----- Original Message ----- From: "Thor Legvold" <tlegvold@xxxxxxx> To: <rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, May 30, 2005 11:30 PM Subject: [rollei_list] Re: looks like ... agfa Sala >I seem to recall a scene in "Cinema Paradiso" that involved >nitrate > based film catching on fire (due to the heat of the lamp > on one section > of film that was stationary instead of rolling). > > > Thor > I don't know the movie but theater fires started by overheated film were not uncommon. There were also a couple of large fires at movie labratories and at studios from the same cause. Motion picture projectors had all sorts of safety devices on them. There were buckle trips to stop the machine if the film broke, an automatic douser on the lamphouse to close it off in case of broken film. The entire machine was enclosed and the film passed through tight rollers between the upper magazine and the projector proper, and again when leaving the projector and going into the take up magazine. There were mechanical heat fuses over each machine set up to trip the iron shutters over the projection ports and start fire sprinklers. The theater fires which inspired all this were absolutely dreadful. The public got a wake up call big time and demanded some sort of safety. Most of the directors of phography were sorry to seen nitrate stock go because it had excellent clarity where acetate sometimes could be seen to "boil" a little. Oh, well, it will all be digital soon. --- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles, CA, USA dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx --- Rollei List - Post to rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx - Subscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'subscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org - Unsubscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org - Online, searchable archives are available at //www.freelists.org/archives/rollei_list