Sources: Wikidata · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Labyrinth arrived in 1986 from Jim Henson Productions and TriStar Pictures, a fantasy musical built on the combined imagination of Henson, George Lucas as executive producer, and creature effects from the Jim Henson Creature Shop. It paired David Bowie with a teenage Jennifer Connelly and underperformed on release before finding lasting life through home video and cult fandom. The film is now remembered as a high point of practical effects filmmaking and one of Bowie's most enduring screen roles, a rare fusion of rock persona and puppetry-driven cinema.
This 35mm cell preserves a frame of Jareth the Goblin King, the character Bowie originated and the figure most collectors associate with the film above all others. As the antagonist and central draw of Labyrinth, Jareth anchors the film's visual identity, and any surviving frame of him carries weight for collectors tracing Bowie's film work and Henson's design legacy. A single strip like this represents a physical fragment of that performance, a tangible remnant of the character's presence within the finished picture.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Labyrinth (1986).
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on each edge, evenly spaced; punched edges appear clean with no torn or missing perforations visible.
Soundtrack
Two variable-area optical tracks run along one edge beside the picture area, consistent with a stereo optical print.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture.
Base & colour
Base shows a warm cream-yellow tint; the dye image reads with a cool-to-neutral cast and no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
Light vertical scratching is visible across the frame area, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be the same or near-identical consecutive frames from one shot, and the fantastical costumed figure with a large clock visible in the background is consistent with Labyrinth (1986).
Era check
The dual variable-area optical soundtrack, warm polyester-base stock tint, and positive colour dye image are all consistent with a mid-1980s theatrical release print of the period Labyrinth (1986) was distributed.
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading in partnership with National Film Vault, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
CROWN SERIAL 000063036
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
