'Yankee Doodle Dandy' on Super 8

Perhaps the most unique emotion is experienced when this feature ends. I call the emotion "unique" because I have not come across such a feeling in any other movie or novel. 

Here we have an artist performing song and dance his whole life. He has been at the very top of his profession for a lot of his career. He is a performing artist having fun all his life, all his performances are merely entertainment.  I watched the movie thinking, "Here we have another feel-good musical movie.". Then the profundity of the climax came along. Just when I thought the movie will finish with Cagney receiving some award, the screenplay made me experience Cagney's realization of his accomplishment. The song and music he was just having fun with, had inspired an entire nation. Cagney suddenly realized he has lived a great life. In other such movies we know we are watching the story of a great man, sometimes the character's dialogues are written with gravitas. All through such films the character believes in his greatness being realized. Here Cagney realizes this only at the end of the feature, when he is at a very ripe age. Perhaps he wasn't even striving for greatness, he only understands his greatness as we approach the film's climax.

'The Body Snatcher' (1945) on Super 8

A few years before 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers', Robert Wise and Val Lewton picked up a short-story by Robert Louis Stevenson on .... guess what ..... body snatching! Unlike aliens in Don Siegel's extraterrestrial and psychological body snatching, here the medical profession snatches bodies. Bodies 'snatched' from graves are used as reference points to perform surgeries. So who is the Body Snatcher? No one better than Boris Karloff to do this job. He has so much fun with this role, and .... he has so much fun in his scene with Bela Lugosi. 

A point to note, Robert Wise, who went on to 'The Sound of Music' and 'West Side Story', directed Karloff and Lugosi in this B-movie. But don't let that B-movie tag fool you .... this is a A-grade B-movie, if there is such a thing. Anyway, this shows that even A-list greats sometimes start B-movie small.

This is a neat print mounted on two 800' reels. Sound isn't great but the dialogue is understandable. The contrast on the image is good, but the print is grainier in comparison to the best Super 8 prints.

'Horror of Dracula' on Super 8

Despite its B-movie status I have coveted this Hammer Horror title for two years. All I needed was one chance to make it mine. It first came up for sale on the 8mmforum a couple of months ago, but I had two concerns. First, the print was priced higher than it has been in the past. Second, the sound was in German! This meant I'd have to re-record. Since I don't yet possess this skill, paying $$$ for the English remix would escalate costs! WTH, I went for it.

The print reached the remix expert in Los Angeles, from Germany. Just when the seller, me and the remix guru thought all was good, my luck changed. Where a naked-eye-visual-inspection had revealed a good pre-triped print, audio tests on the GS-1200 revealed an inferior, flaking and most likely post-striped magnetic tracks. I was told to expect a poor remix with "rumbles" in the audio, so my ears prepared for thunder. All that money, and I wasn't going to get a good print.

But there is such a thing as a 'happy ending'. I transfered the print from two 800-footers to one 1600-footer, this means I don't have any reel changes. How is the sound? It is .... now what's a good adjective to use to describe sound mixing .... hmmm ... let's use the standard American one .... the sound is amazing! The 'rumbles' were hardly thunderous. And, there were fewer 'rumbles' than I'd anticipated. And, the rumbles didn't mask any dialogue. This is the best audio in my film collection, maybe 'Goldfinger' is slightly better, ah, 'El Cid' had good audio too.

How is the movie? We'd recently watched F. W. Murnau's 'Nosferatu' so the story was fresh in our heads. Sometimes slight deviations from the familiar are good news, so we were happy to see a few "liberties" being taken. Where Murnau gave us a Count we felt sorry for, here Hammer creates an evil Count. Where Orlock dominates screen-time, here Dracula plays second-fiddle to Dr. Van Helsing. Several beautiful women appear in brief but pivotal roles, so the various female characters actually move the story forward. And, the 82-minutes run-time keeps the movie rolling along. What fun!

'Goldfinger' on Super 8

James Bond on film, 007 on Super 8. Ask yourself which movie you'd like. Did I hear Goldfinger? 

Considered by many to be the best Bond Movie of them all, considered by many to star the best James Bond of them all, considered by many to be the best Bond Villain of them all, considered by many ..... This is, arguably, the best James Bond feature in the franchise. Now I haven't watched every single Bond Movie, so I can't say if this is the best for sure. But the one James Bond feature I wanted on Super 8 is 'Goldfinger'.

The feature arrived mounted on four 600' reels. I duly remounted it on one 1200' and one extend-a-reel. Lack of a second 1200-footer arm-twisted me into using one of my 1400-footers. Superb way to watch Goldfinger and Oddjob battle Bond with just one intermission.

Fritz Lang's 'While the City Sleeps' on Super 8

A few nights ago we watched this rare print mounted on four 600' reels. Now Fritz Lang is very famous for his silent films but here we have a talkie, that too on Super 8 film! But this talking picture is no reason to celebrate Fritz Lang, who remains a giant of the silent era.

Here is an excellent idea for a story and screenplay, whose execution isn't particularly bad. The feature works on two levels, one as an office drama and the other as a thriller. The office politics is more engaging in my opinion. Like in most movies there are several beautiful women, only here they fit into the thriller segment of the story. Every time a beautiful woman walked into the frame, I felt she would be the next victim of the serial killer. Very soon we have too many such women and guessing who the screenplay will sacrifice becomes difficult. This maintains a certain suspense in the picture. All in all, a very good movie but can be skipped.

'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' on Super 8, with music score

Two genres seem hot among film collectors: Horror and Sci-Fi. No horror collection is ever complete without The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Finally, after almost two years, I have a Super 8 sound print of this title mounted on one 1200' reel.

My wife and I watched Dr. Caligari for the first time on DVD, four years ago. Back then the feature floored us. Even today it sucked me right in. My wife however felt that the sense of mystery was lost second time around. All the buzz around Dr. Caligari drew my brother to this screening, he didn't like it all that much.

Jean Renoir's 'The Southerner' on Super 8 film

The feature is mounted on two 800' reels and the second reel is very very full. Since this is a public domain feature, I was expecting a poor print. But I was surprised! The (tinted) image and sound are extremely good.

The feature doesn't feel dated. Comparisons between joining-the-workforce and self-employment, factories and farming, roles of men and women .... serve in making the story contemporary. The story and screenplay throw up several dramatic situations; but unlike Frank Capra, Renoir avoids milking the drama. Despite Renoir's restrained direction, the feature moved us in a few places. Excellent movie!