LOST RINGS RELEASE PRINT

I used to work at a film company that had its own personal copy of Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated feature film, The Lord of the Rings. Up on a shelf were a row of hexagonal metal film cans; the kind that tend to harbour motion picture release prints. I asked my boss (and owner) how they came in possession of this movie. He explained something about it being left and forgotten.

Being the curious little bugger I can be -- and with a little help from "down time" -- I took a can, popped it open and extracted a reel. I then carefully wound out several feet of film on a 'rewind bench'. After some detailed analysis, I realized that this print was in very fine shape.

Now that I think about it, I cannot believe that I did not borrow the cans... with my boss's permission, of course. Little did I know that e-bay would explode and I would be able to offer -- illegally -- a good quality print of "the animated Lord of the Rings movie".