Following on from Greg's comments on the Xanadu viewing, i do like 8mm films for the edited versions of features, it is very unique and, as in the case of Xanadu, can make a so so film much more viewable, or at least, turn a cinema flop into something viewable and fun.
Xanadu is one of top titles in that league, others i think could include,
Helter Skelter, (the original TV movie was three hours long), this Iver release covers the story very well in 30 minutes,
Saturn 3, the feature is quite long drawn out, so this 400ft version packs in the story, the only down side to this title is the lack of an end title.
Star Trek The Motion picture. On this one you have to be a real trek fan to want to sit through the full feature, this 45/50 minute cut down is fairly good despite some of the crappy editing by Marketing.
The Exorcist, while not a bad feature, (for those who like the film) the 3 x 400ft version packs in the story very well, ours has the few extra parts that were in the 400ft version edited into our 3 x 400. The editing of this film is, in my opinion very good.
Who Dares wins, this 600ft version is very well edited and again, makes a long film a much better viewing. The feature isn't a bad movie, its just very long. As everyone in the hobby knows, the digest or mini features allow us all the unique chance of viewing many movies in one showing. It may not be the way the film makers want their movies viewed, but singling out the makers of Xanadu, they should be thanking U8 for making one of the worst movies into a watchable fun reel.
I know there are many in the hobby who will only collect features but it think the min features and shorts are one of the best parts of the hobby, clearly, with new releases selling, they still are.

I personally think a lot of collectors will watch films that are not that good because they are on film, me included, so when a good edit comes along you do appreciate it, Mark

Thats true, we had the 3 400 version of the first star trek movie for years. I saw it in the cinema when it was first released, ive never seen the full feature since, nor do i want to. But viewed the mini feature dozens of times before we sold it once fade set in.
As for xanadu, i couldnt sit through the feature again,(unless a full feature in mint condition was offered for £50 or under)

Mark,

How do you compare the Elvis full features vs. the shorter digests? Are they each good in there own way? Your thoughts?

A very good question, Greg, as I have "Fun in Acapulco" on a 400 on its way :-)

What makes Xanadu a good cutdown is simply the music, the film is well not that great, the other saving grace for me is Gene Kelly, the music's pretty good and pretty much goes from song to song, it's basically a multiple music video, it's a great one to rerecord too, sounds amazing.

Greg,
Now I'm not sure how to take that as the thread says Dud movies and we all know Elvis never made a bad one!!, the 400 footers are very good, some of the songs are edited but apart from that you get a good story flow as the editing is very good, I'd say to keep in topic Change of Habit is probably a good candidate for this thread.

Elvind,
The very film that got me into the hobby, Mark

Mark, i think i may not have given the thread a fair title to be honest. Not too sure of the word, "Dud".
Elvis films, mmmm
I think even Elvis got bored with it all, and during the later ones he couldn't tell one plot from another, i have watched a few for the music, and myself have the 3 x 400 version of Viva Las Vegas which is a good edit. I have had the 400ft edit of Blue Hawaii, both flat and scope versions. Sadly, the scope version was too far faded for me to want to keep, the flat version had fade but still plenty of colours. The Elvis films edited to 400ft certainly make them more viewable for me, the story flows well as Mark said with the aid of that narrator which isn't too intrusive. They certainly squeeze in a lot of the songs but only very short edited versions, i think i would have preferred less, but full versions.
I did also have the 400ft version of Girls Girls Girls, and the one thing i really liked about this one is the song Return to sender is there in full. Much better. Again we sold it on due to too much fade for my liking. A shame more 3 x 400ft versions wernt released.

Viva Las Vegas is a very good 3x400 and I agree its a shame more Elvis 3x400 weren't released but quite a few features were so I guess that's why,Mark

Thinking about digests this week. I liked the 2x400ft/600ft ones. Sometimes those old Castle Films 'Headline Edition' were too long.

The 30 minute versions and 3 x400 versions are defiantly among the best. Titles like Raise the titanic, Gremlins, 633 squadron and Viva Las Vegas, to name a few, were so well edited, they kept the story together and didn't require that awful narrator that Columbia and 20th Century often over used. Having said that, a number of those old 400ft versions were equally well done and made for some good viewing, The French connection being one of the best along with the seven ups. Unfortunately those all seem to be badly faded now. U8's 2 x 400ft, (double albums as Iver film services called them) were fine but one or two of the edits were a bit erratic, and as for marketing!! They had some of the very best titles but aside a few well edited editions, many of their 3 x 400s had some terrible and obvious cuts. But the super 8 digest/mini feature, call it what you like, were generally very good and some of the quality was first class and, in my view, as good as the new releases.

I think I only had one UK 400ft release with narration and that was Walton's When Eight Bells Toll. I bought the scope release and that had some very limited narration. Tom you mentioned a few really good abridgements The Wild Geese was a good edit. Where Eagles Dare was a fair job for a complicated plot, although the ending was cut. Now MASH was I think a very poor edit (400ft).

I did forget about those two releases, Both The Wild Geese and Where Eagles dare where brilliantly edited as was Superman 2, as for MASH, i agree, i bought a copy of that title and sold it after one viewing, the same with Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid, this one was ruined by the pointless over use of narration especially at the very end where it wasn't even needed.
One Marketing reel that i thought was actually very well done was Raiders of the lost ark, to cut that film down from a two hour feature to under 20 minutes must have been such a challenge, but i think they pulled it off quite well, such as shame the 3 x 400ft version never materialised.

One of the winners for one of the worst cut down has to be Straight Jacket, the amount of narration, including one part where the actors name is mentioned as he walks into the scene made the film into a comedy. I have no idea what they were thinking about with that film.

While many of the above titles were very good films in their feature lengths, the two you mentioned, wild geese and Eagles dare were turned into top quality edits by both Derann and MGM.
As for the already mentioned, Xanado, which i do have on low fade stock, this has now become a good fun film, (bit of guilty eye candy in there with Newton John), i could not sit through the feature again. Once was enough.

Westworld is a very good 3x400, Marathon Man is not the best edit but enjoyable, Ben Hur is another which I think is better than the feature, the 3x600 Sound of Music is good too. Close Encounters 400ft I thought was awful and didn't keep it long but you can only get so much in. The Casino Royale 1967 600ft is about as good as editing goes, they pretty much cut out Woody Allen apart from a small section and made David Niven look like the main James Bond character, I actually prefer it, whoever did the chop job did a great job, Mark

You learn something new every day Mark, i never realised that there was a 600ft edit o 1967 f Casino Royal, i dont think i've ever seen that on second hand list either.
West World, definatly another good one, very well edited, again, such a shame that these all seem to be pretty much faded. Ice station Zebra was ok but again too faded to keep.
When close encounters came out as a 400ft edition i was over the moon, when i first viewed it i so deflated at the crap editing job. I know some collectors think its ok or even, excellent, but as a big fan of the film, i can honestly say i thought it was one of the worst 400ft editions they did, the image was grainy as hell and the content was choppy to say the least.
We would all have our favourites but i think many digests and mini features have definatly made some long drawn out features into much more viewable movies, and with much repeatability.
Assault on precinct 13 was an excellent edit but again, the image was good but a bit grainy and there were just two edits that were not quite right and made you think, what happened there? But it was a good 600ft version.
Jaws 2 was one i couldn't stand, i just wanted the shark to eat those kids and shut them up!
Deranns edit of Stardust was one of those rare Derann edits that i didn't think was up to much, Derann edits were generally very good, clearly it's only edited to a certain point in the movie and ends abruptly, i think it should have been another 4 x 400ft version to go with That'll be the day.

I put up a few pics on here of Casino Royale Tom, I have no idea how to do a link but it's still on here.

Grease is a good fun 3x400, again as colour is mentioned then these will have some fade now, some do retain good colour still, Superman is another good one but again colour is an issue and I've found on more than one occasion soft focus. I also like the 2x600 The Colditz Story and Clash of the Titans 3x400, Mark

I like Casino Royale (Niven one) Never took to Craig as Bond. thought when he was running up that crane they would play Superman. Think this is the link to the 1965 version Original