Old Drive In Movie Gear........Is It Worth Anything?

[nattydread]

my teeraks dad used to have a "drive in" thai style movie theatre business that he travelled around thailand with...........it fell into disuse when tv and video became widespread in the outlying villages.........he used to set up a big white screen in the villages and project reel to reel thai movies onto it..........i had a look at the gear today gathering dust in the shed and by the look of the dials and style of the equipment it looks to date back to the 1940s or possibly earlier..he also has many old movies on reel to reel..........i would like to know if there is a collectors market for this type of stuff and what it could be worth ,if anything.............if anybodys interested i will take some pics of the stuff and post it on thaivisa.............thanks.

[katana]

Some old Thai movies I've seen from the 70s and earlier are really badly preserved so the old reel to reel ones may be of interest if they haven't degraded and can be transferred.

[Ciaphas]

Projectors are not considered collectors items due to their size, you'll also be lucky if the stock is still redeemable if they have been left in a shed in a country like Thailand with it's high humidity. The cost of restoring old film is prohibitively expensive so unless there is a rare gem of a film and you have the only surviving print I can't see anyone being that interested. Your best bet would be to contact the Thai version of the BFI if they even have one and seeing if they want a look.

[svenivan]

I cannot help you giving advice about what to do with the gear.

But my father did the same in Sweden during two summers in 1948-49. Travelling around in south of Sweden with a big tent a la circus tent, projector and a white screen.

I was with him the last year but could not help much because I was only like 4-5 months old. The problem was always to find a place where he could get electricity.

[astral]

The problem was always to find a place where he could get electricity.

That comment reminds me of a small town Indonesia, over looking the Island of Krakatoa.

As late as 1990 the town had no mains electricity. So the local cinema, a proper building,

was extremely popular on a Saturday night, powered by their own generator.

Showing gaudy Indian dance dramas, with subtitles.

Closed now, with the advent of electricity and satellite TV.

[hughden]

What type of lens is on the projector? That might be worth something to somebody.