LAST OF THE 400' MITCHELL 35MM FILM MAGAZINES PRODUCED

Mitchell Camera Corporation, Sun Valley, California 1979

This is one of the last 400-foot film magazine shells produced for the Mitchell 35mm motion picture camera, before Mitchell went out of business in the early 1980's. In 1979, Mitchell Camera Corp stopped all manufacturing and closed the Sun Valley factory. The shell is nicely machined and has no pulleys, rollers or other hardware.

The magazine was signed by Joe Dunton in February, 2017. A member of the British Society of Cinematographers (BSC), Dunton was associated with Panavision, who acquired the Mitchell Camera Corporation in the 1980's as it went out of business. As shown in the photos, the shell is in beautiful original condition and the lids screw off and on as designed. There are no markings other than "1-M-18" and a small symbol found stamped on the interiors of both lids.

The magazine's original design was patented by John E. Leonard under Patent No. 1,336,640 dated April 13, 1920. The patent was assigned to the National Motion Picture Camera Company of Los Angeles, California that was previously known as the National Motion Picture Repair Company (formed by Henry Boger and George Alfred Mitchell) which would become the Mitchell Camera Company after a succession of name changes. By February, 1929, the name became Mitchell Camera Corporation.

A very scarce and unique piece of Mitchell Camera history.

Source: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office