Help: looking for... 'The Last Unicorn' - a full 35MM print...

Hello, everyone!

I am a huge fan of Peter S. Beagle novel and animated feature “The Last Unicorn”. I collect as much rare memorabilia as possible, but am new to the film print hobby. I have been lucky enough to secure two different German version of the TLU 35MM trailers, as well as 3/6 (edit: from 12 reels to 6, I have the last half of the print!) film reels from the 1982 theatrical film.

However, I am in search of a full print of the 1982 feature to add to my collection. The film I have currently is beautiful, and it would be amazing to have it in full instead of just 1/2th!

I have collected lobby cards, animation cels/sketches, vinyl records, laserdisc, CED, betamax, VHS, and more in regards to this wonderful piece of my childhood. It would mean more than I can say to finally own a full 35MM print to preserve for future generations to enjoy.

Unfortunately, one sold just two months before I got into the hobby and I am heartbroken about it still, a year later. But since that was fall 2017, I’m hoping my luck will hold out. I keep checking every day for a new print, and have contacted a few ebay sellers.

But if anyone has this print, or knows someone who does, please contact me at knest04@yahoo.com as I am interested in purchasing and protecting this beautiful piece of history!!!

Thank you in advance! 😃

Unfortunately, I’m very new to the hobby and don’t have a good way just yet to get pictures of my film - unless someone has a good method they use that they could share with me? I don’t have a way to unravel it safely except by hand. I’m going to be looking into my local college to see if there’s anyone able to help me.

I do have some (poorly photographed, since my computer/home scanner is low quality) stills of film cuts from similar film reels from the 1980s I bought from a vendor before, happy to share those at least. The quality appears to be the same on both from what I was able to compare. My scanner just picks up all the dust/fingerprints from the protective bags they’re in.

I don’t know all the differences since I only have a portion of the film, the scenes are mostly just rearranged. The biggest reel I have starts with Schmendrick gloating about how one day the magic will come to him when he calls, right after turning the unicorn into a woman.

I’ve been trying to find any recordings someone might have of the HBO release it had, which was identical to the 1982 film print, before they released it to VHS and fleshed it out more with the “Now That I’m a Woman Song” and more scenes. One website had to say about the different version (which was all I could find, really):

-https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084237/alternateversions

I haven’t been able to check the sound on my print at all, so I’m just going by some of what I saw and memory of it when I checked a year ago. This is just from the biggest of the three reels I have, reel #4 out of 12. I haven’t been able to compare all differences and want to be cautious so I don’t damage the film until I know what I’m doing. 😃

The 2015 DVD I have, the sequence goes:
-Schmendrick turns the unicorn into a human and gloats, then Molly and Schmendrick argue.
-They enter Haggard’s castle, talk to him, and the wizard Mabruk confronts them before he vanishes.
-Song “In the Sea” plays, including Prince Lir’s fight with the dragon.
-Scene with Molly and Lir peeling potatoes in kitchen.
-Molly & Amalthea talking on the balcony.
-Song “Now That I’m a Woman” plays, then Molly scolds her.
-Molly is scared of the Bull in the stairs and talks to the Cat about the riddle.
-Molly & Schmendrick discuss the riddle.
-Lir asks Molly about his poetry.
-Amalthea has a nightmare about the Harpy.
-Lir approaches Amalthea and comforts her.
-Song “That’s All I’ve Got to Say” plays.
-Schmendrick investigates the clock, then hides when Lir & Amalthea descend the stairs talking.
-King Haggard confronts Amalthea on the balcony, tells her about Lir.
-King Haggard’s flashback about the unicorns and the Bull.
-King Haggard threatens Amalthea.

Then, the reel I’ve investigated so far:
-Schmendrick turns the unicorn into a human and gloats, then Molly and Schmendrick argue.
-They enter Haggard’s castle, talk to him, and the wizard Mabruk confronts them before he vanishes.
-Song “In the Sea” plays, including Prince Lir’s fight with the dragon.
-Scene with Molly and Lir peeling potatoes in kitchen.
-King Haggard confronts Amalthea on the balcony, tells her about Lir.
-King Haggard’s flashback about the unicorns and the Bull.
-King Haggard threatens Amalthea.
-Molly & Amalthea talking on the balcony, with Haggard watching overhead.

I don’t know what happens after this part yet, but I’m excited to see and compare all the differences. Unfortunately, it was already altered for the VHS released back in mid-late 1980s, so it’s been very difficult to see what it looked like once upon a time in theatres. I’m hoping someone has an HBO recording on an old VHS back from that time between theatrical release and DVD when it played on TV, but I’m not holding my breath, haha.

Here are some of the stills from a different-but-identical film print to mine. Again, my scanner is really bad. It doesn’t have enough light to penetrate through and show how nice the cells are in person (they’re gorgeous), and it picks up every minute speck of dust and fingerprint on the bag. I’ll be looking for tips here and other places on how to get better photos and the like without damaging them.

-https://imgur.com/a/MmNI902

I’m also working on getting everything from my collection organized onto a website that I’ll link once I get it all uploaded and sorted and photographed.

Here’s my favorite production cel from my collection, of the unicorns beginning to appear on the wave, as well!

-https://i.imgur.com/O57EQB7.jpg

And here’s the reels themselves from the person I bought them from last year. It’s print number 517, and I think it came from a personal estate or a storage locker or something, since the person who sold it sells all manner of things. I have #4/5/6 and am looking for the rest from this print or another full print if someone has it.

-https://imgur.com/a/nSbvZua

Here are links to the two German trailers someone else uploaded on Youtube. I own the reels of both of them. One of the reels is a little faded and more sepia tone, unfortunately, but the other is in immaculate condition:

-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuvyVBj9AnU
-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M19RJHTvM_I

Quick Update: Thanks to some very experienced and helpful folks, I have actually been able to determine I own three out of SIX Last Unicorn reels rather than the three out of TWELVE I thought I had (due to labels on the reels themselves).

This means I am looking for print 517, reels 1/2/3 to complete the half print I have. But again, I will take trailers, odd reels, partial prints, full prints, or anything else TLU related anyone might be looking to rehome, pending discussions on prices! 😃