How discriminating are you when you decide to buy a film ?
Do you just buy anything because it is going cheap and a bargain ?
Or are you very selective as to what you spend your cash on ?

I'd like to think the films I buy are repeatable David, and that elusive print on your wanted list, and lets face it the utter crap on the tele consistently now, at least you can
choose your entertainment for the night.

Gauge plays no part in a much wanted title David, except the pro 35mm, and 9.5 I have no way of showing them..

I love my bargains :-) Enjoy red prints too, but of course one prefers a good print.

I´m quite selective. I have to be, with more than 2000 reels in my Collection. Prints with many splices, stripes or fade are refused. Sometimes I buy films, that not really interest me, if they are cheap. If I don´t like them, I will use them for trading.

I look for bargains as well as titles that interest me! I've seen some cheap titles on occasion but would have ZERO interest in a 200' reel such as "Sports Parade", so wouldn't pursue a bargain such as that. I like the original boxes to be decent too. If they look as if they're falling apart, it's a big deterent. With me buying strictly off of eBay, I have no way of knowing the film quality beforehand. But usually they are inexpensive enough that if I get a dud, no big loss.

I love Vidar's answer, by the way!I don't know anyone that loves film more than he!

Thanks for the replies guys.
I am very selective with my purchase regardless of the title or price.
I certainly would not buy a red or faded print unlike our friend Vidar.
I will never buy a title just because its hugely popular with others.
For example films like the "Back To The Future" trilogy on any format would never find their way
into my collection as I think they are "crap".
So I do discriminate strongly regardless of the popularity of the title.
I collect for myself not for what others would want or expect me to have.

I fight for the poor and unwanted ;-) Long live film, even if they're red (does that mean I am not racist?)

I do not want warped, totally spliced films, those I do not enjoy, but colour fade, I can live with that. Still captures some magic

Sorry David, I thought you meant film gauges. I buy films that mainly are of interest to me, usually not mainstream stuff, I
have bought films in that I know OTHER people like, "Gone With The Wind", "Babes in Toyland", "Land Without Music","Green
for Danger", "Murder on the Orient Express", "Murder on the Nile", "Evil Under the Sun", "The Mirror Crack'd" , "High Road to China,
"Arsenic and Old Lace" and so they go on. I too don't go in for the modern stuff, not that I don't enjoy some of them, but the
majority are forgettable. Myself, Horrors, sci-fi, adventures, Carry on's etc.

Vidar I accept your point about faded films still capturing some of the magic because its still
on film. For me however the magic is ruined as all that care that went into the colour balance
and temperature by the Colour Technician has already been destroyed and gone forever from
the overall image. So the visual look and contrast are but a mere " shadow " of its former self.
While the narrative is indeed still there an extremely important part of telling it from a visual
aspect is no longer there ... The Colour.
A Technicolor film that has faded to red or whatever is a sorry thing to see indeed.

So it goes Hugh. Its all very subjective when it comes to Film Collecting.
However I have a lot of respect for a discriminating film collector rather than
those that would just buy any old shit because it is cheap and very forgettable.
As the saying goes its about quality not quantity for me.

I completely agree with Dave on everything! I buy what I like. I am very selective and I do have non "repeatable" films (ie The Stars Look Down, Hedda,The Southerner,quite a few silents etc.But,I will buy a reddish print if I want it very much,like a number of Harman-Ising MGM cartoons,or a dubbed one,very rarely,( ie. Three Gordon Scott Tarzan features) from Spain. I always look for bargains,but only for titles I want. (Over the years I bought quite a few Griffith Biographs and other early one reelers for one pound from the bargain bins at the BFCC, or at the premices of various dealers. Of course all this changes when something is given to me,for free! I just can not throw film away. A friend is going to buy a sizable number of porn films from some guy. He is not interested in porn,he intends to throw the films away and just keep the reels. Well,I told him to give the films to me instead. I too am not interested but perhaps someone else may be.Of course I will take a look at them and then stack them somewhere for future use,(sell or exchange).

I have a soft spot for "Stars Look Down", as it was made party in the village where I now live. As for faded prints, well I can bear
that, a filter makes some difference, lets be honest, how many times do you see your favourite film in perfect colour? Hardly, even the
best film distributors very rarely hit perfect prints. So
if you are only collecting perfect prints, well that kind of narrows it down a bit, part of the pleasure is owning the film on "film",
otherwise we all should just move over to DVD projection for that perfect clinical but soulless experience everyone can have with
little trouble.

Hugh, I couldn't agree with your last post more!

I think we should tie David H. to a chair and make him watch a RED print of "Back to the Future"! I think that would be the ultimate Hell for him! LOL!!! (I'm just messing with you David)

Thank you Tim my boy, but no doubt you feel the same way, the little 200's, not the full film, sometimes silent with wobbly
sub titles, sometimes bearing no relation to the dialogue, or in the case of "The Raven", the 200' col/snd and the narration, no relation to the story! That doesn't matter, we LOVE these little snippets, they are our souvenirs of great films, to us anyway.Likewise with a lot
of 16mm, a much loved print, faded, to miss might be never to see again, better an off colour than none, is my mantra, we can always upgrade if a better copy appears. A way around this would be to just buy Monochrome, but they have their problems too, dupes being one, film is the magic word, not tape nor disc, many titles are not available on anything else, but film, like the film on Japan Doug picked up.
This format has been around a long time, many treasures abound out there, indeed, it might just be the only print in existence you pick up.

From what I know of Doug's recent 16mm acquisitions, he may even own the ONLY copy of any given film ANYWHERE! Some reels that he has found, will probably NEVER be seen by the masses again!

But back on topic, I'm not going to snub my nose at a print that shows some wear or color fade, if it's a good title. Considering the increasing rarity of running projectors in the U.S., I'm having a blast being one of the few around that have access to one (as well as the knowledge to operate and care for one)!

I am surprised to hear Timothy, that there is now a shortage of decent machines there in the U.S.
You have your experts there as we do here and I'd have thought there would be plenty to choose from still, given the size of your country?

Somehow I find that alarming, as I consider B&H one of the best 16mm machines, my own 2592s the last ones made in Chicago as
superb machines, can't believe that there is a shortage of repairers, Mr Pratchett I believe is a bit of a genius on your side of the pond,
no we can't send Bill Parson's.

I'd be sampling a Bauer P8 T400 if I ever were seduced into 16mm by winning the lottery! Stunning machine by all accounts.

I'd need lottery funding to move home first!

Timothy ... Why do I suddenly feel like Alex in Kubrick's A CLOCKWORK ORANGE ? hahahaha !!

On the topic of RED prints my 16mm copy of Corman's THE RAVEN has now completely turned
and stinks of to high hell of VS. Its a bin job now.

Tim, just caught the crack on tying David to a chair to watch a red print, he'd enjoy it, either that Dave, or "East Enders", believe me
Tim, he'd be putty in our hands, come to that choice, who wouldn't give in.

Okay guys ... You got me. Hahahahaha !!!!
My idea of a day in HELL. Watching a red print or an episode of EASTENDERS.

Well, I don't know how readily available reel film and machines are in you guys' corner of the world, but eBay is the main source for us. I believe Doug might agree. To go out and hunt for projectors where I am, i run across very few are those are mostly junk and not worth fixing. As far as films go, I NEVER see those in my local searches. In the U.S., we didn't have the benefit of companies such as Derann who released prints well past the videocassette revolution here. Right or wrong, people in this country are all about the latest and greatest technology (I'm not one of them though, obviously)!