing the $200.00 mark, and when the major studios started offering prime prints of some of their classics you could expect to pay $300 and up, which I never did.

Returning to Blackhawk for a moment, they offered an absolute treasure trove of short subjects that covered a wide variety of interests. You could get actual film footage of the Titanic, Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, Georges Melies short subjects, early Edison and more. Sadly, a lot of these seem not to have put in an appearance on video tape or DVD.

Castle Films featured newsreels selected from Universal's archives, again something ignored on DVD. It was a treat looking at news from the Twenties and Thirties.

Today we have a variety of movies available at very low prices, titles we never imagined we would be able to own. But the special feeling we got from setting up the projector and screen for movie night just isn't here now. Movies at home have gotten too common, too accessible to have that special feeling.

On the other hand there are a few movies I used to eye in the catalogs that I have since seen on DVD and I am thankful I decided not to spend the $80+ they would have cost then. Somehow The Monster Walks isn't that exciting and Haxan Witchcraft Through the Ages just doesn't live up to the hype. And the Beatle's Magical Mystery Tour is definitely not worth the $90.00 asking price back in the Seventies.

Still, it is fun to pull out the old projector and enjoy the experience of showing honest-to-goodness celluloid movies at home.