It also contained the following information: (i) that the fire started in the projection box, (ii) that the cinema had been showing a special season of Soviet musicals from the 1930s, and (iii) that some very rare prints of these, supplied by the Russian State Film Archive, had been destroyed in the fire.

There was also a photo of the projection box - showing one projector (a Meopta I think) and a five-deck platter beside it.

A few years ago, a friend and I started looking for a copy of a 1925 feature called "Conquest of Caanan" that was filmed here in downtown Asheville. It was presumed lost years ago, and the studio, Paramount, was not helpful. In fact, my friend was told by someone on the phone that they were not interested in that old stuff.

Persistance eventually paid off. My friend found that a print existed in Russia. The print they had was nitrate and had russian title cards. After some negotiations, and some city finances, we obtained a perfect new 10 reel print on safety stock. I am astounded at the sharpness of the print, cosidering it is a dupe. I assembled it onto 4 2000' reels. I could not read the Russian, so I went by the numbers at the bottom of each of the title cards. I must have gotten it right, as it was transferred in Atlanta to tape, and the print was returned to Asheville.
The film has been shown on cable TV several times with new english title cards translated from "old" Russian by a friend.

The print sat in City Hall for a couple of years before we got it back. It almost was thrown out during a city renovation project!

It is now here with my collection. I cant tell what the film stock is, but it sure smells good. I have run it on my Holmes once.

It is not a very good movie. It bombed on the first release.

The reason I mention this is because they do have a big collection of nitrate in Russia. I cant believe they would run the musical prints without taking major precautions.

Question: Could the nitrate sliding on the surface of the platter cause a spark that could ignite the film?

We all know about static with polyester bases.

Possibly just being such bad movies that they just burst into flames?

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Were they doing what I think they were doing???!!!

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If there was no evidence of magazines, & you're thinking they were running nitrate film on a platter....

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Anyway, it would seem that the platter full of nitrate was me being paranoid.

I'm still amazed at what one foot of nitrate will do - burn like a gas jet. Just think what 12,000ft on a platter would do! What were they thinking - or more precisely, were they thinking at all!

Never run nitrate (at home or theatre) unless you have spool boxes, fire traps, projector door and fire extinguishers close by. Most nitrate is full of nicks and often in poor condition (its all at least 48 years old) so be careful!

I still argue that it is one of the most stable film stocks though. I have nitrate from pre 1920 still in perfect condition. Can anyone prove that acetate or polyester lasts longer - produce the goods!

If it's anything like flash cotton, WOAH!!!! If a platter full of nitrate ever went up, I bet it'd be like the Fourth of July!!!!!

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One scene in the film shows a 1,000ft roll being set on fire. It's like a car petrol tank going up - even the sailor who lit the end (he'd unrolled about 20 feet of it laid out flat, which he then used as a 'fuse' to light) had to take several steps back - presumably because of the force of the heat.

In this country it's illegal to have nitrate on any premises to which the public are admitted without a special licence from the local authority. To my knowledge, the National Film Theatre and the Imperial War Museum (both in London) are the only cinemas which have one.

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