Topic: What's the appeal of 16mm film??

[3Stooges]

As someone who has never seen a Stooge film or any other film on 16mm, I was wondering why people spend anywhere from $50 to a few hundred bucks PER FILM on Ebay to watch the Stooges in 16mm. With TV technology being so advanced now like wide screen, big screen, plasma, LCD and 9 feet InFocus wide screen projections, it seems like a lot of money to spend just for one film. I'd assume that TV versions are better video/audio quality, so why buy the 16mm? Especially films that are on DVD.

Do people buy them so the can broadcast them in real movie theaters? Are there just 16mm buffs that like the crackling and the look of 16mm kind of like how some people just prefer the old LP records instead of CD's?

I have absolutely no experience with 16mm and would like some 16mm expert's insight.

[shemps#1]

Part of the appeal is that home projection is a dead market. Just like cassettes and CD's killed of vinyl, home video killed off home projection. It's a rarity, how many people have 16mm projectors?

[garystooge]

I can't speak for others, but as an avid 16mm collector, I like everything that is part of the hobby: tinkering with the projector, threading it, focusing it, experimenting( with different lenses, projectors, bulbs)
making repairs to the films, splicing film together, and of course all the joys of watching films the way they were intended to be watched, complete with the whirr of the projector, jumpskips in the film and occasional lines and scratches in the print. You can actually get the feel that these films date back to the 1930's and 40's, unlike DVD's which are so clean and enhanced that they look like they could have been filmed last week.

And guess what....even with the jumps, skips and imperfections, the Stooges are just as funny as on the antiseptic DVD's.

[Pilsner Panther]

I can't speak for others, but as an avid 16mm collector, I like everything that is part of the hobby: tinkering with the projector, threading it, focusing it, experimenting( with different lenses, projectors, bulbs)
making repairs to the films, splicing film together, and of course all the joys of watching films the way they were intended to be watched, complete with the whirr of the projector, jumpskips in the film and occasional lines and scratches in the print. You can actually get the feel that these films date back to the 1930's and 40's, unlike DVD's which are so clean and enhanced that they look like they could have been filmed last week.

And guess what....even with the jumps, skips and imperfections, the Stooges are just as funny as on the antiseptic DVD's.

I can still thread a Bell & Howell 16mm sound projector with my eyes closed, which will give you some idea how ancient I am. There is something marvelous about that early technology, which for me (of course) includes 78 r.p.m. records and Edison cylinders.

Maybe the marvel is that it all worked!

 

[Dunrobin]

Back in the ancient times, when I was in Junior High School (they hadn't been PC'd into "Middle Schools" yet), the school had a small movie theater next to the library.  I worked in the A-V dept., and we used to show movies during lunch time on 16mm Bell & Howells. 

At one time, like Pils, I could have threaded the projectors with my eyes closed, although I won't claim to still be able to do it.  I could could probably still remember if I looked at it though! 

[BeAStooge]

I can't speak for others, but as an avid 16mm collector, I like everything that is part of the hobby: tinkering with the projector, threading it, focusing it, experimenting( with different lenses, projectors, bulbs) making repairs to the films, splicing film together, and of course all the joys of watching films the way they were intended to be watched, complete with the whirr of the projector, jumpskips in the film and occasional lines and scratches in the print. You can actually get the feel that these films date back to the 1930's and 40's, unlike DVD's which are so clean and enhanced that they look like they could have been filmed last week.

And guess what....even with the jumps, skips and imperfections, the Stooges are just as funny as on the antiseptic DVD's.

What he said.

The collecting hobby is another appeal.  Some want all the Stooges' films on tape.  Some on DVD.  I want 'em all in all formats.

I got into 16mm about 10 years ago, and about a year ago, I accomplished my goal of all 190 shorts on 16mm (plus a 2nd print of PARDON MY BACKFIRE... in 3-D).  I also picked up all the '60s features, and about 2/3 of the 1965 toons.  Now I'm into the rare stuff.  A little over a year ago I picked up a beautiful print of TIME OUT FOR RHYTHM, nice prints of GOLD RAIDERS and a few other rarities.  Quite a few Columbia shorts too, starring Joe DeRita, El Brendel, Andy Clyde, Charley Chase, Slim Summerville, Harry Langdon AND Buster Keaton.

Once you get into that collector mentality, it's hard to go back to normalcy.  Local 6 & 7/8ths.

[wallawalla]

Another advantage of 16mm is that you can hang a sheet on the side of your house and show the Stooges in a real theater-like setting, on a nice summer evening with as many friends as you want. No worries about how many people can actually crowd around a TV.

[Pilsner Panther]

Another advantage of 16mm is that you can hang a sheet on the side of your house and show the Stooges in a real theater-like setting, on a nice summer evening with as many friends as you want. No worries about how many people can actually crowd around a TV.

Now, that sounds like a fine evening's entertainment. If you're within a 50-mile radius of San Francisco, am I invited? I'll volunteer to run the projector!

 

[Lola-Lou]

That really does sound like lots of fun! However, wallawalla is nowhere near San Fransisco Pils...but I'll lleave that to him to broadcast where that is, if he cares to share it and if he wants every member here to show up on his doorstep for a Three Stooges Festival. I wouldn't mind hitch hiking it from MI to there...I need something to do for spring break anyway.

[Pilsner Panther]

That really does sound like lots of fun! However, wallawalla is nowhere near San Fransisco Pils...but I'll lleave that to him to broadcast where that is, if he cares to share it and if he wants every member here to show up on his doorstep for a Three Stooges Festival. I wouldn't mind hitch hiking it from MI to there...I need something to do for spring break anyway.

Yes, but is wallawalla actually in Walla Walla, Washington? You see, on the treasure map, there's one Walla over here, and another Walla over there...

 

[Dunrobin]

Another advantage of 16mm is that you can hang a sheet on the side of your house and show the Stooges in a real theater-like setting, on a nice summer evening with as many friends as you want. No worries about how many people can actually crowd around a TV.

When I was a kid in 1965, they did that at the Community Center in the park across the street from my grandparents' house, in Hamburg, NY.  I don't remember them showing any Three Stooges, but there was a different movie every night (except Sundays, I think, and of course not when it was raining), all through the summer.  I remember seeing some of Vincent Price's Edgar Allen Poe movies like that, along with 1950's sci-fi and horror flicks, and probably a lot of stuff from the 30's and 40's.  (Senility is setting in, and I don't remember the line-up so well these days.)

It was a fantastic way to spend a summer!   

[3Stooges]

Thanks everyone for the info. I may end up getting a 16mm projector just for "Pardon My Backfire" in real 3D.

[shemps#1]

Here's another question for you 16mm buffs. I checked eBay for shits and giggles, and a couple of the auctions there state that there is no vinegar smell on the prints. What's with vinegar? I'd imagine it would damage the film.

[BeAStooge]

Here's another question for you 16mm buffs. I checked eBay for shits and giggles, and a couple of the auctions there state that there is no vinegar smell on the prints. What's with vinegar? I'd imagine it would damage the film.

Film is acetate-based.  If the film begins to decompose (extreme age, poor storage conditions, etc.) it emits an acetic acid odor, aka "vinegar smell."

[locoboymakesgood]

When I was a kid in 1965, they did that at the Community Center in the park across the street from my grandparents' house, in Hamburg, NY.

Small world - I'm from North Tonawanda! :-)

My late-father has an 8MM, Super 8MM, and a 16MM silent projector. I never saw the 16MM in action, but one film he always had stored away was a Stooges film with Shemp called Eye Doctors. Now, as I know most of the time with 16MM silent films, they general were short in length.. and since I know there's no short called 'Eye Doctors', can anyone tell me what it is exactly? The projectors and move are at my fathers house.. but I know the box to the movie was yellow and it had a pair of glasses where the two 'O's in Stooges should be.

[kinderscenen]

I really can't explain (well) the appeal of 16mm.  Even with all of my DVDs, there's something about watching the Stooges on that old-timey film (as they did when I was little). So the film is in horrid shape, there's scratches all over the place, and you can be sure that the film will break at least once during the 2 hours.  For some reason, the Joe-era shorts were all shown on film in the early 90's on my local station (even though the rest were on video), and there was just something about seeing it as those in the 1950's may have.

While you can see the little details on the DVDs, sometimes it's just fun to watch the film pop along.

Sunday

[3Stooges]

To anyone who has "Pardon My Backfire" in 16mm 3D version:

Are the effects good? I saw this film in the theater during a festival, but they used a process that had 2 cameras going at the same time. The film was AWESOME in 3D and I was wondering how the 16MM version would compare.

[wallawalla]

I wish I could have another outdoor Stoogefest but we've moved and the current abode doesn't lend itself to such activities.

Did it a few times at the old house and projecting our three nutty friends that large was always a big hit (pun!).