9.5mm film taken by German soldier WWII

dutchsteammachine · Jan 27, 2020

I am currently working on acquiring a collection of original 9,5mm films recorded during WWII. Dates early 1940s. Films in fair condition with lines.

Eventually they will all be digitized in 4K by high-end archival scanners and preserved in ProRes444.

Eventually they will be published on YouTube with watermarks.

I have made a quick setup to get an idea of what is on one of the films. These appear to be barrack scenes.

Results shown here not representative of final scan with proper 4K scanner.

Expect more info in the following months.

Get an idea of what is on this individual reel here.

Best regards,
Niels

Old_Dick · Jan 27, 2020

Niel, thanks for restoring history.

tacomamf · Jan 28, 2020

Nice job working with old film. I need to do this for a buddy of mine, lost footage of a parent that passed away before she was grown. Can't wait to see what's on all of that film.

railwayman3 · Jan 28, 2020

Excellent work.....I'm sure that all the newsreels and official film from all sides of WW2 is well preserved and archived, but it's the personal films of "ordinary" people that can so easily be lost.

I was given a 400 ft reel of 9.5mm some time ago, with the suggestion that it was original film of 1930's and 1940's railways, so need to look at that asap. I have a 9.5mm projector in good condition, but need to give it a once-over to see that it's still running OK and not likely to damage the film.

Kino · Jan 28, 2020

railwayman3 said:
Excellent work.....I'm sure that all the newsreels and official film from all sides of WW2 is well preserved and archived...

If it were only true...

guangong · Jan 28, 2020

I doubt that all news and documentary film was preserved. Perhaps some notable events. Even many feature films are lost because once retired from circulation many films were dissolved in order to recover silver.
Films recording daily life of ordinary people in different aspects of human condition are always fascinating. The OP's project will be an important contribution.

AgX · Jan 28, 2020

railwayman3 said:
Excellent work.....I'm sure that all the newsreels and official film from all sides of WW2 is well preserved and archived, but it's the personal films of "ordinary" people that can so easily be lost.

In Germany there is one commercial archive specialized in acquiring and restoring such private footage.

But, yes, "ordinary" has to be taken with some grains of salt, as amongst Europeans only few and typically effluent people were able do cinematic photography those days, especially under war-time conditions.

dutchsteammachine · Jan 30, 2020

AgX said:
In Germany there is one commercial archive specialized in acquiring and restoring such private footage.

But, yes, "ordinary" has to be taken with some grains of salt, as amongst Europeans only few and typically effluent people were able do cinematic photography those days, especially under war-time conditions.

Could you point me to this archive? I would be interested in hearing their recommendations for these films.

AgX · Jan 30, 2020

http://www.karlhoeffkes.de

This firm has a Youtube channel too
https://www.youtube.com/user/KarlHoeffkes/

dutchsteammachine · Apr 1, 2020

I Now have a Kaiser Slimlite plano LED light box, as a high-quality light source for viewing positives.

Made some more test shots:

AgX · Apr 21, 2020

Taken at Goslar.

dutchsteammachine · Apr 22, 2020

The seller has more WWII films like this made by the same person, but wants to sell them for 500 euros each. This is too much for me.

He also has amateur 9.5mm films made in 1930s by most likely the same person, typical family movies and days out. These are cool for context, and maybe we can find out location / family. For a lot less thankfully. Most films anyways...

I'll see what I can do.

9.5mm film taken by German soldier WWII

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