Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Splicing Reel 6 before Reel 5!

This is topic Splicing Reel 6 before Reel 5! in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=004979

Posted by Tom Petrov (Member # 1534) on 06-08-2003, 04:46 PM:

I have a story and would like know if this as ever happened to anyone?

Two months ago I covered a bunch of shifts at local drive in.
They opened the drive-in at the end of February and were playing Catch Me If You Can as a second feature. Near the middle of May I was breaking down the Catch Me If You can print and noticed that whoever made the print up slice REEL 6 after REEL 4 and then REEL 5 after REEL 6. So they watched REEL 4, 6, 5 and 7 in that order.

Well I am sure it has happened to people, but has anyone everyone done this but not have anyone ever notice or complain. I remember one the workers telling when she saw the movie and it was a little weird. But nobody ever complained.

Has this happened to anyone.
Tom

Posted by Travis Hubrig (Member # 1745) on 06-08-2003, 05:05 PM:

Wow,
NO COMPLAINTS [Eek!]

I have customers complain about the movie jumping around to different scenes and timeline, but after checking it out the film was built up correctly.

-off topic- we got many complaints about 'Rules of Attraction'
at the beginning everything moves backwards... pretty original and I liked the twist.

Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 06-08-2003, 05:10 PM:

A drive-in open before the end of February! [Eek!]

Which one is that?

Posted by Tom Petrov (Member # 1534) on 06-08-2003, 08:11 PM:

The 5 Drive-in at Oakville. I believe the last week of Ferbruary the theater was open. I also remember in March with all the snow on the ground and ice they closed cinema 3. It is possible that it was open at the first week of March, but I remember the print of How to Lose a Guy in 10 days opening about two weeks after the Cineplex that I work at opene How to Lose A Guy.

Hubrig. That is right no complaints. I remember breaking the film down.

Posted by Danny Hart (Member # 659) on 06-08-2003, 09:11 PM:

The Odeon cinema in Glasgow, Scotland received its 3 prints of Star Wars Episode II at the very, VERY last minute. So the prints were thrown together in a race against the clock; the first screenings were to be at 12.01 am on the opening Thursday, for hundreds of avid Star Wars fans.

I can't remember exactly what happened, but I THINK reel 7 (or whatever the last reel was) ended up between reels 3 and 4, on one of the prints. I've no idea how that happened.

There was uproar - people had been looking forward to the film for months. There was nearly a riot - some customers got really angry about it and the police were called, just in case things got out of hand.

It was in the newspapers the next day (in one case, on the front page). I've tried to find the article on the net but not had much luck. This is all I can find so far

Posted by Bill Enos (Member # 440) on 06-09-2003, 12:31 AM:

About 10 years ago I ran a French film for 4 days, a few said it was a little strange in the middle but cleared up. Turns out the third reel was missing from a 6 reeler. Leaders were black frames with no info, just tape with numbers, no tails. A letter from the distributor a week or two later explained that the reel in question was held in customs because it had some nudity that the isnpecting agent didn't like.

Posted by David Favel (Member # 1125) on 06-09-2003, 01:35 AM:

A place in Auckland put reel 3 after reel 4. This was for the sold out midnight session. A lawyer had flown in a bunch of mates to all watch the movie together. When they realised what had happened they were issued with comps, but LOTR was a no comps session. He was not a happy boy.

Posted by Carl Martin (Member # 1146) on 06-09-2003, 03:16 AM:

wow, a customs agent gave the reel a more thorough inspection than most projectionists! that said, what a dick!

carl

Posted by Antonio Marcheselli (Member # 373) on 06-09-2003, 06:59 AM:

A friend of mine builed part 9, the last one, instead of part 6 on Gangs of New York. Luckily he noted the mistake when he found part 6 after part 8...

How can be possibile to splice the end of the credits at the head of another reel?????????

[Confused]

Bye
Antonio

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 06-09-2003, 07:58 AM:

quote:
...that said, what a dick!

Presumably that's what he was looking for in the film. [Roll Eyes]

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 06-11-2003, 12:42 AM:

Years ago one of the few women projectionists at the time who was my relief was running BLOWUP. I had run it for a few days already (all day long) so I was familiar with it, but I wanted to watch it in the theatre afterwhich I would start my shift.

For those haven't seen it, the film has some pretty artsy with
time-shifting using a number of flashbacks. Evidently she grabbed the wrong reel -- I think it was reel 5 instead of 4 and played it (we are talking mid-60s -- so 2000ft change-over only). I saw the mistake and ran into the booth and told her. She watched the screen for a few minutes (she also had run it a number of times). She put reel 4 on the bench and wound it until she saw something she was looking for, then threaded up reel 4 at that point. She made a change-over to a scene that was a flash back ran it until nearly the end of the reel, then she changed back to reel 5. I watched in awe at what she was doing and couldn't believe that the damn thing made perfect sense to me and evidently to the audience as well -- no one said a word. What amazed me was that she was able to pull it off.

Anyone ever hear the story about the Local 306 guy at the Ziegfeld theatre in Manhattan who built a print of the STAR TREK -THE MOVIE the night before for a 10am screening for the press and Paramount honchos? Unfortunately he switch two reels. The day guy comes in and runs the press screening and, naturally, has to stop the show and send everyone home. This story doesn't have quite the same uneventful ending as the first. From what I understand, the DAY guy was fired. Paramount and the theatre insisted on it. He lost his gig at the classy theatre and was moved somewhere else. Some union, eh?

I say, it's the half-wit at Paramount who booked the theatre for this oh-so-important screening who should have lost HIS job for being so cheap as to not pay for a tech run-through screening.

You buys cheap; you gets cheap.

Frank

[ 06-12-2003, 01:07 AM: Message edited by: Frank Angel ]

Posted by William Leland III (Member # 1400) on 06-12-2003, 10:44 AM:

I have a similar story to Danny's, when the new Regal opened in North Charleston, the first real multi-plex, they had 5 prints of Star War EPI. The projectionist had spliced the end reel onto real 4. Pretty much the same thing happend, cops where called to calm down people, I remeber the news covering the mistake and laughed my ass off.

Studios need to give us projectionist time to bulit up, inspect the print, then show to the public, not this rash, mistakeful bulit up crap then show to public.