The Photographic Memory Of Film

Okay, now we're just getting silly. We're digging up all these old super 8 films one after another when nobody really wants to see them anymore; nobody really cares. Old silent images of insignificant people doing insignificant things that happened more than 30 bleedin years ago. Hoisting it all up onto a stupid blog as if we're raising some kind of flag or retired team sweater to the rafters that we should all stand back in awe and salute. Bah; it's all just so... insignificant.

No it's not! It's powerful fun for the whole family is what it is. Clean wholesome fun with a dash of misty eyed, soul searching reflection. You bet. Old films like these should be given the same sort of respect that we give to the elderly and the crippled in our society. They both earn our admiration just for hanging around as long as they have. And with film, there's no sugar coating the past with needless embellishments. No whopper lies or tall tales. Because we're seeing the past exactly as it was. Film can boast a photographic memory. Ain't no exaggerating with motion pictures.

Here's some more of what I've been talkin' about: the world as it once was with people as they once were. Take note of the deleted scenes from "I Love To Walk" and "Esther; Teenage Runaway". And yes (sigh) Big Al is aboard once again.

'Out' Takes.

Before we start to believe that absolutely no super 8 footage was ever shot back in the 70s that DID NOT take place within the confines of our cozy little neighbourhood, I've hastily selected a few scraps here from a recent DVD transfer which prove that - on occasion - there were images in the background OTHER THAN those of wonderful Blazerville. Rare these times may have been, but filming stories in the outside world would now and then demand that my homemade productions venture out onto foreign soil.

To the right is a once familiar face (photo supplied) that has gone missing over the past 3 decades. That's Chris M. holding a camera and getting his big noggin in the way of yet another of my ultra boring 'sun shots'. Don will recall that I used to include a sun shot (or two or three) in every movie I made. Who knows where Chris is today. Or the Sun for that matter. As with most of the people and places in these videos, the winds of change have blown them all off camera stage left.

So, what we have on display here then, is discarded scenes from at least 3 or 4 otherwise fully finished productions. Out takes - film footage shot 'out of' the general vicinity of of our home turf.

Well... most of it was anyway.

Movie: "When Dogs Die" (1973)

This is easily the worst movie ever made - or is it just that it's too 'artsy' to be understood? Heck; maybe it's a masterpiece! Maybe I've sold it short all these years. Maybe it's been unfairly ridiculed.

Naa, it's a stinker. But as far as I know, nothing in my really big box of really old super 8 films predates this 'existential' romp with George, Paul, Mike and Fred in the spring of 1973. "When Dogs Die". I think Don gave me the title. These may very well be the first scenes I ever shot with a movie camera. Of anything. All the tell tale signs are there: aimless direction, aimless plotline, aimless camerawork.






Paul wonders how he will explain his participation in this movie to any friends or family that might eventually be unfortunate enough to stumble across it.





These convoluted film clips - combining together in a futile attempt to form a 'storyline' - were recently found in the same large, brown paper bag that was living the silent life in a corner of my storage room (mentioned a few blog reports back) with all the other footage I obviously deemed disposable 35 years ago. Every foot/metre was unspooled and twisted around as if I'd just jammed a fist full of french fries into a take out bag at the local fast food drive thru window - without any consideration for future use.

Still, as bad as it is, it's more interesting than "Billy's Epic Journey" - a film that, you may recall, was entered in the bleedin' 1975 Philum Festival for crying out loud. This "Dogs" dud surely outshines the "Epic" dud - altho neither dud would have come close to winning the prestigious 'Golden Apple' award. (Trivia note: If memory serves me correctly, the one and only Golden Apple Award for 1975, was presented to the film: "Don and Darcy Have Fun".)

About a month ago, I reconnected each piece of this mess back together with my handy/dandy splicing tape (which deserves a blog entry of it's own one of these days) and wrapped it all onto the tail end of another 400 foot roll of film heading for the DVD transfer guy in Richmond. When I returned to pick up the finished transfers from him, he told me how he'd watched this particular little movie of mine and it had left him speechless. He said he watched it more than a dozen times and each time it had touched his heart in a way that no fancy Hollywood movie ever could.

No I'm just kidding. He didn't say that. The movie stinks. But, because of it's heritage value and the seldom seen participants captured within it (one of them being dead already) this is a collectable item on the scale of 4 stars!

"... The Streets Where We Played..."

Well, if we haven't grown weary of watching these old boring 70s era super 8 films from down on the farm yet, then heck; I suppose I'm free to carry on uploading even MORE of them. Because until we hear from the rumbling disgruntled out there, I'm just gonna go ahead and assume that there's nothing better to watch on the other blog channels these days and continue adding my little time trips back into the dusty world of Blazerville. Oh, it's a 24-hour a day Blazerville world around here, lemme tells ya.

Is there a need to explain this collection? Not much. Any regular visitor to this blog will know exactly what to expect. A little bit of 'Big Al'; a little bit of 'Wonderful Wanda'; and a whole bunch of the old neighborhood. Maybe the only change in procedure this time round, is that the film is presented in two parts. There's a false finish at one point. Not that it really makes any difference. Just don't head for the exits until the ride comes to a complete stop.

Hodge Podge Retrobits -

For today's installment of old super 8 films from yesteryear, we'll be watching a hodge podge of retrobits - as opposed to last time when we merely watched a visual stew. These clips were shot in the same general locations, with the same general bystanders, and were returned from the Kodak processing plant with the same general results. There's nothing worthwhile to see here; at least nothing that went any further up the success pole than being added to a large reel of blooper bits during that feverish movie making decade of mine ('73-'82).

It should be mentioned at this point that the email requests have been pouring in here recently asking if I would please supply more 'Big Al' footage on this video stage. I'm sure he'd be touched. So an effort has certainly been made to fulfill that order. Also, pointlessly bizarre music has been added for this latest upload to assist in the overall impression of an assembly line of haphazard scenes. I believe the latter goal was accomplished.

This Week In Block History

More super 8 film. More block history. Can't stop me now. Another visual stew of life as it once was down on the old thoroughfare. There's a lot happ'nin here - Doug on a motorbike; Bartholomew washing his VW; Mike leaping off a balcony; Don reading the paper; and if that's not enough, a powerful dinnertime windstorm kicks in forcing everybody to run home. Fans of 'Big Al' will be pleased to discover that the little whippersnapper is once again present and accounted for in these short snippets - after being M.I.A. the last few blog entries.

Even the cameraman (me) makes a brief appearance here; rare and uncalled for; handing the camera over to Don just in time to make a circus catch of an errant football thrown by Evert. There's Tracy, there's Fran, there's Rob; it's a busy place! And it all happened this week in Block History, 1974.