Supreme

A look at some of the numerous meetings that we undertook in order to issue 8mm films to our customers.

Contracts & Rights Chapter 13

You’d assume that we would take time off and concentrate on the numerous titles acquired from EMI, Rank and Tigon, that wasn’t Derek’s style at all and we never ceased our regular visits to the streets of Soho. It was one of the ways to make sure that the name Derann and our faces were never forgotten in and around Wardour Street. One of our regular calls was Supreme Films in Old Compton Street. The offices where situated above what was the Old Compton Street Cinema Club, infamous for showing Pasolini’s ‘Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom’, in 1977, which had caused such a rumpus when it was screened uncut, that the cinema had been raided by the Police. Supreme’s offices were smart and a lot tidier that most of the other distributors and was run by an always sun-tanned Stan Hart, who would always say “fabulous” if we asked what a particular title was like. His main business was the purchase of ‘Continental’ films, which were released and shown in private cinema clubs around London and other major cities. We already had a number of the tamer ones in the Derann 16mm library, the rights of which we’d purchased 8mm and 16mm, but only ever issued 200′ adult shorts for 8mm. However Stan always had a stream of old product on offer and over the course of time Derek had purchased the rights to many films for 8mm and 16mm. ‘Hercules’, ‘Attila the Hun’, ‘When Girls Undress’ (Original German title ‘Matratzen-Tango’), and a wonderful array of films originally distributed by Eros that included  ‘Blood of the Vampire’, which gave Derek no end of trouble when the 16mm master arrived and he dicovered much of the film was in a very poor state and out of sync! Using what he had he managed to produce a pretty good 600′ edition. ‘Behemoth the Sea Monster’ was also blighted as the master was poor quality and the finished 8mm prints were “Soot & Whitewash”. ‘The Trollenberg Terror’ wasn’t quite as bad and ‘Womaneater’ was excellent… shame it was the weakest of the group. The final film was ‘Inn for Trouble’ a British comedy starring Peggy Mount, for which he was never able to find good master material and it was never released. Both ‘Inn For Trouble’ (400′) and ‘Blood of the Vampire’ (4×400′ and 400′) are featured in the 1978 sales catalogue.

…. to be continued.