I have two films ( one a digest, the other a feature ) in Super-8 released by a company called Powell Films. I assume that they were UK based? What's the back story on them and does anyone have a list of their releases.

Hi Doug!
Did you see the thread titled "Powell Films" over on the 8mm Forum? It got a few responses, including a list of releases. Unfortunately, no one seems to know the history of the company.

Tim: Thanks for the heads up on that! I'll check it out and see what our UK friends know about that company.

Despite the fact that he was very fond of the bottle,the quality of his films was generally very good.

Interesting side note then about Mr. Powell! I would enjoy seeing a book on companies such as this and Bob Lane ( of Ken Films. )

Tony Powell was the owner. Off the top of my head for releases

The Iron Maiden
An Elephant Called Slowly
The Quiet Man
Angels One-Five
They Were Not Divided
The Tygon Factor Not sure about this
The Happiest Days Of Your Life
The Sound Barrier
The Captain's Paradise
The Fallen Idol
The Ghost Train
Convict 99
Up In The World
A Night To Remember
Malta Story
Don't Lose Your Head
Nothing But The Night
Hands Of The Ripper
First Man Into Space
Rio Grande
Munster Go Home

Most of the features were abridged like most super 8 at the time, and 400ft versions of some too.


Lots of Movietone News

5 X 4ooft-10 Reels

Winchester 73-James Stewart
Touch Of Evil-Orson Wells
Munster Go Home-Fred Gwynne
The Fabulous Dorsey Brothers
Phantom Of The Opera-Herbert Lom-Hammer
Sands Of Iwo Jima-John Wayne
The Shooting-Jack Nicholson
Equinox-Jack H Harris
The Mighty Gorga-Bill Mckenna
Journey To The Centre Of Time-Scott Brady
From Nashville With Music-Country Music
Togetherness-Peter Lawford
Nine Ages Of Nakedness-Harrison Marks
While The City Sleeps-Fritz Lang
Canadian Pacific-Randolph Scott
Macbeth-Orson Wells
Corridors Of Blood-Boris Karloff
Jack And The Beanstalk-Abbott & Costello
Back From Eternity-Rod Steiger
Reign Of Terror-Robert Cummings
Days Of Thrills And Laughter
First Man Into Space-Marshall Thompson
Second Chorus-Fred Astaire
Hobsons Choice-Charles Laughton
The Quiet Man-John Wayne
Rio Grande-John Wayne
A Gathering Of Eagles-Rock Hudson
Carry On Don't Lose Your Head-Sid James
A Night To Remember-Kenneth Moore
Happiest Days Of Your Life-Alistair Sim
An Elephant Called Slowly
Lady With The Lamp-Anna Neagle
The Sound Barrier-Ralph Richardson
Malta Story-Jack Hawkins
The Trygon Factor-Stewart Granger
Fallen Idol-Ralph Richardson
Up In The World-Norman Wisdom

4 X 400ft-8 Reels

Vampyres
Hands Of The Ripper-Hammer
Blood From The Mummys Tomb-Hammer
Nothing But The Night-Christopher Lee
The Railway Children-Jenny Agutter
The Great St Trinians Train Robbery-Frankie Howard

Many thanks for posting this David! I have "The Sound Barrier " feature plus the 400' digest of "A Gathering of Eagles". Would love to find "Munster Go Home" and "The Malta Story" one day reasonably priced.

Ive got a couple of Powell films that include - The Great St. Trinians Train Robbery, Nothing But the Night and Assault.

Once you see all these listed, in the manner David very kindly has, I find myself saying, oh yeah..ive got that one, or yes...I remember now.

But until you see the list put together for companies like Powell or PM, I generally struggle to ever bring to mind even more than a hand full, so thanks for that David!
Great work there!! 😊😊😊

Thanks everyone for your input on this topic!

I hadn't even heard about Powell films. I still struggle to remember the ones I have heard about and to remember what was special for each of them. I must start taking notes :-)

In the UK we had two types of film companies. Those like Powell, P. M. Films, Derann and a few more who released films and others who just sold films. Regent Films in Blackpool sold Blackhawk and Thunderbird releases among others.

Munster Go Home was in black and white only. See a couple of 'classics' too: The Mighty Gorga

I thought moslty about the ones releasing films like Blackhawk, Derann, Ken films and Walton. You that has been here for a while know the releases and which ones creating good copies and not. I have no idea which ones are known to be good, and which ones made not so good copies.

Most films in b/ w from PM and Powell films will still be good Eivind if they have been looked after. It's just the colour prints you need to check the degree of fade on before you commit to parting with your money to ensure you will be satisfied.

This isn't so much a company thing here, it's more era related.
At the end of the day, Derann's pre and early 80's prints were not always so good either.
I saw "that'll be the day" over on e bay last week. This was a popular 70's Derann release but now suffers from very bad fade, well certainly on the one advertised for sale anyhow.

Also many prints from this era on Super 8mm, suffered from being quite "grainy".

Your Powell and PM releases at the end of the day, were all released by the very early 80's at the very latest. That is why it is unrealistic to expect these SP stock colour prints to be anything like the ones Derann released in the mid to late 80's on better and more stable colour film stocks.

The only earlier companies that I know of that tended always to release on low fade stocks that were the best for the day were companies such as Walton, Red Fox and Kempski.

Perhaps David could add a few more here?

Thanks Andrew! You should write a book: The collector's guide to Super 8 films :-) I would have bought it! :-)

People like David, Barry, Dave,Alan and of course Hugh and Tom and many many others know far more about film releases and their respective origins, far more thoroughly than I ever will, Eivind!

A joint project, then :-)

Due to the ever present color fade (and to various degrees of it) that's another reason I don't mind the Powell (and others) releases being in B & W. Even if the original was in color the B & W doesn't detract from my enjoyment of the film. In a strange way it reminds me of being a kid when our parents gave us their old B & W TV to put in our bedroom when they bought a color one for the main living room. I watched many a movie and TV program on that old set, and didn't mind it at all.

I agree. And although a wonderful color print is really great, I don't mind watching red films either. With a filter it is a bit like a b/w print.

Just waiting for my son to get to sleep and then I will watch a b/w movie :-)

I have a color filter for my Kodak Pageant and one coming in soon for my Eiki 16 mm machine. In time I will do the same for my Super-8 machines as well. They do make a difference on red / pinkish prints.

Powell Films were around in the early to late 1980's and their 8mm prints were very good, well edited and told the story very well.
I had the 4 x 400 of the Great St Trinians Train Robbery and it told the story great.
The trouble was that Tony Powell did like the bottle and I think that was the down fall of him.
If you can get your hands on a Powell Films release they are good and highly recommend them

Pisshead Powell ...

We must not forget about those companies in the UK who only hired out the prints.
A very important part of the hobby for those who did not have deep pockets and could
only afford to rent the prints for a weekend or a week or so.
They were a great way of sampling a film before deciding to purchase these very expensive
prints whether a cutdown digest or full length feature.
I really miss being able to hire films.
They were a great way to source material for the film club I used to run.