Mike is 100% correct. There's only one standard speed for that format, at least circa early 50's 
when those Westrex machines were built. 90 fpm, 18IPS.

I can't think of any varients but maybe Scott Smith will chime in and confirm or correct that.

-- Tom Fine

PS -- demonstrating his usual resourcefulness, Mercury's Harold Lawrence figured out how to "tune 
down" his whole editing MO to 15IPS. Why? Because he wanted all the features of tape editing, like 
"rock and roll" and "scrubbing" and all that, which was apparently somewhat cumbersome with the 
Moviola editing unit that Everest used. So Bob Eberenz at Fine Recording kludged together an Ampex 
300 transport with bolted on 35mm guides and a custom headblock made by John French's father (I 
think the custom thing was machining a piece that allowed a Westrex 3-track head to fit an Ampex 
mounting plate). The way it was told to me, this machine used a 1" capstan shaft, so it didn't quite 
drive the whole film area, but it worked OK for editing. In any case, Harold used this monster to 
edit all the Mercury films the same way he had always edited tape, except using a 35mm 
sprocket-aligned chopping block instead of an EdiTall splicing block.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Biel" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, June 14, 2012 9:53 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] 35 mm again


From: Steve Smolian <[log in to unmask]>
> Tom and anyone else with the answer,
> At what speed were Everest's 35mm recordings made?
> Steve Smolian

The normal 35mm speed, 90 feet per minute, which is 18 inches per
second.

Mike Biel  [log in to unmask]