[Milsurplus] Advice on some WWII films ?

[Hubert Miller]

I know there's a wealth of wisdom in this group on all kinds of subjects.
So, I submit:
I have an old 16mm film. I don't know for certain the content, but the handwritten label on the can says, "Radio Berlin 1938".
I have owned this since, I don't know, maybe 1985. Time to finally do something, fish or cut bait.
So I'm thinking, find a company in the Big City that could transcribe this to a DVD.
Here's my concern: if I do this, how do I retain "rights" to the content ? I am not thinking that owning this film will finance my
retirement. I do not know if this is the only copy surviving. What I would like to do is to control the ownership of the content.
I would not be happy taking it to a transcriber service, and then next month it's on YouTube, and at my not insignificant expense.
Or worse, someone starts selling DVDs of it on YouTube. I probably envision myself donating it to GFGF, the German radio collector
club, which seems to me a pretty well ordered organization. ( No surprise there ! ) But I want to have control up to that point. I also
considered that if the film has "Nazi content", such as flags and so on, any DVD copy generated in Germany today would have images
censored.
Would I need some kind of protective contract ? Do I need legal representation to enforce this and protect me ? Or am I just nuts ?
All of the above ? None ?
I also have a German airforce training film, I think, a gun-camera type film, and one on "Ball Bearing Production in the Reich". Okay,
so this last title is not that thrilling.

I thought in general, old 8mm and 16mm films were worth something, but I was very wrong. I recently sold boxes of both. The 16mm
film bunch sold for such tiny money I am too embarrassed to even state it. But at least, I got them moved on. But - those where ordinary
commercial newsreel type films.

I'm trying to recall where I bought the Radio Berlin film. I think I bought it from a U.S. Army veteran who'd been in the occupation force.
He was with a "mobile propaganda broadcast" company in WWII Europe. I acquired the broadcast unit's "War Remembrance Book" which
as often is the case, doesn't really have enough of the technical detail we crave. At the time he also offered me a tape recorder, with a set
of Nazi leader speeches on tape, but the recorder weighed close to 100 lbs. and I simply did not want to deal with anything that large + heavy.

I think in the past I posted something about this to some of these groups. My apologies for the repetition; I kind of forget the advice I received
at that time, and in any case, now that I have the other, common films disposed of, these rarer ones are about next on the agenda; I'm finally
about ready to get moving on them at last.
thanks-
Hue Miller






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