Cans Of Film

[Sam]

I have a few cans of 16mm film, two of which smell of vigegar, presumingly clinching the fact that in a few years time they will be lost forever. I thought I had better ask if they are significant because if they are important and recoverable, better if they get some attention. The have 'O.C.D.E. - O.E.C.D. service de films - film service' written on them with a paris adress. One is titled 'canalisations medernes' and claims to be french. This transalates as 'modern channeling' according to freetransalation.com and the other is spanish, titled 'organice su trabajo' or 'organize its work'?!?! They both have nubered frames at intervals for 12 down to 2 and one has 'image negatif' on the beggining. they have what look like serial numbers written on the leader:6663 - A and 7083 - A. On finding these I was desperate to run them, and I can't begin to explain how dissapointing it is that these films, mint looking in every other respect, are spoilt. Is there more to these films, or are they simply broken documenteries?

[old filmguy]

All film smells, so dont mistake this for vinegar. Its quite a rare phenomenon outside of archives. A vinegaring film will be pungent and in some cases over powering as soon as you open the can. Also by the time the vinegar odour is there, the film will be curling at the edges.
The worst examples were made in the years 1950-56, so if your film is vinegaring it might date from that period. If it is Eastman film (which it probably is) then it will have some squares, circles or triangles shapes at the edge, this will identify the year it was produced.



It sounds like some form of urban or transport film in which case { The Huntley Archives} would be most interested and a place you should contact to help you get it sorted out.

[Steven Sigel]

old said:

All film smells, so dont mistake this for vinegar. Its quite a rare phenomenon outside of archives. A vinegaring film will be pungent and in some cases over powering as soon as you open the can. Also by the time the vinegar odour is there, the film will be curling at the edges.
The worst examples were made in the years 1950-56, so if your film is vinegaring it might date from that period. If it is Eastman film (which it probably is) then it will have some squares, circles or triangles shapes at the edge, this will identify the year it was produced.



It sounds like some form of urban or transport film in which case { The Huntley Archives} would be most interested and a place you should contact to help you get it sorted out.

old said:

All film smells, so dont mistake this for vinegar. Its quite a rare phenomenon outside of archives. A vinegaring film will be pungent and in some cases over powering as soon as you open the can. Also by the time the vinegar odour is there, the film will be curling at the edges.
The worst examples were made in the years 1950-56, so if your film is vinegaring it might date from that period. If it is Eastman film (which it probably is) then it will have some squares, circles or triangles shapes at the edge, this will identify the year it was produced.



It sounds like some form of urban or transport film in which case { The Huntley Archives} would be most interested and a place you should contact to help you get it sorted out.

Any acetate film can go vinegar full stop. I've never heard of 1950-56 being particularly bad years for vinegar, and I've been collecting films for a long time.

It is true, however, that vinegar is fairly rare -- but it becomes far more commonplace under two circumstances -- 1) films that were treated for scratch removal ("Rejueuventated") -- this process used an acetic acid bath to etech away the wear lines in the print. It also caused the prints to go vinegar with alarming regularlity (the vinegar smell comming from the acetate base of the film breaking down into acetic acid).
2) Films that are stored in warm, humid climates tend to develop vinegar with a higher frequency than films stored in cool/dry conditions. Many collectors (myself included) also believe that if you store the films sealed in cans they tend to by more likely to develop vinegar because ALL acetate prints give off some gas, but if they are stored in cans, it can build up in the can and eventually become self-catalyzing (which gets you vinegar syndrome).

It's got nothing whatsoever to do with archives - just ask any film collector....

Mylar based prints cannot get vinegar of course....

Lastly -- it is not true that the smell only comes when the film has badly curled -- quite the oposite -- many films develop the vinegar odor, but run fine for many years. In fact, when a print has become so shrunk that it wont run, it often stops smelling at all...

Sam: These sound like industrial films, so they're probably not particularly valuable - but you never know...