1941 Agfa 35mm processing.

[Robert Hart]

This is a screenplay research question. Somebody might have an answer or two. If an oilskin and tar-covered can of German WW2 unprocessed Agfa 35mm motion picture camera film was stashed and buried in a small deep hollow in layerform limestone where ambient air temps range from about 5 degrees C at coldest to 40 degrees C warmest, could the latent image have survived? The processing chemistry is likely not known any longer or possible to replicate. How would a person requested to process the film go about the task with any hope of recovering a usable image? There might also be the question of whether the film stock was the older nitrate based material which would have turned to powder or a more modern acetate. Whilst the story is fiction, there is a remote chance that there remains stashed, a Leica stills camera with an exposed roll in it and a recanned 100ft load from an ARRI 35mm motion picture camera on the Western Australian coast north of Carnarvon.

[Charles MacDonald]

funny you should metion that:  This article was in my news feed today...

https://www.macfilos.com/2020/09/11/swiss-roll-hidden-for-70-years-these-photographs-were-recovered-from-an-ancient-leica-film-cassette/
 

now about your can of film, is it colour or Black and white?  and if colour would it be acceptable if the image was recovered in Black and white?  If colour is their money available.  the WWII agfa colour formuals were made public as war reparations and with enough money one could duplicate them.

the length of the film also counts,up to 100ft, (30Metrs) something like a LOMO tank could be used. which would allow techniques such as "stand development" where a weak developer is used for an hour or so to attempt to compensate  for loss of detail.

you are likly to have better luck if te time at 5C was far grater than at 40C.

 

[Robert Hart]

Charles.

Thank you for the information and link.