Clockwork Orange's cassette deck

[orkyd]

During the movie the main character "Alex" loads a Beethoven Mini-cassette in a small black cassette deck....

Could anyone give me more info about this deck ?

Thanks in advance :)

orkyd - France

[markw]

Dunno what brand/type it is but even if you do locate it, don't expect great sound. At the time this movie was made (early 70's), even "hi fi" cassettes were still in the embryonic stages. Hi fi never made it to mini/microcassettes at all. Digital recording wasn't even on the radar yet.

[Resident Loser]

...Dolby B didn't see widespread distribution in cassette decks 'til summer CES of '71...the year of the movies' release...micros were typically lo-fi voice recorders as were the original cassette decks. In '67/'68 KLH was the first licensee...the baby steps of it becoming a hi-fi medium...

jimHJJ[...they named Greenland and Iceland quite contrary to the facts, the former is icy and the latter green...was that the same theory in naming the "Garden State"?...pffftt!!!(as in Bronx cheer)...;-p...]

[markw]

I came out of the AF (from the Phillipines) in late '70 with a Teac A-40, a non-dolby cassette deck. IIRC, the first dolby cassette deck was the Advent 201, from somewhere around the first quarter of the 70's. After that, a whole avalanche started, from the most expensive to the lowest. I think the first (relatively) low priced dolby deck of any quality was a superscope 302 from the mid/late 70's.

The ever lovin.' MarkW [I think we're dating ourselves here. Remember the Elcassette?]

[Resident Loser]

...Remember the Elcassette?..." He!!, I remember when a loaf of bread was nineteen cents and 5lbs. of LI potatoes was 12!...

Ah yes, the Elcassette...off like a herd of turtles that one...

jimHJJ(...time to put the mono Kingston Trio LP on the old blonde Zenith hi-fi and where is the "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" record from the Glenn Miller album? Frankie Lane? Julius LaRosa?...)

[chancethegardener]

Interesting question! I've always assumed that the deck was simply a creation for the film and not actually a real machine that functions. Kubrick's idea of where tape might go in the "future" - the film is set in an arbitary future setting.

However, the actual performance listed on the tape cover, which you can clearly see in the scene, is a real Deutche Grammophon recording, made in 1958, and still to this day regarded as one of the best versions of Beethoven's 9th Symphony. Treble a little harsh at times, but overall a wonderful recording and performance.

Of great interest also, is the turntable and speakers Alex uses! Not sure if they are real or not, however there have certainly been turntables over the years that look somewhat like the one in the film. Maybe someone else knows something about them!

If anyone is interested in checking this stuff out, it is scene 8 on the DVD (mine is a PAL copy - might be different on the NTSC version).

Cheers
Tony (Australia)