I was recently watching the first film in the series 'Armchair Odeons', and a few of those interviewed used extensions; one saying that his could hold 6,000 feet; making the viewing of most features possible without a break. For myself; I am happy to change reels after 45-60 minutes. We had intermissions in the cinema, and changing the reel gives us something to do between watching the next part. You also have the opportunity, to make yourself a drink before continuing the show. I sit next to the projector so that i'm handy should anything go wrong, or picture of volume need to be adjusted. I would find sitting for 3 or more hours without a break rather too much. If my film has the original leaders and tails, then I try to preserve these, by adding extra leader and tail. For me, it's all part of the original film, and some contain interesting information. Ever since I got into the hobby, I have always enjoyed watching the countdown; something that you don't get on digital. I should miss all that if it was removed.

Have to disagree. I don't think there's a director alive (or dead) that would want his work broken up into chunks. It completely ruins any dramatic tension or flow. May as well watch a movie on ITV! I'm delighted to have my LPU - if I didn't have it I'd want changeovers. But that's the joy of our hobby - there's a million ways to enjoy it!

We always had the intermission in the cinema. Nowadays, it's one long show. Maybe it's a generation thing, as I frequented the cinemas less after they converted the screens to 3 in 1. I don't know when they brought in extensions for Super 8, but during the time I was active in that guage, 1973-84, I had never heard of them. All my features were supplied on 400ft spools, and that meant a change of spool every 17 minutes or so. It was considered normal practice back then; didn't stop the family enjoying the film.

Our gone with the wind and sound of music features both have the original intermissions. These are now on 4 x 1200s for GWTW and 3 x 1200s for SOM.
Have to say i bought an st1200 in the first place in order to take advantage of the hour running time so full features generally fit on 2 x 1200s. I personaly like the break in the middle for refreshments. Sometimes i will just rewind later and load up the next part right away but im more than happy to never own a long play unit. Aside that, im not too sure if 8mm projectors were designed to run two hours or more non stop. 16mm maybe but i dont thing id want to fork out for those expensive reels and an LPU.
Regarding my 16mm, i would contemplate joining films up onto 2200 reels rather than lots of 1600s but again, its all cost and up till now im more than happy with a short break or. I now have a nice light in the film room which is dimmable so this does make the breaks a bit less "sudden".

When I did 16mm mobile in the 50s I had 6000ft spools. However, most libraries who catered for mobile showmen made up a two hour programme which was considered about the maximum for an audience to sit through.
I never had any complaints from customers. Two hours seemed just right.

I was doing some research on the internet yesterday, and there seems quite a bit of support for the return of the intermission. Wikipedia gives about 50 or so titles that had intermissions as part of the film; the ones I remember personally, were De Mille's 'Ten Commandments'. 'My Fair Lady', 'King of Kings', and 'Fiddler on the Roof'. The most recent film listed to contain an intermission, was Tarantino's 'Hateful Eight' in 2015. There are several reasons given for suggesting these come back. Films are generally longer today than they were 20 years ago; mothers with small children are particularly keen on having this break: could children sit through 170 hours non stop? It's believed that the audience will be able to concentrate more on the second half after a break. The cinema audiences are said to be down due to streaming sites like Netflix, which allows you to start and stop the movie at your convenience. Cinemas are losing money as members of the audience used to buy drinks, nuts, popcorn, ice cream, during the interval.
If we are honest, who has never used the pause button on their remote when watching a DVD?

https://lifehacker.com/movie-theaters-sh...ions-1819443812
http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014...ia=gdpr-consent
http://moviemezzanine.com/call-to-action...-intermissions/

My local videma has intermissions. They threatened them a few years ago telling them they couldn't have a break in the show. I think it got in the national press. Went to see The Great Escape and they put up the intermission card Make The Great Escape to the bar.

Me I must admit to liking a contuses for the feature. Like earlier post I bought the ELMO ST1200 for the reel size now have a Fumeo 2400ft reels.

I hate the commercial breaks in films on TV. That ruins it for meg. But for some reason I don't feel the same when changing reels. It could be that my head does not get filled with shampoo or chewing gum details while changing reels in comparison to the commercials on TV. And often I want to get more Pepsi Max or pop corn anyways.

The commercial breaks on TV in the UK are getting more frequent.

i hate TV adverts with a passion, patronising and all perfectly PC.
With today's crappy digital TV services you get so many ad breaks now its getting ridiculous.
i will stick with our super 8 ad reels. At least there entertaining, well photographed and , in many cases, comical.
Have to say, i rarely watch TV other to catch up with news.
Sorry, off subject there for a bit.

I rarely watch it now Tom, Edgar Wallace Mystery on Talking pictures, and sometimes that is it for the day.