RWels
Member
Posts: 2,857
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Post by RWels on Mar 21, 2021 20:55:22 GMT
I know that the larger the amount of nitrate stock stored together, the more likely it was to become unstable and combust. It really is a miracle that so much stuff from the silent era has survived. I'm not sure if that is true... at least I never heared that. Handle with care, obviously, but not sure if it will actually spontaneously combust. I have heared that vinegar syndrome can spread, that it's sort of contagious. But that is a different thing of course.
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Post by richardwoods on Mar 21, 2021 21:59:09 GMT
I know that the larger the amount of nitrate stock stored together, the more likely it was to become unstable and combust. It really is a miracle that so much stuff from the silent era has survived. I'm not sure if that is true... at least I never heared that. Handle with care, obviously, but not sure if it will actually spontaneously combust. I have heared that vinegar syndrome can spread, that it's sort of contagious. But that is a different thing of course. I’ve read many reports over the years of reels of old, unstable nitrate film having to be opened in controlled conditions for this reason. If I remember correctly, it’s something to do with the decomposition of old nitrate stock in the relatively anaerobic conditions in film tins that can make it dangerous to just open them. Please feel free to correct me if I’ve got this wrong.
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RWels
Member
Posts: 2,857
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Post by RWels on Mar 21, 2021 22:15:46 GMT
I'm not sure if that is true... at least I never heared that. Handle with care, obviously, but not sure if it will actually spontaneously combust. I have heared that vinegar syndrome can spread, that it's sort of contagious. But that is a different thing of course. I’ve read many reports over the years of reels of old, unstable nitrate film having to be opened in controlled conditions for this reason. If I remember correctly, it’s something to do with the decomposition of old nitrate stock in the relatively anaerobic conditions in film tins that can make it dangerous to just open them. Please feel free to correct me if I’ve got this wrong. Poisonous to breathe, that wouldn't surprise me at all. Once it starts to go bad. But it can also be fine. I had 5 reels at home at one time. I wouldn't want people to panic and throw away potentially unique bits of nitrate...
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Post by Richard Marple on Mar 21, 2021 22:22:20 GMT
I heard the BBC used to telerecord using 10 minute reels of negatives, with the switchover normally overlapping by a minute to help editing the reels together.
Quite a lot of silent films were lost in an archive fire in New Jersey in the 1960s from what I remember.
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Post by richardwoods on Mar 22, 2021 7:21:02 GMT
I’ve read many reports over the years of reels of old, unstable nitrate film having to be opened in controlled conditions for this reason. If I remember correctly, it’s something to do with the decomposition of old nitrate stock in the relatively anaerobic conditions in film tins that can make it dangerous to just open them. Please feel free to correct me if I’ve got this wrong. Poisonous to breathe, that wouldn't surprise me at all. Once it starts to go bad. But it can also be fine. I had 5 reels at home at one time. I wouldn't want people to panic and throw away potentially unique bits of nitrate... Agreed, I think though the phrase “if in doubt seek professional help” is apt here. You wouldn’t want someone to damage or lose rare, potentially recoverable film by opening tins in unsuitable conditions either.
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Post by richardwoods on Mar 22, 2021 7:24:43 GMT
I heard the BBC used to telerecord using 10 minute reels of negatives, with the switchover normally overlapping by a minute to help editing the reels together. Quite a lot of silent films were lost in an archive fire in New Jersey in the 1960s from what I remember. From memory I believe they had trouble when trying to restore some early Buster Keaton films from the original nitrate stock a few years ago.
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Post by richardwoods on Mar 22, 2021 12:42:26 GMT
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Post by Gary Sayers on Mar 22, 2021 14:10:42 GMT
Around 35 years ago, I saw some examples of what can happen with old nitrate film stock. The Pathe news film library was based at the time at Elstree film studios and the team were carrying out the task of sorting old nitrate footage for transfer to safety film stock (pre-digital days).
Some of the nitrate film had started to turn into a kind of rust-like powder and some had turned to a weird sort of glue-like goo.
They also discovered that the the deterioration would actually spread from an already affected film to a 'good' film through film cans if they were stored next to each other!
As for vinegar syndrome, I have only ever come across this once, in a Super 8 film I had that was probably no more than 25 years old at the time. It had the distinctive vinegar smell but was otherwise fine. It was a 400ft colour / sound release of 'North by Northwest' and was in a fancy plastic 'clamshell' type of case. It's this tight fitting plastic case that I believe caused the vinegar syndrome as it doesn't allow the film to 'breath'. Storage, temperature and humidity conditions are the main factor with vinegar syndrome.
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Post by Richard Marple on Mar 22, 2021 22:02:25 GMT
It looks like I was mixing up two archive fires, the 1965 fire was at the Culver City MGM vault in 1965.
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Post by John Green on Apr 1, 2021 15:15:10 GMT
Talking Pictures TV showing two previously missing episodes of No Hiding Place on "Wed 07 Apr 21 16:30 No Hiding Place - Death on The Doorstep . 1963. Stars Raymond Francis, Eric Lander, Derek Smith, Barry Steele & Brian Badcoe. Sun 11 Apr 21 08:00 No Hiding Place - Inquest on an Idol 1962. Stars Eric Lander, Raymond Francis, Nick Barker, Ronald Leigh-Hunt, Warren Mitchell, Angela Douglas & Lisa Daniely. A bump for this. First one airing on Wednesday of next week.
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Post by brianfretwell on Apr 3, 2021 9:31:14 GMT
I heard the BBC used to telerecord using 10 minute reels of negatives, with the switchover normally overlapping by a minute to help editing the reels together. That would have been when they used 35mm for film tele-recording 16mm would have been longer.
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Post by John Green on Apr 6, 2021 15:37:27 GMT
No Hiding Place – Death on the Doorstep on Wednesday at 4.30pm. (1963) Stars: Raymond Francis, Eric Lander, Kevin Stoney, Viola Keats, Nicolette Roeg, Georgina Cookson; Derek Smith, Barry Steele and others! Lockhart has to unravel a web of deceit and blackmail in London’s theatre land. Great shots of 60s London, good script that keeps you guessing till the end.
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Post by christian bews on Apr 6, 2021 19:08:27 GMT
any chance of TPTV showing all the surviving episodes that still exist of 'no hiding place' in a regular daily slot?anyone agree with me? i'm currently enjoying the newly discovered episodes.
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Post by John Wall on Apr 6, 2021 19:34:04 GMT
any chance of TPTV showing all the surviving episodes that still exist of 'no hiding place' in a regular daily slot?anyone agree with me? i'm currently enjoying the newly discovered episodes. Email them and suggest it!
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Post by Gary Wilson on Apr 6, 2021 21:28:51 GMT
Develop a thick skin first. Either because they don't answer OR because they do....
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