eBay

Set of - Craig/Moviola Master Film Rewinds for Super-8 Film - With Tension Screws. These are for Super-8 only. These are Working Tools for Editors.

Craig Corporation is known in the industry as the Mouse that ate an Elephant. In the history section below, you'll see that the company became Ediquip, and ended up buying Moviola, Precision, and made Viewers - taking the Moviola Name as the surviving identity.

CRAIG Brochure: "Master Rewinds for reels to 2000 feet capacity with tension brake and locking device --- Large Wooden handles. Finished in textured gray" "Especially made for the advanced amateur and professional movie maker who uses large reels." These have 8 inches from shaft to bench. For a time, Early TV Stations used Super-8 Mag Sound Film - these rewinds were probably designed for that kind of professional use. I normally don't run into Super-8 16 inch reels.

On the feed rewind (Left if you are right handed) a Tension Screw for control. For viewing film, the full reel is on the feed (left) rewind with the film going under - sprockets away from you. For rewinding, the full reel starts on the Left rewind with the film going over the top, and your gloved Left hand holding the film lightly against the back edge of the take up reel for an even - somewhat tight wind. This way you are always using your strongest arm to do the work. If your wind is loose - the film can "cinch" and scratch.

These Rewinds are the Medium size with 8 inches from Shaft to Bench. They will take up to a 15.5 inch reel - Roughly 1600 feet. The brochure (reproduced) says they take 2,000 foot reels. As an Editor, I need to say that Camera stock is thinner, and you might get 2.000 on a 16" reel, but Print stock is thicker and you wouldn't get over 1,800 feet on a reel - and reels that full would be heavy and no fun to work with.... I'm an Editor - so these are complete and ready to work. The Tension screws are complete & I oiled the gears. These are in good working condition.

The previous user took magic marker and wrote "EMPTY" all over one rewind and "FULL" all over the other rewind. The actual labels should be "FEED" and "TAKEUP" like mentioned above. But - whatever - doesn't affect the working of the rewinds.

If you want lightweight editing gloves, you can order them on eBay, however, they are also carried as Sewing Gloves at Sewing supply stores, and for some strange reason, Sewing Gloves are cheaper than Editing Gloves. . These just take Super-8, (Larger shaft diameter than 8 or 16mm). Just a note on shipping. USPS Priority Mail is shipping by Air - faster than ground. And if your purchase fits in a 9x12x5" Medium or 12x12x5" Large Flat Rate Box, it can be a great bargain! But if your state touches Arizona, Ground is just as fast as Air.

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TIP: Large Film reels should always be stored vertically - never horizontally as the weight of a stack of reels can break off edges of film that are sticking out. In fact - you never want to stack large reels of film horizontally - so buy a film rack for Vertical Storage - or build one out of 2x2" wood rails held about 6 inches apart.

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TIP: If you run into Vinegar Syndrome, there is a product discontinued decades ago that fixes it and it has been reintroduced. A standard VITAFILM cleaning fixes most cases. Tough cases might need putting the reel of film in the large half of a film can and soaking it. Remember that Vinegar Syndrome is a film stock problem - not an emulsion problem. VITAFILM works well and is available from eBay vendors.

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And a little History. “Iwan Serrurier started his Moviola company in 1917 to build a home movie viewer. The name was a copy of Victrola since he thought his invention would do for home movie viewing what the Victrola did for home music listening. But the machine cost $600 in 1920 (that’s over $20,000 in today’s dollars), so not many sales. An editor at the Studios of Douglas Fairbanks suggested that Iwan should adapt the device for use by film editors. Serrurier did this and the Moviola as an editing device was born in 1924 with the first Moviola being sold to Douglas Fairbanks himself. All of the Major Studios jumped on board, and his invention was an immediate success. A full line of Editing Equipment followed.

In 1966 Moviola Corporation. was sold to Magnasync Corporation (a subsidiary of Craig Corporation) of North Hollywood for $3 million. The new name was Magnasync/Moviola Corporation. The new management immediately tripled its production and earned back its purchase price within 2 years. Competitors sprang up. Ediquip copied the equipment with excellent quality, and painted it Moviola Green, and was promptly sued by Moviola. By the time the lawsuit was settled, the industry was fading, and Ediquip ended up buying both Moviola & Precision for Sound Equipment, adopting Moviola as the surviving name. In the transition period you are likely to find Moviola, Precision, and Ediqup equipment branded under any of those names. Ediquip wasn’t the only company to copy Moviola – Japanese Company Takita also marketed very similar equipment – many of the parts interchangeable just like Ediquip…. HFC - Hollywood Film Company also made excellent rewinds - but the parts are not interchangeable with any of the Moviola brands. Moviola Company was sold to J&R Film Corporation in 1984. They are not supporting any of the older film equipment. (Thanks to Wikipedia for the basics in this History.)

I used all of this type of equipment in my career, but noticed that much that ended up on eBay was in poor shape and some of it was not in working condition. Most of the sets had LONG shafts - so not very usable. So I had the shafts cut to 5", and discovered that it was easy to make them work for all widths of film and reels. I started combining sets so they would be complete, and when I couldn't source parts, I found a great Machine Shop and had parts manufactured. So my sets aren't "Estate Sale" refugees, and I don't sell Clamps for $100 each nor Rewinds for $1,000 a set.... I sell Editors Tools in good working condition - Not Perfect - but very usable. I sell mostly to Universities & Film Libraries.