BACKGROUND INFO:
I am not a ‘film enthusiast’ and my past working life has revolved around electronics (many fields including communications, industrial and audio) and “The Arts”, more specifically, creative arts such as handcrafted fine china, ceramics and landscape artworks.
An associate has asked me to help find new owners for HIS large collection of photographic and film items … this is yet another one of those items. I am frequently asked “THE QUESTION”
So how many films do you have, Russ?
My response is … boxes and boxes of them, perhaps 350+ films are now left for me to look through … plus a few projectors
Another question I am often asked “Can I come and have a browse through the films?” Sorry, but the answer has to be a flat NO!
ALL film stock is safely away in my storage units, nice n cool and out of harms way, each day (or so) I will retrieve a few films, take a look (and smell!) at each film … absolutely NO ONE can just casually “browse” the collection. My associate wouldn’t like that and neither do I.
There is a lot of detail on this page plus even more HERE … I strongly suggest anyone who is interested in this film to read everything carefully, including looking at the link. To not do so is at your own peril!
Vinegar Syndrome “smell test” = Negative
THE 39 STEPS
Gaumont Pictures
THE 39 STEPS (1935)
3x 600 Feet TUSCAN (Australia)
3x individual 600′ TUSCAN library cases (two part, top fits into the bottom section)
Leader film is fitted to reels one (pretty short though) and reel three, reel 2 just begins with the clear film, no leader fitted. I think there is a reason for this … these are Green coloured leaders and I have found on previous films that these give no end of trouble, they seem more brittle and “kinky” than the White leaders.
NO film clips fitted to any of the reels – this is a shame because each reel is FULLY loaded right to the edge of the reel so you need to be careful when loading the film through the projector and general handling.
Black & White
Sound (Mono)
An oldie but a goodie from the master, Alfred Hitchcock. Richard Hannay, a civilian in London is accused of murdering a female secret agent, Annabella Smith. While avoiding police, Hannay tries to break up the “39 Steps” spy ring to stop them from stealing British military secrets, eventually clearing his name with the help of a reluctant woman named Pamela.

COSMETIC CONDITION:
USED
CLEAN
The unbranded library cases with drop down doors are in good condition. The library cases look to have been used quite a bit in the past and have some sort of White staining but the cases themselves are sound without any damage, they just don’t look all that pretty!
Each reel has a small White label (typewriter) in Red and the reel number
NO reels are cracked or damaged
NO personal writing on any of the film reels or the library cases
TESTING:
Test machine: ELMO 1200ST
The projector film path has been completely cleaned prior to running this film through the machine. I now have a “running sheet”, my maintenance schedule if you like – I record when each maintenance is performed because I am running a lot of films through the machine.
Film stock on the reels, including the sprocket holes, appears to be physically undamaged – I have played each reel but only the first five to ten minutes of each reel.
The contrast in the picture is fine, perhaps a little Yellowish looking but fine to watch.
Across all reels I had no issues with the sound, good level and easy to understand (not muffled)
These three reels, in their TUSCAN cases, are now stored in a cool, low humidity environment while the film awaits a new owner to consider bringing to their home …