[Nogginthenog]

How many of you remember the Walport films that usually came in three reels. First you had to watch the trailer safety film where the engineer lost his finger or the sparky got electrocuted, plus you must have mixed up the reels at one time in your life where you put reel3 on after reel1 much to verbal abuse from the fellow viewers.
Can you imagine todays youth having to go back to that if they didn’t have the internet etc.

 

[Erimus]

As a Junior Shipping Clerk getting those Walport metal boxes from the railway and onboard ( also with the Seafarers Education Service Library boxes) was a nightmare...it was fine if you could meet,say a 3rd Mate, on the gangway but otherwise it was hump them onboard myself.

geoff

 

[david.hopcroft]

With the projector in the office showing on a big screen, sitting up on the balcony with beer & sarnies at the ready enjoying the warm breeze wafting up from the warm bitumen cargo. Or on less clement days belting up from aft because your auto alarm had gone off. Or watching a burn mark spread across the screen because the film had stopped.

Remember it well.

David
+

 

[david freeman]

remeber

How many of you remember the Walport films that usually came in three reels. First you had to watch the trailer safety film where the engineer lost his finger or the sparky got electrocuted, plus you must have mixed up the reels at one time in your life where you put reel3 on after reel1 much to verbal abuse from the fellow viewers.
Can you imagine todays youth having to go back to that if they didn’t have the internet etc.

most of the films as I remember them were 'B' films [Cinema rating] and a lot of horse operas, and those red Indians being chased by the us cavalry.
No sexy films, or port said imports. In foreign ports off watch, especially in west Africa we were invited to a film show on a Russian ship-general cargo? a break after our tanker, and the intriguing meeting not with the captain, but the commisaire.

 

[Nogginthenog]

I remember some of the films were so bad that if you mixed up the reels sometimes you never even noticed until for example the credits came up at the end of the 2nd reel but was in fact the 3rd reel.

 

[Bill Greig]

I seem to remember we also used the company Catermoulls for films too. We often had Russian crew coming on board to swop films for the night in port. All they every asked for was Clint Eastwood movies. We politely took their films but don't ever remember showing on of the propaganda epics.

 

[Tony Morris]

I remember the Russians asking if we had any Benny Hill - universal humour.

 

[martin winn]

On a Brocks ship in Colombo we exchanged with a Russian ship. I advertised the film as "how to fix your tractor soviet style." Somebody said, "who wants to watch that." It turned out to be very funny. It started with a donkey refusing to budge,blocking the road. No matter what, it wouldn't move. Then a very attractive young lady walked in front and winked. The donkey moved.

 

[G0SLP]

Ah yes, Walport films - and as the junior cadet on my first deep sea trip (King Alfred, January to May 1981) it fell to me to be the projectionist...

Other safety film trailers - the bacon slicer chopping off a finger, and the blowback whilst flashing up a boiler...

 

[NINJA]

Watched the spaghetti westerns that many times, could pick that subject to answer questions on Mastermind

 

[Quiney]

Was on a ship where german engineer had joined to do some monitoring on the main engine/prop shaft as the ship was relatively new and loaded down to the marks.
We showed the film 'The eagle has landed'
When asked, he said he enjoyed it and in Germany they have war films where they win!

 

[Tony Busby]

We swapped a James Bond film with a Russian ship in Budge Budge. I stayed on the Russian ship when the vodka started to flow so don't know what they gave us. Just remember a very hospitable night and a bad head the following day.

 

[R798780]

Film change on Brocklebank's "Maihar"entering the Panama canal; Asst Purser on the gangway

 

[Jim Glover]

The safety films were the best part of the movies sometimes

 

[lakercapt]

Drifting off Nauru for 34 days the Walport films had been viewed ad nausium and for a change, the Movie "South Pacific" was viewed backwards. This was not on purpose but the film broke and when that reel finished a big pile was found on the deck. Rather than try and fix it we ran it backwards on to the reel.

 

[Nogginthenog]

I remember cinema night on Halul Island ( a tank farm)off Qatar. A Jimmy Bond film was to be shown but any bare flesh on a woman was blacked out be it arms, legs, rump, cleavage or whatever was left. Suffice to say there was very little of the film that didn’t have a big black square on the screen.I think I was first out the door followed by other Europeans but don’t remember any of the locals leaving before the end.Maybe they hoped the censor had missed a bit of flesh they could get excited over.

 

[Stephen J. Card]

I think one of my favourites.... It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad. Mad, Mad World! c. 1970. Must have seen it dozen or more times.... and many times since!

 

[dannic]

Cadets job, saturday evening, rewinding and then showing three reeler, projector was on the bar so cadets had to be behind bar......with access to fridge! great days!
Dannic

 

[Varley]

I think a vote of thanks to Geoff is due.

 

[duncs]

Re, giving the Russies movies, their "sprockets?" on their projectors were different to British projectors. You ended up getting a fckd up movie back which was unplayable again!