In recent weeks, I have been on the hunt for some interesting silent 16mm films for my 1948 Keystone A-82. These films are not as plentiful (probably due to their age now) as sound 16mm films. It is even harder to find these in mint condition original boxes. It's no surprise though, as many of these boxes were printed in the 1940's and 1950's. Pictured below are a few 100' titles that I have found to date. For those unaware, the 100' reels are the equivalent of a 50' reel in the 8mm format. There were some 400' reels available back in the day, but these are even more challenging to find in their original boxes.


The reels themselves are made of various materials, ranging from pressed steel & aluminum, to heavy cardboard and plastic.


I have discovered a significant difference in silent 16mm film, and sound 16mm film. The silent 16mm film format contains sprocket holes on both sides of the film (see photo below), whereas sound film reserves one side for the soundtrack, and only contains sprocket holes on the corresponding side. A silent 16mm film MAY be played on a sound projector, but a sound film should NEVER be played on a silent projector, as the sprocket teeth will chew up the soundtrack side of the film!

Tim! You have a nice little collection. As you say, it´s really hard to find these old jewels, in good condition in original boxes. They were often used in handcranked "toy" projectors. The kids could project them "hundreds" of times. I have a couple of sillent Castle 400´s in original boxes. All travelogues in good condition.

I hardly ever see the 50ft silent equivalents in Super 8mm or Standard 8mm now with their original boxes.
These were the very films I began collecting as a child and I'd love to find some of those titles again just as a nostalgic walk down memory lane.

Very very rare now though sadly and you've done well my friend to find those gems there in such lovely condition with their boxes all in tact.

A lot of the 16mm silent films were mute copies of sound films (sometimes with a few inter-titles) and as such need to be projected at 24fps. The main exception being the amber prints from the old Kodascope film library.

Interesting Maurice! Luckily, my old projector has speed control on it. A good piece of information there. Thanks!

Those boxes look great! I have only a few card board boxes for 16mm, but they are in a terrible condition compared to this.

All of the Castle Films titles were available in 8mm as well, with the same artwork on the boxes. :-) But these boxes are so fragile, I store the actual films separately, to avoid overhandling the boxes. ;-)

Hi, good article. Sad but true about the condition of the boxes. Nearly all my 16mm films are canned. Very few films are in a cardboard box and a couple are not original boxes. It is good when you have the original box but I would hesitate to keep the box separate from the film, to me it would just seem so wrong. Your way is no doubt the best for safe keeping.
David.