When 8mm and Super 8mm were first launched the majority of films available were edited versions ranging from 50' (2-3 minutes) up to in the later years 3 x 400' (45-50 minutes). Although full length film were released during the early years most were digest/selected scenes/abridged/cut-downs.
Early releases from the Hollywood studios were mainly 50' - 200' silent films, of well known titles with subtitles.
Walt Disney put out both sound and silent films, most were self contained extracts from their animated features.
I think Columbia Pictures were the first of the Hollywood studios to release 18 minute versions, most of the others followed suit. 20th Century Fox, Universal (Castle Films), MGM. Some of the releases had the added!!! advantage of a narrator, to fill in the missing gaps, and sometimes they seemed to have problems keeping quiet, Tora! Tora! Tora! was one film where they never seem to be quiet on the screen you can see the US air force getting shot-up on the ground, and the narrator is telling the same thing.
The narrator did not appear on releases from Universal, MGM, and Paramount (Marketing Film International). MGM films also went to the trouble of using dissolves and fades to help the flow of the cut down.
Sometimes the editor of these films changed the ending, a couple were Where Eagles Dare, and Superman. (3 x 400' versions).
During the mid to late seventies almost all the film companies released films in the edited format. The range of titles available was vast. The coming of video changed the film market almost overnight, the major companies all pulled out on film and turned to video, leaving the dedicated few companies to carry on with film.
New releases are now very rare.
Some of the old releases are still worth looking out for, they did sometimes improve the films by cutting out the padding, and they do have a more repeatability.
The above is in no way a comprehensive look. Still working on the full version. (It's a cut-down version).
This page was last updated 02 Dec 2002