The Unknown (Tod Browning,1927) - framerate?

[Leo Enticknap]

...and moves in the wrong direction.

Another variable is that the reaction time assumptions only work if the leader of the incoming reel and the tail of the outgoing reel are intact (per SMPTE 301, there are 48 frames of black after 3 on the incoming leader, and 18 frames of picture after the last cue dot frame on the outgoing reel). If it's an old and battered print, on which multiple frames have been lost from the heads and tails due to repeated careless building up and tearing down, those reaction time assumptions go out the window. If I were playing a "virgin" archival print (heads and tails never cut), or one that had only been cut without losing any frames, my technique would be to "miss a beat" after seeing the over cue, and then hit it. But if there are frames missing from either the tail or the leader (or both), I'd punch it on the cue, to eliminate the risk of the audience seeing a flash of black.

[Jim Cassedy]

Just to 'beat this horse' one more time, I came across this paragraph in a 1922
book on motion picture projection while looking up something else yesterday:

SilentFilmSpeed.jpg

If you do the math, 60ft/min works out to 16fps. But, of course, just because there
was a standard, doesn't meany everyone followed them, and i'm sure we're all
familiar with the old saying:
" One of the things about standards, is that there are so many to choose from"

But, at least as far as the SME was concerned- - the 'standard' was 16fps.

There's a sign on the Golden Gate Bridge that says the speed limit is 45mph.
. . but some people go a little faster, some go a little slower. It's the same thing.