The 1960s/1970s - Arrow Films

Last updated
9 April 2009

"Joe is a 9 year old boy who has the skill and the knowledge of a leading specialist as long as he wears his special glasses."

Back in the dim and distant days before Blu-ray, before DVD, before Laserdisc, before even VHS and Betamax, there was 8 mm. This tiny little home movie film format enabled families to share enthralling holiday memories, weddings, christenings and so on. More importantly, you could buy films of some of your favourite movies and TV shows, albeit in severely truncated form.

This was state of the art entertainment in the 60s and 70s. Groups of kids would huddle around a little screen and watch a miniscule projected image covered in dirt and scratches. Richer families could afford colour films - even richer ones had the luxury of sound.

Anderson programmes could be bought on 8 mm as far back as Supercar. Arrowtabs Ltd. had previously released home movies of several Thunderbirds episodes, but skipped Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons to go straight to Joe 90. Just two episodes were available, in black & white. However, one episode was available in two different lengths.

Most copies that turn up are silent, but I have seen one print of Attack and Destroy with sound. There are also two versions of the boxes featuring different Arrow logos: older Standard 8 boxes seem to have the 'arrowhead' logo, Super 8 boxes seem to have the 'fletching' logo. To confuse matters even more, Standard 8 boxes can have a small self-adhesive Super 8 sticker covering the original Standard 8 logo.

JOE THE PILOT
© ATV (OVERSEAS) 1968
Distributed by Arrow

"Joe 90 (aged 9) has immense skill once he wears his special glasses. He steals a top secret Russian MIG fighter and flies it back to England in spite of all attempts to stop him."

An abridged version of The Most Special Agent.

B&W, silent, subtitled
Standard 8 (presumably)
Super 8 08-882 150' (approx)
Duration 7'15" @ 24fps

Also available in an even shorter version called Secret Mission, but "still retaining most of the action material".

B&W, silent
Standard 8 08-817 45' (approx)
Super 8 08-818 50' (approx)
Duration 2'29" @ 24fps

"Joe 90 has been given the job of driving a newly developed tank to blast the enemy out of his headquarters."

An abridged version of Business Holiday.

B&W, silent
Standard 8 08-815 45' (approx)
Super 8 08-816 50' (approx)
Duration 2'22" @ 24fps