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Phototronics, Inc.Facts About Film (1948)

The Atlanta Board of Education and the International Film Bureau present Facts about Film. Produced by Phototronics, Inc.


This movie is part of the collection: Prelinger Archives

Producer: Phototronics, Inc.
Audio/Visual: sound, B&W
Keywords: Motion Pictures: Production; Motion Pictures: Projection

Creative Commons license: Public Domain

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Reviewer: orshick - - August 18, 2008
Subject: Pretty much what it sounds like.
Yep, this movie promises to give you the facts about film, and give you the facts it does. If you are looking to learn how to operate an old-school film projector, or just to learn more about how they did things in the good-old-days (as I was happy to) you will not be disappointed. Otherwise, this is pretty standard fare documentary from the time period, with some amusing moments as other reviewers have mentioned.

Reviewer: ERD. - - August 15, 2007
Subject: Now DVD's.
School audio-visual departments now mostly use DVD's.(Even VHS tapes are becoming dated) 16 mm film is rarely used. For 1948, however, this film did an excellent job in showing how to show a film properly.

Reviewer: Christine Hennig - - June 14, 2006
Subject: Scratches on Film May Trigger Phobias
This is an educational film about showing films, which I guess makes it meta-ephemera. The content of the film is rather dry, giving fact after fact about film and how to care for it to prevent damage. However, somebody decided to have some fun with the visuals. Thereâs a goofy kid who always demonstrates what not to do, and thereâs an anxious woman who actually appears on the film-within-a-film and reacts with fear to scratches. The kid seems to take glee on inflicting such scratches and other damage upon her. The kidâs dad also appears in the film and looks embarrassed and apologetic about the kidâs actions. This is a great film to mine for a video projectââlots of the scenes when taken out of context can provide amusing clips about film in general. There are also some striking visuals of such things as sprocket hole damage and nitrate film catching fire. All in all, this is a film that is more than the sum of its parts.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: ****. Overall Rating: ****.

Reviewer: Spuzz - - September 15, 2003
Subject: Watch out for the scratches!
Pretty amusing film on the do's and don'ts on hot to project film. Featuring a moan and a kid, it came very evident early on the kid represented the "don't" and the man represented the "do". The kid rather hilariously begins tearing up the film, while the man admonishes him for it. The kid scratches the film, and, in an astonishing bit of celluloid trickery, we see the actress on the film that he has scratched REACTING horribly to the scratches. Quite funny stuff. Other then that, pretty standard (but in a good way) film care stuff. The sound goes wonky in the final 2 minutes, so watch out for that.

Reviewer: Jussomgye - - June 30, 2003
Subject: Good film about film
This is a good overview of care of movie film. It has good examples of how film can get damaged (courtesy of a bratty kid that mishandles it) and corresponding examples of what the damage looks like when projected.

There is also a segment on threading projectors - not really a tutorial, but shows some things to watch out for that will damage film.

The sound is weak and distorted for the last minute. run time:10:02