Hi Woodsy,
Here is a look at the world of 8mm home movies, from the days before videotape. Mostly silent, black and white, and heavily cut down.
It does mention the more risque side of the 8mm world, including the 'under the counter' titles. However, most are regular movies, shorts, and cartoons, in various lengths.
Often a single film would be cut up, and made in to several different 8mm releases, each under a different title. Lots of great old artwork from the box tops.
The prices are impressive – collecting these films was only for the dedicated. As I have said before, I did not even know this world existed in the 1960s and 1970s, and never saw any of these 8mm movies in New Zealand.
Paul Adams from New Zealand
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Do you collect 8mm, Super 8 or Cinefilms readers?
Fascinating Paul. I've bought a lot of cine films over the years including Universal monsters. Alas, sold them all, which I regret!
ReplyDeleteI got into Super 8, and Standard 8, in a big way at the age of 16, when I recieved a Cine Camera and Projector for my birthday.
ReplyDeleteI both made films, mostly daft animations using toys and plastic kits, and began a small collection of short (4 - 5 mins ) Super 8 versions of Sci Fi and Fantasy TV shows and Movies.
These included Fireball XL5, Stingray, a couple of Godzilla films and a few 1950s B movies.
Later, in my early 30s, I shot a couple of test animations, again using toys, and bought a more expensive Sound Projector along with some longer sound versions (15 - 20 mins) of other TV and Movie Sci Fi, including UFO, The Lost World, Atomic Submarine, and It : The Terror From Beyond Space.
By then though, VHS versions of whole movies were available for a fraction of the price, so like most of us, I turned to those instead.