Issue 40 of Film for the Collector magazine ran a review of the 1997 Convention, originally published by the Edinburgh Cinema and Video Society.
The 21st Northern Film Collectors’ Convention
a homage by Peter Wilson
The following article was originally written for, and published by ‘Cine Chat’, the official in-house magazine of the Edinburgh Cine and Video Society, a dedicated group of amateur film and video makers who also regularly enjoy screening some of the best professional feature films ever made. The society is always delighted to welcome new members to their club room at 23a Fettes Row, Edinburgh, and meet every Thursday and Friday evening at 7.30pm – the new winter season starts on the 1st of October!
I have been told (several times) that anyone who gets out of bed at five o’clock on a cold November morning and drives more than 200 miles to watch cartoons and extracts from films is not quite the full shilling. This is true on the face of it, but there are mitigating circumstances, and I present them for your final judgement.
On Sunday, November 23rd, 1997 more than 600 keen film collectors piled into the Savoy Hotel in Blackpool to celebrate the 21st Northern Film Collectors’ Convention. My pal Bill and I had driven down that morning and, having parked the car in the large public car park adjacent to the Hotel, joined the long queue waiting for the doors to open. The first person we met was Brian Saberton fresh from his Hollywood adventure and we had just time to exchange pleasantries when the queue began to move.
It was 9.45, and as we shuffled into the convention we were greeted by the organiser, the Sultan of Celluloid – Derek Simmonds of Derann Film Services Ltd who, along with members of his staff, relieved each entrant of the £3.50 entry fee and stuck a yellow paper disc on him/ her, as proof of payment. I wondered how many people had kept their yellow discs from previous events and were saving themselves £3.50 (only someone from Scotland would have thought of that! – ed).
We entered the main one of the three dealers rooms – and what a sight was before us! All round the room were tables overloaded with films and equipment, catering for all gauges. There were two 16mm James Bond features which were quickly tracked down and acquired by a certain Paul Foster (late of Derann and now in business on his own as a film dealer).
Our mutual friend and long-time ECVS member lan Rintoul was selling a Bowery Boys feature, along with a couple of titles which I had provided for his table. Next to lan was another friend: Alan Scott from Penicuik. Alan had a number of 16mm features on offer, the most prominent being ‘Drum’ – a tale of slavery in the Deep South. This particular film has been to the Blackpool Conventions about as many times as I have, and I’ve missed only one convention in 21 years!
Phil Sheard has recently taken early retirement and started his own film business. He collared me with the news that he was that day releasing his first Super 8 package film – an extract from ‘Kid Millions’ with Eddie Cantor. Phil has been a part-time dealer for many years, selling second-hand features imported from the USA (mainly on Super 8), and has offered some great titles including ‘The Lady Vanishes’, ‘Tom Sawyer’ and ‘Foreign Correspondent’, but this new release is quite a gamble for Phil. He has to pay out a considerable sum in royalties, etc, and I wished him well with the sales of this film and promised to watch it when it was screened during the day. The first film show started at 10.30 with the old UCI Cinemas introduction film and settled into an excellent Disney cartoon – ‘Goofy’s Glider’ – which was very amusing, and which had excellent definition, colour and sound such as we have come to expect from all Derann’s Disney releases. Phil’s ‘Kid Millions’ was in this programme: it is the final musical number from the 1932 feature. The sound was excellent, the image was superbly sharp and I was delighted to discover that this segment of the film was shot in two- strip Technicolor. It was slightly bleached perhaps, but its very existence makes this release a true collectors item. My only grouse is that it runs for only just over five minutes.
On leaving the cinema I ran into Keith Wilton who, apart from being the Editor of Super 8 Film Review, also produces a terrific series of video tapes about and for the film collector. Keith claimed not to recognise me as I was not carrying my usual mountain of film purchases. I explained to him that funds were extremely limited this year – but that I should no doubt succumb to some celluloid offer before the day had finished.
Another feature of the convention is the area set aside for the Bring & Buy tables. This provides an outlet for the collector to sell his/her unwanted films and equipment. This years selection of items was fairly typical of what we have come to expect. There were some Super 8 and standard 8 films (mainly one- reelers), a few obscure 16mm features and general interest films (such as ‘Amateur Brain Surgery in Zimbabwe’), some projectors and cameras and an unwelcome surplus of video feature films. This section of the convention is normally the least crowded – and no wonder!
It was soon time for another film show. There were at least three items in this programme which interested me: the first two being ‘UK Reflections’ and ‘USA Reflections’. These shorts were produced in both Britain and Hollywood to celebrate 100 years of cinema, and are simply a collage of scenes from countless film classics from both sides of the Atlantic, showing clips from the silent days to present. Rivetting!
The other gem was a 10-minute short entitled ‘Project the Right Image’; a lighthearted instruction film on how to give a public film show, featuring Graham Stark and Frank Williams (the vicar from Dad’s Army). This is a Super 8 release and having viewed only a few days earlier a 16mm print in lan Rintoul’s cinema I was eager to watch this Super 8 version. I must admit that I was slightly disappointed – the print did not seem to have the same sharpness about it and I was also a little bit disappointed with the quality of the sound. Now, it just goes to show you shouldn’t always rely on first impressions! I still wanted a copy of the film but, unusual for me, I didn’t purchase it until three months later. My fears were completely unwarranted; both picture quality and sound are fine and as members who attended my presentation in May will testify, it looked great on the club screen and the sound was good enough to provoke a complaint from our downstairs neighbour who heard every word in the comfort of his own living room! Why doesn’t that man just give in and join the club???
It was now lunchtime, and excitement was building up for the main event of the day – the auction, presided over by our genial host, Derek Simmonds. If you have not attended a Blackpooi Convention you cannot imagine the sheer quantity of films of all gauges entered by collectors in an attempt to offload their surplus films.
Derek auctioned the 16mm items first. The highlight of this section of the auction was a complete print of a Johhny Mac Brown ‘B’ wetern which the seller admitted was in warped condition. The starting price was £15, but as nobody showed interest in the film I put a bid in of £10. Before I knew it there were furious bids from two other parties and the film finally sold for £44! Derek could not contain his disbelief in the sanity of the bidders and wondered if the film would have sold as well if it had been in good condition!
As the auction invariably runs for at least two-and-a-half hours it is beneficial to have some light relief. This is frequently provided by a certain fellow collector who fancies himself as a bit of a wit and interrupts the proceedings at regular intervals with his ‘humourous observations. He may seem a bit tiresome at times, but the event would be all the poorer without him.
The auction was well under way when Derek attempted to sell some rare standard 8 Disney colour cartoons. There was interest expressed by an elderly gentleman sitting at the rear of the room, who complained that he could not hear what Derek was saying. Ever the gentleman, Derek invited him to come and sit alongside him – and provided a chair for the purpose. The old man pushed his way forward accompanied by his wife – a formidable lady who was evidently in charge of the purse strings. Eight cartoons were offered, and after due deliberation eight cartoons were acquired by this couple. Relieved at having satisfied at least two people, Derek continued with the auction – selling (amongst many other items) Brian Saberton’s ‘Star Wars’ collection. The auction was nearing completion when Derek’s heart sank. Our elderly couple stamped back up to him and declared that they did not want the Disney cartoons after all, becuase they were silent versions and they had assumed that they were bidding for sound films! The auction finally came to an end and (with Derek collapsing into a pint of Gin) I took a final tour of the dealers tables and made my only film purchase of the day. It was a complete 16mm Blackhawk print of Laurel & Hardy’s feature ‘Pack up your Troubles’, in excellent condition – a film that I had wanted for a long time.
There was one final show to sit through – the ‘Scope Show, which featured an extract from Derann’s latest release: ‘Independence Day’ and which closed at 16.00 with the final musical number from the Albert Finney version of ‘Scrooge’: ‘Thank You Very Much!’ – which summed up my feelings to Derek and his staff for a wonderful day out. So we return to the start of this article, which questioned my sanity. To be truthful I would submit that the charge is perfectly valid, but not only for myself. All film collectors are a breed apart, and must admit to being a bit out of the ordinary… so here’s to us!
Peter Wilson
Blackpool Film Collectors' Convention 