reading the posts about FG and its incredible effects on prints in "commercial" use (mass prints running regularily in the film theatres), I have two questions:
1. Would you recommend the use of FG on archive prints / are there any long-time tests regarding dye-fading etc ? (We had to recognise, that prints that had been "treated/waxed...." for second and third runs 20 or 30 years ago had suffered much more dye-fading than prints that had not been regenerated)
2. FG on nitrate stock ??????

Thanks,
and congratulations for this wonderful site,
best wishes from Vienna...
Flo

I can see their point - if they allowed some but not others then the manufacturers of the disallowed treatments would at the very least be annoyed and might well contemplate legal action. But on the other hand, most public sector archives simply haven't got the resources to carry out thorough testing programmes on all the treatments that are on the market.

SMPTE Recommended Practice RP131 specifies "Storage of Motion Picture Films". Films with long-term value need to be processed and washed such that there is no residual chemistry (e.g., retained thiosulfate or incorrect pH cause dye fading). They should NOT be treated with any chemicals. In general, films should be stored in cool and dry conditions. Because acid vapors can be formed during storage, film should NOT be stored in sealed containers so the acid vapors can vent, or should be stored with materials that adsorb moisture and acid vapors (e.g., Molecular Sieves). Periodic careful winding and inspection help "vent" any acid buildup, and reduce risk of ferrotyping or film deformation.

Archival release prints, therefore, are not preservation elements and therefore are not subject to the conservation regime under which preservation elements would be kept. However, they're a lot rarer and more expensive to replace than a run of prints of a new title being circulated by a distributor, and so archives normally impose stricter rules on their use.

For example, the UK National Film and Television Archive has quite a detailed set of rules, which include conditions such as not cutting the heads and tails off each reel, only handling the prints with cotton gloves and 'not attempting any repair or treatment' on the prints without their permission. They wax all their prints but I'm not aware of any archive using a cleaning agent such as Filmguard on them.

God knows that some of their preservation elements would need some kind of treatment. My early show tonight was a forty-year old print of "The Seven-Year Itch". Every minute of the age of that film was on screen, and they don't have any other print.

Now, presumably they won't allow the screening of their oldest or most valuable material, but I've screened some pretty rare films in my time. I always wonder how long those prints will last.