My VHS Film Collection
Reminiscing on the days of the Scala cinema got me to dig out scans of the labels of my old VHS collection, which unfortunately I got rid of decades ago. My DVD collection only consists of a few dozen (and has been in storage for six years) and is nowhere near as eclectic as my old VHS films.
In fact, many of the tapes would have made great Scala double or triple bills (if you’re wondering how I was able to fit four films on some tapes, it’s because I used LP (long play) instead of SP (standard play) on some films; the quality would suffer but I’d be able to fit twice as many films on a tape. Some films I held in high esteem, like The Elephant Man + Peeping Tom and The Apartment, I’d record in SP and only have one or two films on a tape).
The connections between some films on the same tape are quite obvious: Notorious + Suspicion + The 39 Steps are on one tape; The Lady from Shanghai + Citizen Kane + Touch of Evil are on another.
Others are not so obvious, such as:
• Driller Killer + Dick + Maitresse
• Wise Blood + Witchfinder General + Cat People + The Most Dangerous Game + The Old Dark House
• Salvador + Sherlock Junior
• Morvern Callar + Badlands
• Repulsion + Dimensions of Dialogue + Rosemary’s Baby + Color Me Lurid: The Weird World Of George Kuchar
• Let’s Scare Jessica to Death + Virile Games + F for Fake
• Blanche + The Year My Voice Broke + The Honeymoon Killers
• Point Blank + Carnival of Souls
• The Last Picture Show + The Searchers
• Loulou + The Trial + Near Dark
• Under Satan’s Sun + Les Enfants Terribles
In truth, they generally weren’t recorded with any grand plan in mind, more like determined by how much space was left on a tape.
