I know that many who collect 16mm go for features,but were there many films offered in abridged versions? I ask in part because of price considerations. I'd appreciate any advice from the veteran 16mm collectors here at the forum.Thanks everyone!

You mean 15-20 minute digests? I have at least one, Island of Lost Souls I believe it was. Universal had plenty of their horrors on digests.

Thank you for the reply Vidar. I ordered a print of "David Copperfield" (1935 version) that was listed as abridged with a running time of 43-45 minutes. That running time reminds me of the 3 x 400' digests that were released in the later days of Super-8.Being new to the 16mm world I really appreciate your advice on this matter.

Hi Douglas
How abridged do you mean ? If you mean feature cut downs running around 10 -12 minutes or 18 minutes the answer is yes.
Castle Films / Universal 8 / Rank Film Paks and more sold them. There was even a cutdown of KING KONG from Robert Kingston Films.

However some libraries did abridge some prints alongside the normal running time one.

Hi David,
Thank you for the reply.Though I do plan on owning some full length features,the cut down editions would be more affordable for me but still allow me to enjoy 16mm projection and sound. I do recall now in my 1979 Universal 8 Films catalog (sadly I no longer own it) it offered a number of their Super-8 digests in 16mm editions.

Yes Douglas the digest 16mm prints are well worth collecting. The Castle Films one are usually very good copies.

Along with the Castle / Universal prints mentioned,I do hope to find more of the longer abridged versions like the David Copperfield print I ordered. Thank you David (and Vidar) for your kind advice and for helping a 16mm newcomer such as myself.

Hey Douglas that's no problem thats what we are here for. Keep on posting.

I have seen digests of "War of the Worlds", "Twenty thousand Leagues Under the Sea", "Swiss Family Robinson" and "Treasure Island" on
16mm, I have "Wind and the Lion" edited down to an hour with full scores at beginning and end.

Forgot about " THE SWIMMER" with Burt Lancaster, edited down to 30 minutes for education in schools, but a nice little film.