9.5 mm film

9.5 mm film is an amateur film format introduced by Pathé Frères in 1922 as part of the Pathé Baby amateur film system. It was conceived initially as an inexpensive format to provide copies of commercially made films to home users, although a simple camera was released shortly afterwards.

It became very popular in Europe over the next few decades and is still used by a small number of enthusiasts today. Over 300,000 projectors were produced and sold mainly in France and England, and many commercial features were available in the format.

The format uses a single, central perforation (sprocket hole) between each pair of frames, as opposed to 8 mm film, which has perforations along one edge, and most other film formats, which have perforations on each side of the image. The single hole allowed more of the film to be used for the actual image, and in fact the image area is almost the same size as 16 mm film. The perforation in the film is invisible to viewers, as the intermittent shutter blocks the light as the film is pulled through the gate to the next frame.

The width of 9.5 mm was chosen because three strips of film could be made from one strip of unperforated 35 mm film. This was useful when duplicating films, because only one strip of 35 mm had to be processed.

The projection system also incorporated a way to save film on non-moving titles. A notch in the film was recognised by the projector, which would then project the second frame after it for 10 seconds. By this method, 10 seconds of screen time was available for 1 frame of film, rather than the 140 frames required if the film was projected at the normal rate. The same principle was used by the 'Agfa Family' system of Super 8 camera and projector in 1981 though to provide still images rather than titles.

In Britain, 9.5 mm film, projectors and cameras were distributed by Pathescope Ltd. During the years leading up to the Second World War, and for some years after the war, the gauge was used by enthusiasts who wanted to make home movies and to show commercially made films at home. Pathescope produced a large number of home versions of significant films, including Mickey Mouse and Betty Boop cartoons, classic features such as Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail,and comedies by such well-known stars as Laurel and Hardy and Chaplin. A notable element in the Pathescope catalogue was pre-war German mountain films by such directors as G. W. Pabst and Leni Riefenstahl. Classics such as Fritz Lang's Metropolis, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Dupont's Vaudeville attracted many film collectors.

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