Anyone know anything about old original movies? I found a Mickey Mouse one probably early 1930s late 20s on the original reel this morining, it's in prety good shape and the begining is missing but I bet there is still 3-4 minutes maybe more left of the cartoon, its B/W and silent.

Fritziii

Well, I unrolled the film to see how much was missing and much to my suprise half the Mickey cartoon is missing BUT the rest of it is a full length silent short movie by Keystone pictures staring Douglas Fairbanks in "The Shooting", the other reel that I got has a full Mickey Cartoon titled "Hot Feet" and then there is part of a Charlie Chaplin silent on that one as well. I could really use some help here guys if you know anyone I could talk to let me know. Thanks

Fritziii

Fritziii:
I used to transfer film back when I owned a video production company. Since what you have was commercially produced and it isn't complete it probably wouldn't be worth the cost to have it transferred. Just look for a copy in video or DVD online.
Jim

Thanks Jim, but I want to find out what I have here,the Fairbanks short movie is complete and I did a search on him and this one isn't in his list of films, the one mickey mouse cartoon is a complete cartoon.

Fritziii

Fritziii:
Find a transfer operation in your area,call, and ask if the have a 16mm hand viewer/editor. This will allow you to manually crank through the film and decide if you want it transferred.
BTW: Ballpark cost to transfer will be 10 - 20 cents per foot.
Jim

OK Jim, I'll ask. But my main question here is do I have an unknown Fairbanks movie, I understand the whole transfer thing and that would be great with the mickey movie cause it's a cool cartoon but I need to know do I have a rare unknown Fairbanks silent film here, I searched and it's not showing up as a movie he made/did.

Fritz

Be careful if you have it copied ti insure that only one copy is made. If it is an unknown Fairbanks movie, it might be worth a buck or two.

Dave

Like books, titles sometimes change over time. Check his other movies of that vintage and compare story lines.

Fritziii:
I did a little research and have not found a listing for a movie called "The Shooting" with Douglas Fairbanks. Many of his more famous movies such as "The Mark of Zorro" have been transferred to DVD and are readily available. What I suspect you have, due to the 3-4 min. length of film, is a preview or what's called a trailer for a more obscure movie he was in that has never been transferred*.
Additionally, most major films were shot in 35mm with 16mm being reserved for the budget variety. Hope this helps.
*N.B: I have been trying to find a copy of "The Steel Lady" which is the saga of a downed American crew that finds an abandoned Panzer tank if the African desert with a cast including Tab Hunter for years with no success.
Jim

Not sure if it's a trailer because it has a begining and an end, I'll have to unroll it and measure it to get an exact lenght, as for the title I was wrong it's called "Shooting" not "The Shooting" ,sory about that, he looks prety young in the film, could be interesting. I havn't even found anything listed in Keystone pictures on the little short film, it's like a mini western with horses and the so called damsel in distress because there is a women in it that looks like she's tied up, crazy.

Fritz

A couple of facts here:
16mm film contains 40 frames per foot.
16mm film runs at 24 frames per sec.
If you have 400 feet of film you have 16000 frames. 16000 divided by 24 equals about 11 minutes of run time.
Jim

Thanks Jim, I'll measure it and se what I have.

Fritz

The Mickey mouse movie aint worth a whole hell of a lot. I see them mostly for 10 to 15. If it smells like vinegar leave it alone. That means it is falling apart. First thing I do when buying films is to smell them. Can save you time and money. Most people want 8mm. I always had a easier time selling them than the 16mm.