Last week it was announced that A WRINKLE IN TIME was going to be remade into a film. The popular book by Madeleine L’Engle, had previously been filmed as a TV movie in 2004 but this was going to be a full theatrical version. Some of the stories questioned if they could get the story right as a film version.
I never read the book. And, I never saw the previous movie. But the story was always a favorite of mine.
Why?
Because of the filmstrip.
Does anyone else remember filmstrips?
Before video, filmstrips were spools of 35mm film that threaded through a projector. Accompanied by a cassette tape, with beeps telling you when to turn the frame, they illustrated the story.
They ranged from health and science films to adaptations of popular books of the day.
The filmstrips were projected on a screen. In class, one student was usually picked to advance the film on the beep (and to be yelled at by the rest of the class for missing a beep).
If it was a high tech projector, it automatically flipped on the beep. This was often faulty, with the projector missing a beep, or flipping a frame and a half instead.
In the late 70’s and early 80’s, in school, many classes would have a personal player that you could watch during study breaks. You had the little box that lit up, threaded the film through, and loaded the oversized tape deck with earphones and listened along. This was always really cool. Most of the big Newberry Award winning books had filmstrip versions.
My mom was a teacher so my sister and I would often get to talk her into bringing one of the personal players home on the weekends with a bunch of boxes of films. This was in the days before VCRs so it was the closest you got to renting videos.
A WRINKLE IN TIME was one of the best. It was made up of several canisters, had a very good voice cast and sound effects. The one I watched the most was IT’S LIKE THIS CAT, by Emily Cheney Neville. This was a story about a boy and his cat growing up in New York City in the 1960’s. Loved this one, which even had a music score to it.
By the late 80’s, the filmstrips had been transferred to VHS and were being released that way. It wasn’t the same. The intimacy of having that little box in front of you that you could control, clicking through whenever you heard the beep, was gone. Instead, it was like watching bad animation.
The sad thing is, filmstrips seem to be forgotten. I looked on Ebay and there was little to be found. It is a technology that has been completely replaced.
4 comments:
I have never had acces to filmstrips, nor have I ever seen one, though I'm quite sure I understand the feeling you get when looking at one. You were definitely lucky to experiment this. As for "A Wrinkle in Time", I've read the book, but I can't remember much of it, except that some characters had weird names, like "Mrs. Who", "Mrs. Which" etc. I think I'll watch the 2003 movie to remember everything, thanks for reminding me about this book.
hello i work for a donation place and we just recieved 3 boxes full of filmstrip walt disney stories one box is labeled a holiday festival and has 4 filmstrips in it with 4 cassetts one of twistyline and valentine, the lavender leprechan,ricketty rabbit and teh easter egg, then i have a box that has the ear book,the foot book,out me in the zoo,the eye book and nose book with filmstrip,and cassett and books. then the third one is in a blue carring case with 16 filmstrips and 7 cassetts does anyone know the price or what these might be worth. Thank you for your assistance in this matter you can email me at itscindergirl@yahoo.com
I remember seeing the filmstrip for A Wrinkle in Time in junior high. At the time I saw it I did not care much for it. But now, I would surely like to see it again! It's been too long and I'm not positive, but I could swear there were some spooky-looking slides on that strip. Too bad they have become obsolete. But I'm sure someone out there has a well-preserved copy.
I remember the filmstrip in grammar school. It was a couple years later when i read the book. But the images of It are burned in my head from the strip. I'm looking to track a copy down if one exists for sale. I collect film strips. They're a hoot at parties. Educational to boot. Boop! ~turn the frame~
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