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This topic comprises 7 pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
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Author
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Topic: Women relly projectionist?
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Stephen Furley
Film God
Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002
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posted 01-14-2008 10:54 AM
They made some quite good little films. There was one of the last firing of an old brick 'bottle' style pottery kiln, and another of the last coal-fired steamship.
I used to have quite a lot of films from various places, but almost all of it had to go; I just didn't have the space to keep it. Some went back to the original owners, who had regretted throwing it out in the first place, but most went elsewhere. The NCB stuff went to somebody else, who held it for a while, it sat in the projection box of a cinema in North London for a while, and I think it eventually ended up in Amanda Huntley's vaults.
[ 01-14-2008, 05:42 PM: Message edited by: Stephen Furley ]
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Frank Angel
Film God
Posts: 5305
From: Brooklyn NY USA
Registered: Dec 1999
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posted 01-14-2008 11:49 AM
The copyright question is interesting. Were those films produced with government funds for free distribution to the public? Might be that public exhibition was the original intention and your posting it only furthers that intention, albeit much, much later. It might be that no one at this point cares. But that's only a guess. It's amazing how many people can become passionate about a dusty old work the minuite they think they can make some money off it.
I have a film that was produced and copyrighted by John Sutherland Productions, a fairly prestigious animation house many years ago. This particular title was produced by US Steel as a free "sponsored" promo film as was the practice years ago. Basically they were long, sometimes subtle, sometimes not so subtile commercials for the sponsor. The films were distributed to schools free of charge, usually on 16mm film, but in this case on 35mm IBT no less, and I know of at least one 4trk mag print of it that was also struck but since distroyed.
I would love to be able to exhibit this as it has extrodinary art work and a music score by Academy Award winner Domitri Tiompkin who conducts the Pittsburg Philharmonic for the film. I can't find hide nor hair of any remnents of the John Sutherland production company or anyone else to whom the copyright ownership might have passed once the company disolved. I can't find a single person at US Steel who even knows this film was produced by them.
The other entities, the Tiompkin estate or the Pittsburg Philharmonic more than likely were paid a flat fee for their services because the film was distributed freely and was not a commercial release, so it was not an income generating property....i.e., no points. It would be most unlikely that they would have any controlling interest and they certainly are not the copyright holders.
It can be a daunting task with these older titles to track down the copyright owners. It may very well be that they have passed on or with the case of a company, just died with with it.
I have always said, the best way to find who the copyright owners are of a given work is to put a big ad in the paper saying you are going to show the work. Then see whose name is on the top of the law suit when you get served.
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Stephen Furley
Film God
Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002
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posted 01-14-2008 12:44 PM
I've just had another look at it, because I don't have sound on my work pc, so I couldn't hear the commentary. At that time it did seem to be considered unusual, but would she really have been the only 'chief'; it seems unlikely. I think those are Kalee arcs; they've got the typical white 'ivory' Kalee douser handles as well. The machines look like Westars, but the name on the glass in the door doesn't look like either 'Westar' or 'Century'; can anybody make it out?
Just out of interest Leo, what's on the rest of the reel? There were usually four or five stories in each edition.
There's also a film of the Odeon, Hammersmith here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi2NnXuO5wE&feature=related
There's a woman in the box there as well, but she doesn't seem to be projecting. The projectionist does say 'and ladies' at the end of the film however, when talking about how the place has changed since then. This was 1987, Cinemeccanica Vic. 8 projectors, Zenith carbon arcs and mercury arc rectifiers. Being Hammersmith, Claude might be interested, as he will be able to see the outside of the building this week when he arrives.
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 01-14-2008 04:22 PM
quote: Stephen Furley
Just out of interest Leo, what's on the rest of the reel? There were usually four or five stories in each edition.
Only three on that one. The projectionist item is the first; it's followed by the opening of the National Coal Board's new offices in Doncaster, and a feature on the pit nurse at a Derbyshire colliery.
quote: Frank Angel
The copyright question is interesting. Were those films produced with government funds for free distribution to the public?
Yes: so much so that the government actually 'rented' them to cinemas for free in order to maximise circulation. 'Mining Review' was not popular outside mining areas, and I've seen letter and articles in fan magazines and so on which suggest that people actually timed their arrival at the cinema to avoid it. One ex-miner I spoke to told me that it was known as 'Minging Review' when he used to go to the picture in the '60s and '70s ('minging' = UK English slang word meaning 'smells horrible'), which might explain why 'Mining' was formally dropped from the title in the late '70s and for its last few years, the newsreel was simply called 'Review'.
After the National Coal Board was formally dissolved in 1994, copyright in their film output passed to the British Film Institute. I really should have asked their permission before putting that clip on YouTube (and now will do retrospectively), which I don't think they'd refuse, given that the picture quality isn't good enough for anyone to rip off as commercial footage and none of the NCB Film Unit's output is published on DVD or anywhere else.
They must have made vast numbers of 16mm prints of each issue, because they crop up all over the place in the north east. I'm not a wildly obsessive film collector (I've got about 50-60 reels in total - like Stephen and unlike Amanda Huntley, I've got a space problem too!), but whenever I get wind of some films either in a junk shop, or that someone has and is throwing out round these parts, the chances are that some 'Mining Review' issues will be among them.
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Stephen Furley
Film God
Posts: 3059
From: Coulsdon, Croydon, England
Registered: May 2002
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posted 01-14-2008 04:40 PM
The other two don't sound like some of their more interesting ones.
quote: Leo Enticknap
After the National Coal Board was formally dissolved in 1994, copyright in their film output passed to the British Film Institute. I really should have asked their permission before putting that clip on YouTube (and now will do retrospectively), which I don't think they'd refuse, given that the picture quality isn't good enough for anyone to rip off as commercial footage and none of the NCB Film Unit's output is published on DVD or anywhere else.
I hope they agree, it's quite an interesting piece, but I wonder if the inclusion of the clip from the feature film will cause complications? And could the BBC also have an interest here, as the creators of the Daleks?
If you're able to get permission, it would be nice to have a copy in the movies section of this site, but since that could be downloaded and saved that might cause further complications.
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Leo Enticknap
Film God
Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000
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posted 01-14-2008 05:39 PM
I've got one colour 'Review', 'Energy - The Nuclear Option' (1978). That one can't have gone down (pun unintended!) too well with the miners! The print looks pink beyond redemption when projected, but a former colleague telecined it and I managed to make the video look surprisingly reasonable by tweaking the colour in Adobe Premiere. It's amazing how much of the green and blue colour records are actually still there in the film if you try to tease them out.
quote: Stephen Furley
I hope they agree, it's quite an interesting piece, but I wonder if the inclusion of the clip from the feature film will cause complications?
That film is a mystery. The commentary gives the title as 'Dalek Invasion' (might be Daleks plural - soundtrack isn't good enough for me to hear), and I can find no record of any film by that title, either on IMDB or the BFI's database which often includes more obscure British titles that IMDB misses. It's obviously a Dr. Who spinoff of some description, but I can't find anything under any other title that could be a likely candidate from 1964-66 (I started searching in the usual places from 1964 on the basis that if it was playing in Bishop Auckland by early '66, then it would probably be at or near the end of the distribution circuit - i.e. well and truly north of Watford - with the major premieres having taken place at least a year earlier, possibly more).
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