The Day I Became The Richest Man In Town - by Mark Roth Well...the richest kid in town, anyway. On November 15, 1976, I received a film I had ordered by mail. It was a Super 8mm sound print of Its a Wonderful Life. I had ordered it about three weeks earlier from a company in South Bend, Indiana called Niles Film Products. I had never seem the film before. Nor, it seemed, had anyone else. We need to step back to put this in perspective. In the USA bicentennial year of 1976, we had no personal computers, no cell phones, no VCRs or DVDs. If you wanted to own a film, you had to buy an actual film - 35mm, 16mm or 8mm. It was an expensive hobby. At this point I was supporting my mania with a paper route, so the cost of Its a Wonderful Life ($149.00) was a major commitment. Despite being nominated for 5 academy awards including best picture, Its a Wonderful Life was not well received by the post-war public and failed to even recoup its cost at the box office. It soon fell into obscurity and was forgotten until the copyright lapsed and it fell into the public domain. Niles Film Products began promoting their release of Its a Wonderful Life a month or so before my purchase. Since the legal availability of feature films at this time was limited to those in the public domain and a handful of licensed releases, an announcement of this kind was a real event. Since I had never seen the film, my purchase was blind. I relied on the Niles marketing, along with the films incredible cast, to insure that my purchase would be a worthy investment. Remember, IMDB was decades away. So, I kept my fingers crossed and hoped for the best. There was always the possibility that the film could be a dull stinker or, possibly worse, the print could be made from shoddy source materials, like a scratchy, washed out negative. When the film arrived, I was at first surprised to see that it looked more like two films than one. It was mounted on eight 400 foot reels packed in two of Niles feature film cartons. I threaded up my trusty Eumig Mark S807D projector and started the show. As the film went on, reel change after reel change, I found myself completely captivated. Not only was this a great film but Niles had outdone themselves by providing a needle-sharp print with superb contrast and sound. By the time I reached the joyful, rapturous ending, I realized I had something very special. I was elated to see the story unfold for the first time on my very own screen. I was the owner of what was, at that time, a little-known cinema classic! Subsequent showings for family and friends confirmed my impression. No one, it seemed, had ever heard of the film and the reaction during my screenings was universal - tears, laughter and joy. I had indeed struck gold and screening Its a Wonderful Life would become a yearly holiday tradition. It wasnt very long, however, before Its a Wonderful Life made its way to television. After a while, it seemed to be everywhere - sliced, diced, truncated and colorized, the two hour film was smashed into 90 minute time slots and abused in every conceivable manner. This ended, thankfully, when its public domain status was withdrawn. It seemed that Republic Pictures still owned The Greatest Gift, the short story upon which the film was based, and subsequent TV showings were limited. Its a Wonderful Life, however, could never again be the obscure gem it had been for me. But, for at least a little while, I had something rare and precious - a real treasure. I was the richest man (kid) in town!
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 00:09:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015