DVD REVIEW -- 1963 Secret Service Reconstruction Film
David Von Pein
SOME RARELY-SEEN FILMED FOOTAGE FROM THE SITE OF PRESIDENT JOHN F.
KENNEDY'S ASSASSINATION
===============================================
The National Archives and Records Administration [NARA] teamed up with
"CustomFlix Labs" (which is now called "CreateSpace") in the Summer of
2007, and began releasing many archived films and newsreels on the DVD-
R digital video format. "CreateSpace" is an Amazon.com company which
specializes in producing "On Demand" DVDs and Audio CDs.
A July 30, 2007, press release (linked below) states -- "The National
Archives has selected the CustomFlix DVD-on-Demand service {now
"CreateSpace"} to initially make its collection of Universal
Newsreels, dating from 1929 to 1967, available on DVD to the general
public for purchase on Amazon.com. .... The DVD-on-Demand program
allows organizations like the National Archives to offer their DVDs
for sale on Amazon.com without inventory. DVDs are manufactured only
when customers purchase them, eliminating the risks and hassles
associated with traditional distribution, while ensuring titles remain
in stock. Once purchased on Amazon.com, DVDs can be delivered to the
customer within 24 hours."
www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2007/nr07-122.html
I, for one, am very excited about this new agreement between
CreateSpace and the National Archives, particularly as it relates to
the various films and programs centering on the subject of former
President John F. Kennedy and his 1963 assassination in Dallas, Texas.
The rare film from the National Archives that has been placed on this
DVD is a film that I never thought would be made available in uncut
form on any video format -- the "Assassination Reconstruction Film"
that was produced by the U.S. Secret Service in early December 1963
(approximately two weeks after President Kennedy was murdered).
This silent black-and-white film, which runs for 24 minutes, contains
what I assume is a full-length, uncut version of the original Secret
Service filmed footage of the assassination scene at Dealey Plaza on
the western edge of downtown Dallas.
The footage begins with an overview type of "panoramic" shot of Dealey
Plaza, as the camera pans the whole Plaza. We can see the large
"Hertz" time-and-temperature sign atop the Texas School Book
Depository Building with great clarity in the film (it's 3:55 PM and
56 degrees as the film begins).
The next couple of segments put us right inside a car that is re-
creating the route that JFK travelled during his motorcade through
Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963. This unique footage provides an
uninterrupted look at the very same things that the occupants of
President Kennedy's limousine would have also seen on that tragic day
just two weeks earlier, including the turn from Main Street to Houston
Street, and then the slow hairpin left turn from Houston onto Elm
Street, and then continuing on Elm through the "Triple Underpass" at
the western edge of the Plaza.
The second "inside the car" run-through segment focuses particular
attention on the Book Depository Building (from where Lee Harvey
Oswald assassinated the President and seriously wounded Texas Governor
John Connally, who was sitting in front of Kennedy in the Presidential
limousine).
Next, we're taken inside the Book Depository for a tour of the sixth
floor of that building, including the famous "Sniper's Nest" in the
southeast corner of the 6th Floor, from where Oswald fired the three
shots that killed a President and changed history.
The most interesting part of this section of the film, in my opinion,
is when we see an "Oswald stand-in" (whom I assume is a Secret Service
agent) seated on a box inside the "Sniper's Nest" and pointing a
makeshift "rifle" (actually just the man's arm) out the window, just
as the real Oswald must have done as he crouched in that very same
window on Friday, November 22, 1963.
Next, a Lincoln Continental convertible (similar to Kennedy's 1961
Lincoln limousine) is filmed from the Sniper's-Nest window on the
sixth floor of the Book Depository in a series of re-creations of the
Main-to-Houston-to-Elm route that was travelled by JFK on November
22nd.
This series of reconstructed motorcade footage was done with the car
being filmed moving at various speeds, from relatively fast, to a
medium speed, and then to a very slow rate of speed.
Some of this footage is filmed through the telescopic scope of a
rifle, simulating the exact scene that Lee Harvey Oswald would have
been witnessing through the scope of his Mannlicher-Carcano rifle as
he was firing the bullets that killed JFK.
The next part of the Secret Service film depicts an Oswald stand-in
vacating the Sniper's Nest and walking across the sixth floor toward
the northwest corner of the building, where Oswald placed his rifle
between some book cartons before descending to the second-floor
lunchroom.
The man performing this re-creation of Oswald's likely post-
assassination movements, however, is moving painfully slow for some
reason. After hiding a makeshift rifle behind some boxes, we see him
start down the stairs toward the fifth floor.
The film then cuts to footage of the second floor, where we see
Oswald's stand-in (who appears to be a different man from the 6th-
Floor footage) walking into the second-floor lunchroom (and again,
he's moving incredibly slow; probably much slower than the real Oswald
was moving on 11/22/63).
The Secret Service film concludes with some footage shot from the
approximate filming location of amateur moviemaker Abraham Zapruder on
the north side of Elm Street on the "Grassy Knoll".
The footage contained in this film varies somewhat in overall picture
quality, with some of the sequences being more "bleached out" than
other parts of the film.
Some photographs from the December '63 Secret Service reconstruction
can be found in official Warren Commission Exhibit #875, which
consists of multiple still photos taken from the Sniper's-Nest window.
The pictures in CE875, however, are not taken directly from the film
that's on this DVD. The still pictures were apparently taken during
one or more alternate re-creations of the motorcade from the ones seen
in this film.
http://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh17/html/WH_Vol17_0448b.htm
http://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh17/html/WH_Vol17_0451a.htm
http://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh17/html/WH_Vol17_0452b.htm
http://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh17/html/WH_Vol17_0458a.htm
====================
DVD STATS:
Video -- 1.33:1 Full-Frame aspect ratio. B&W.
Audio -- None.
Running Time -- 24:39.
Menus -- None.
Chapter Stops -- 5.
Packaging -- Amaray-style Keepcase. No paper enclosures.
The disc is in the DVD-R format.
====================
This National Archives DVD, which sports the full title of "JFK
EXHIBIT: RECONSTRUCTION FILM", probably won't be very appealing or
interesting to anyone who isn't a serious student of President
Kennedy's assassination (nor to anybody who isn't an avid collector of
video material associated with the Kennedys). But to those who do
collect such things, this DVD is a nifty little rarely-seen gem to add
to the JFK video shelf.
David Von Pein
February 2008
www.google.com/group/alt.conspiracy.jfk/msg/1b9693e9a4851b0f
aeffects
he did? you have proof of that I presume and not just daBugliosi's
hence the WCR bullshit, yes Davey?
> The next part of the Secret Service film depicts an Oswald stand-in
> vacating the Sniper's Nest and walking across the sixth floor toward
> the northwest corner of the building, where Oswald placed his rifle
> between some book cartons before descending to the second-floor
> lunchroom.
>
> The man performing this re-creation of Oswald's likely post-
> assassination movements, however, is moving painfully slow for some
> reason. After hiding a makeshift rifle behind some boxes, we see him
> start down the stairs toward the fifth floor.
painfully? perhaps ithe piece is altered, you know, slowed down for
imbeciles such as yourself to get a good look, eh?
> The film then cuts to footage of the second floor, where we see
> Oswald's stand-in (who appears to be a different man from the 6th-
> Floor footage) walking into the second-floor lunchroom (and again,
> he's moving incredibly slow; probably much slower than the real Oswald
> was moving on 11/22/63).
probably, what kind of research term is that, evidence Davey me lad,
you sound like a third rate amateur....
> The Secret Service film concludes with some footage shot from the
> approximate filming location of amateur moviemaker Abraham Zapruder on
> the north side of Elm Street on the "Grassy Knoll".
>
> The footage contained in this film varies somewhat in overall picture
> quality, with some of the sequences being more "bleached out" than
> other parts of the film.
bleached out? Who taught you that term Davey?
> Some photographs from the December '63 Secret Service reconstruction
> can be found in official Warren Commission Exhibit #875, which
> consists of multiple still photos taken from the Sniper's-Nest window.
> The pictures in CE875, however, are not taken directly from the film
> that's on this DVD. The still pictures were apparently taken during
> one or more alternate re-creations of the motorcade from the ones seen
> in this film.
apparently? get your terms straigh son...... your amateu side is
surfacing
> http://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh17/html/WH_Vol17_0...
>
> http://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh17/html/WH_Vol17_0...
>
> http://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh17/html/WH_Vol17_0...
>
> http://history-matters.com/archive/jfk/wc/wcvols/wh17/html/WH_Vol17_0...
David Von Pein
Holy Mackerel, what a kook Healy is.
~Another Book Goes Through The Window~
Reprise......
Holy Mackerel, what a mega-kook Healy is.
Todd W. Vaughan
Sure there's proof of it, Fred!
His prints on his rifle found on the 6th floor. 3 spent shells in the
snipers nest where again his prints are found. That's just some of it.
Hell, they'd convict YOU, Healy, on just such evidence.
Now, what evidence do you have that the Z film is altered?
>
> > The next part of the Secret Service film depicts an Oswald stand-in
> > vacating the Sniper's Nest and walking across the sixth floor toward
> > the northwest corner of the building, where Oswald placed his rifle
> > between some book cartons before descending to the second-floor
> > lunchroom.
>
> > The man performing this re-creation of Oswald's likely post-
> > assassination movements, however, is moving painfully slow for some
> > reason. After hiding a makeshift rifle behind some boxes, we see him
> > start down the stairs toward the fifth floor.
>
> painfully? perhaps ithe piece is altered, you know, slowed down for
> imbeciles such as yourself to get a good look, eh?
Have you even seen the reconstruction film David, you self proclaimed
guru of assassination phorographic evidence, or are you just talking
out of Fred's ass again?
>
> > The film then cuts to footage of the second floor, where we see
> > Oswald's stand-in (who appears to be a different man from the 6th-
> > Floor footage) walking into the second-floor lunchroom (and again,
> > he's moving incredibly slow; probably much slower than the real Oswald
> > was moving on 11/22/63).
>
> probably, what kind of research term is that, evidence Davey me lad,
> you sound like a third rate amateur....
Tell me, David, as the result of your extensive research, is the Z
film "probably" altered or "positively" altered?
>
> > The Secret Service film concludes with some footage shot from the
> > approximate filming location of amateur moviemaker Abraham Zapruder on
> > the north side of Elm Street on the "Grassy Knoll".
>
> > The footage contained in this film varies somewhat in overall picture
> > quality, with some of the sequences being more "bleached out" than
> > other parts of the film.
>
> bleached out? Who taught you that term Davey?
He wrote "bleached" out, get it?
>
> > Some photographs from the December '63 Secret Service reconstruction
> > can be found in official Warren Commission Exhibit #875, which
> > consists of multiple still photos taken from the Sniper's-Nest window.
> > The pictures in CE875, however, are not taken directly from the film
> > that's on this DVD. The still pictures were apparently taken during
> > one or more alternate re-creations of the motorcade from the ones seen
> > in this film.
>
> apparently? get your terms straigh son...... your amateu side is
> surfacing
"straigh" and "amateu"
Healy, you're a freaking clown.
> >www.blogger.com/profile/12501570830179992520- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -
>
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