25 replies to this topic

[RMurphy]

Hi all. First time poster here. I'm not a regular follower of your bulletin board and I hope I don't offend anyone by posting.

I'm on a bit of a quest. Okay, so maybe not so much a quest, but I'm looking for something. About a decade or so ago I saw a video of the 1960s Lance Reventlow short called The Sound of Speed. It was a copy of a copy of a copy no doubt and who knows where the original came from. A total classic. Hadn't thought of it in years, but now I'm reading the latest B.S. Levy book (Toly's Ghost) and the film was all brought back to memory by some of the bits in the book.

A google search brought me to this forum. Has anyone unearthed any leads on where to procure a copy (preferably without impeding on copyrights or such)? Any feedback would be welcome. I have posted my email address, but I'm not suggesting the information not be shared with everyone.

-RMurphy
email: roseanne AT roseannemurphy.com

and since I didn't introduce myself, here's a bit about me:
I manage a computer consulting firm in Los Angeles and I like my car... a lot. I used to be an avid race fan but not quite so much anymore. I've attended 5 performance driving schools and I love the fact that, unlike anything else in my life, the car does whatever I tell it to do... even if what I tell it to do is completely stupid.

[Frank S]

Bruce Kessler would probably autograph your copy if you show up here:
http://www.southerny....com/index1.htm

[RMurphy]

Originally posted by Frank S
Bruce Kessler would probably autograph your copy ...

Oh cool. Thank you, Frank ! I'll check out the info. Hopefully copies will be available there as um, er, well, the VHS copy I once watched suffered the usual fate of a divorce agreement. But it is in a happy home, so that's good.

Looks like a fun run to Yosemite next month. Wahoo. Of course, if a legit mail order source were to come to light, hopefully someone will mention it.

[David Birchall]

If you do a "search BB" you will find quite a bit of discussion on 'The Sound of Speed' most of it originating from me! I think we concluded that it was not available from any video/DVD source. The original is still owned by the film company (Warner Bros?) who have shown no interest in distributing it on DVD/video.

I did make a couple of copies on DVD a couple of years ago. I sent one to a motorsport video distributor in UK to see if he could do anything but have never heard more...

I would suggest you or somebody (Frank?) approach Kessler and see if he can be persuaded to get involved in it's release. He was certainly very proud of it as a movie.

[Mark Godfrey]

Three years ago I asked Bruce about ‘The Sound of Speed’, at that time he was not sure who might have the rights to it. His only copy was a poor bootleg VHS. I think the film may have fallen into the public domain.
Mark

[RMurphy]

Long over due update...

Searches on the web didn't turn up what I was looking for so I decided to go to the Southern Yosemite Automotive Film Festival and car show in Oakhurst, CA last month. It was a lot of fun and we enjoyed the trip.

I had the opportunity to speak directly with Bruce Kessler. He apparently gets the question quite a bit (where can we get copies). The short of it is there are no official sources for the movie short at this time and it is unlikely that the studio that currently owns the rights even knows they own them. Consequently, it's unlikely we'll see an official release made available. That stated, the 50th anniversary of the Scarabs' entry into auto racing has renewed a bunch of interest in the cars and their history... and the short. Suffice it to say that there was enough interest at the show/festival that you will probably see the short be made available through some channels that do such things (the same folks who sell shorts like Rendezvous, etc). If you keep your ear to the ground, you'll probably be able to find a copy in the next few months.

They did show the Sound of Speed film at the festival and it was as cool as I remembered it. Got to see a bunch of other documentaries and films as well, along with some interesting cars (an Olsonite Eagle even) and various memorabilia. A number of drivers from the 60s were there and Saturday evening was full of stories, some tall tales, and some really great fun. Scooter Patrick was a very engaging and nice man and it was very cool to be able to ask him about things he personally experienced in racing after we had all watched the James Garner documentary "The Racing Scene."

It was great and I'm glad I went. What the festival could use is an influx of slightly more recent history though. And I think Dave Wollins himself -- the festival coordinator -- said so also. The drive up to Oakhurst is a pleasant one and only four hours from Los Angeles. If any of the West Coast US folks are considering going next year, showing your car, or maybe adding to the film nostalgia, don't hesitate. Dave could use some help with the event as well, I think. SoCal in particular is full of race car drivers as well as folks who own retired race cars with great history and maybe you know some who might be interested in being involved somehow.

The coolest memorabilia I left the festival/show with was a paper cut out sheet of a 1959 Austin Healey Sprite "Airport Racer." It was like being a kid again. I took it home, cut on the dotted lines, folded the little tabs, inserted the little paper headlights and windshield and I had a toy car. :-) If you are interested in seeing the car it was patterned after, there is a whole gallery of pictures at http://www.spritespo...n-Healey-Sprite

[David Birchall]

I have it on DVD-I had it transferred from one of the original VHF tapes. If there is enough interest I will have a bunch of copies made.....

But I recall somebody on TNF-FrankS?-had an original film print?

[RMurphy]

I don't know if it was ever released on VHS officially. I didn't get the impression that it was. I suspicion every copy floating around out there is some form of bootleg or another. Even Kessler's copy was come by in a rather round about fashion: according to him, the Cannes film festival folks sent him back the film they showed at the festival... in error. He eventually had the less than pristine reel transferred to VHS and some years later from VHS to a DVD. The beginning is warbly and you can tell you aren't dealing with movie theater quality stuff. But even with those problems (and some minor continuity erros), it's a genuinely great film. It was worth a four hour drive and I would have paid twice what it cost at the door to get in.

For those with a keen eye, note the station wagon seems to magically change from one scene to the next. And the pitboard sign message grows a hyphen between shots.

-Roseanne

[David Birchall]

I has never been released on tape or disc officially. If you do a search of this forum you will find a lot of discussion about the film and whether it is kosher to sell copies or not. Since neither Kessler nor the owners of the copyright seem interested in whether it is distributed or not I have decided-personally-it doesn't matter and I will sell a few copies.

[fbarrett]

Friends:

Last week, having heard that the film was shown at the Yosemite festival in March, and wanting to buy a DVD, I contacted the festival organizer, who referred me to Green Mountain Motorbooks in Vermont. They told me that they plan to release this film on DVD. If you google them, you can find their contact info and write to encourage them. Or I'll research it again and post it here.

Frank

[fbarrett]

Friends:

Here's the contact info for Green Mountain Motorbooks: www.vtmotorbooks.com; phone 802/394-7865, fax 802/394.9926. They gave me no idea of when the film would become available.

Frank

[JB Miltonian]

A review of "The Sound of Speed", from Road & Track, June 1962:

Movies about automobiles in general, and racing automobiles in particular, are often something like weather reports - we all wait for a good one but are usually disappointed in it when it arrives. "The Sound of Speed" is not one of those celluloid disasters full of "crash and burn" sequences, a love affair with a wealthy nymph who owns a liquor store, and a car that is obviously (even to the most casual enthusiast) out if its element. It is a serious attempt to do a first rate job on a simple story about a test driver and the car he is testing.

The film, which runs 19 minutes, is in color and sound but with no dialogue. The "actors" are Lance Reventlow, Warren Olson, Chuck Daigh, and Paul Camano - all from the RAI studios. The car is the 1960 Formula One Scarab, which now carries a highly modified Chevy V8 for power.

Produced, written, and directed by Bruce Kessler (associate producer, Ronnie Burns) "The Sound of Speed" was photographed at Riverside Raceway under the capable direction of Mike Doyle. During the six-week period it took to complete the filming, the car, which was used alternately for the actual subject and a mobile camera platform) was completely rebuilt once.

The technical side of the movie is accurate, as it should be with this group in charge, and believable. None of the usual cliches associated with automotive movies are used and we were able to sit through it in mental comfort without wincing each time a new scene came on the screen.

The filming and sound recording created some rather unorthodox problems for the crew, in that the cameras mounted on the car in various positions had to be completely safety wired to keep them from falling apart from vibration. The driver carried the microphone pickup for the tape recorder, used for the in-car sound, around his neck. This resulted in some off-the-record, and unplanned, commentary (especially from Chuck Daigh, who did some of the driving even though Reventlow is listed in the credits as the driver) that had to be cut out.

The most interesting shots of the movie, to us anyway, occur at the end when a camera mounted on the front of the car shows a driver's eye view of one complete and very fast lap at Riverside.

[ZOOOM]

I was dragged to the local movie theater by my sisters way back when. Between movies they showed this film. I was blown away. My sisters were not.
I have wanted a copy of this short for too many years to remember.
Sign me up!
ZOOOM

[David Birchall]

I think it is important to get a copy of the "Sports Cars Illustrated" articles on the making of the movie. Without it you are mearly a spectator at a porno show

[Jerry Entin]

R Murphy: This comes from Bruce Kessler:

"The Sound of Speed was made in 1962 and sold to Universal International "all rights in perpetuity" in the mid 60's. I doubt if they even knew they owned the picture or if they even have a short film dept now. The only 35 mm print that I am aware of is the one returned to me by The Cannes Film Festival Committee after the film represented the 'USA"as best American short film in 1962 having won The Golden Eagle. This version is on DVD and is recognizable by it's length 19 min's and it starts with and interior shot from within the van. Their are versions I have seen on DVD from a first cut that starts with a helicopter shot. I encourage people who have these DVD'S to copy them and give them to their friends. I do not have a problem with people selling them since I do not own it. Dave Wolin who runs The Southern Yosemite Film Festival has a DVD and I have encouraged him to make copies to sell or give away and hopefully you will be able to get them at the 50 year Scarab Reunion at Elkhart Lake in July. I cannot distribute them.

I wrote the story for SoS as a journalism class assignment in 1954 when I was a senior in high school, and already an established CSCC (California Sports Car Club) driver. I decided not go to college, having realized that motor racing was going to be my life. That remained true till January of 1959 when my career as a professional ended while driving the Sadler Special at The Examiner GP at Pomona Fairgrounds in Pomona Ca.

Since 1962 I have directed over 50 films, but The Sound of Speed will probably be the most remembered of my career, because of its honesty and ground breaking techniques for when it was made.

This is a very difficult film for me to look at, because most of the people involved in making the film, both in front of and behind the camera are gone or are not in good health now. But I am very, very, happy to hear that people still enjoy my first film.........................BK"

[Jerry Entin]

Bruce Kessler says the DVD is avaliable from Green Mountain Motorbooks in Vermont.
e-mail at grnmtn@vermontel.net phone 802-394-7865.

[David Birchall]

Does anyone recall the issues of "Sports Cars Illustrated" that had the story of the making of this film? I seem to recall two segments in two issues in 1962? I have them somewhere but it would help if I knew the issues. These articles provide insight into the making of the movie.

[JB Miltonian]

Sports Cars Illustrated ended in March 1961, replaced by Car & Driver. If the movie was made in 1962, it doesn't seem likely that SCI did an article about it, and no such article is listed in my index. Sports Car GRAPHIC has an article on the movie in their March 1962 issue, with six pictures (b/w), but it hardly seems like essential reading (three paragraphs). Perhaps you saw something in Sports Illustrated? You obvious remember SOMETHING, but at the moment I can't help identify it.

[RMurphy]

And about a year later...

The Southern Yosemite Film Festival transplanted itself to Southern California. http://www.legendsofriverside.com/ They teamed up with the Riverside International Automotive Museum for a new location. http://riversideinternational.org/

I've never been to the RIAM so I can't comment at all about it. I do hope it's a bit more finished than their website is though. I know that having the gig in SoCal is probably a better idea than up in Oakhurst (bigger potential audience here in SoCal), but I have to admit I will kind of miss the chance for a fun roadtrip. While SoCal has its fair share of beautiful geography, I don't think many people will say Riverside rivals Yosemite as far as scenery goes. :-D

Scenery aside, once again Bruce Kessler will be on hand and they will screen The Sound of Speed on Saturday March 28th. And chances are it's a good place to procure your own copy if you haven't already done so.

Looks like it will be fun. And heck, if it's good enough for Dan Gurney...

If anybody is planning to go, give a shout! Maybe I'll see ya there. Look for the obnoxious yellow Honda S2000 with SIFO on the plates.

[ZOOOM]

I was lucky enough to make the Scarab reunion at Elkhart last year. I was (through the good services of one Jerry Entin) able to meet all of the people whom I had read about as a kid. Bruce was great to talk to so were all the rest of the Scarab crew, Phil Remington, Sonny Balcaen, Augie Pabst, Harry Heuer, Don Devine, Chuck Pelly, et. al.
While there I was able to get a copy of the "Sound of Speed" too. I saw it in the theater as a young boy. It is as good as I remembered it. The color is a bit washed out, but, that SOUND!
And just to be able to revisit Riverside in one of the fastest laps ever there....
Still worth every penny if you allow for the state of the art from almost 50 years ago.
Geez, Reventlow was young!

The Sound of Speed........ such sweet thunder!

ZOOOM

[RMurphy]

Phil Remington... now there's a guy who has done it all. He is the most amazing "can do" kind of guy you could ever have the privilege of meeting. I would not be surprised if he goes to the Riverside event too.

I was reminded of him a few days ago. It's kind of funny how it came about, actually. Every once in a blue moon I check the logs on my vanity web site. I don't know why. There's not much to look at on the site so the logs are equally boring. Well, I found a referring URL in my logs which turned out to be the German Wikipedia site. I needed to know just what the heck Wikipedia could possibly find so interesting on my site, so I checked the referral page. The link was this: http://de.wikipedia....i/Bob_Bondurant

Lo and behold, in the Weblinks section, the author had decided that a picture of me with Bob Bondurant taken about 8 years ago was good enough to be considered representative of Bob Bondurant "today." :-D

Where the part about Phil Remington comes in is that the author also linked to a picture from Dan Gurney's AAR web site which included some top race car drivers back in the day and the "I've Been Everywhere Man" Phil Remington.

Just got me to chuckling that my wimpy little fan picture got referenced by Wikipedia (not that I can read a lick of German and had to drop the article into Babelfish to get it mostly translated). For a total wannabe like me, that was just hillarious.

-Roseanne

[RA Historian]

All the attendees at the Scarab banquet at the Osthoff at Elkhart Lake last July received a copy of "Sound of Speed" as a banquet favor. It was nicely turned out in a DVD case and looks every bit a professional product as opposed to a copy of a copy, etc. The case does not have any info on it as to who put it out so there are no leads present. The back cover acknowledges the film resurfacing at the 2008 Yosemite Film Festival and acknowledges Bruce Kessler's achievement. I do not know the source of the 200 or so DVDs that were given away that night.

I would imagine that Green Mountain Motorbooks, referenced above, would be the most likely current outlet for the product.

Incidentally, the TNF thread on the 2008 Kohler International Challenge has lots of photos of the Scarab reunion.

Tom

[David Birchall]

I would like to bring up again the magazine articles that were written on the making of "The Sound of Speed" in the early sixties. I had recalled them as being in "Sports Cars Illustrated/Car and Driver" but nobody else seems to have seen them there. I did not imagine this! Karl Ludvigsen is there in the articles and it was run over two consecutive issues. Would be great as 'liner notes' for a dvd issue also....

Surely somebody else has seen these articles? Would it have been "Sports Car Graphic"?

[ZOOOM]

Originally posted by RA Historian
All the attendees at the Scarab banquet at the Osthoff at Elkhart Lake last July received a copy of "Sound of Speed" as a banquet favor.

Tom

Way-to-go, TOM you cheapscate...... I had to buy mine!

ZOOOM

[RA Historian]

Originally posted by ZOOOM



Way-to-go, TOM you cheapscate...... I had to buy mine!

ZOOOM

Hey, Zooom, the banquet ticket was $95.00 !!! Your DVD probably cost less than that!
Tom

[Jim Armstrong]

This is as good a thread as any to make my first post to TNF.
I started as a freshman at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) in 1959, where veteran TNF'er Frank S was already in residence.
Already addicted to sports car racing for several years, the proximity to Riverside Raceway was a great boon on race weekends, but somewhat distracting and injurious to study time on weekdays, when the raceway was often rented by various teams and groups for testing of one kind or another.
The pit gate was usually wide open in those less dangerous times and access to the course and the testers pretty free. More than once I was able to be of use picking up detritus off the course in my 1949 Dodge 1/2 ton pickup, a thrilling sight, I'm sure, blasting up the esses.
Is there a point to this? Yes, on one of those escapes from physics lab or whatever, I stumbled upon filming of a rigged up open-wheeled Scarab.
I have to admit it took this thread to shake that memory out of this frosty haired head. If I had ever seen "The Sound of Speed," (heck, I may even be in it) I am sure that afternoon would be a little more idelible. As it is, I only remember the car with some kind of wiry scaffold attached. I guess that was a self-filming day and another would have seen chase cars and corner filming crews.
I guess that's nostalgia.