Sources: Wikidata · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Labyrinth arrived in 1986 as a Jim Henson production for TriStar Pictures, blending Muppet-scale puppetry with Bowie-era rock sensibility and Brian Froud's design work. It underperformed on release but became a cult touchstone through home video, prized now for its practical effects and creature work that modern audiences see as irreplaceable craft. The film sits at the crossroads of Henson's puppet legacy and eighties fantasy cinema, a curiosity that grew into a cornerstone of collector interest in physical film media.
The Helping Hands sequence is one of Labyrinth's most referenced set pieces, built around the Helping Hands wall, the disembodied gloved hands that form faces and offer Sarah a choice of paths. Collectors seek this material because it distills the film's uncanny puppetry into a single, self-contained idea, a moment where the Labyrinth itself becomes a character. As a 35mm cell, it preserves a fragment of that scene directly from the release print, a tangible artifact of practical effects work rarely replicated in modern filmmaking.
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; spacing appears even and the punched corners are rounded and cleanly cut across all visible perforations.
Soundtrack
Two variable-area optical tracks run along one edge beside the picture area, consistent with a stereo optical print.
Edge print
Edge text reads reversed as '3 A E', indicating emulsion-up orientation; no additional key numbers or manufacturer text are legible at this capture resolution.
Base & colour
Base carries a pale yellow-amber tint typical of acetate safety stock; the dye image reads as a warm-toned colour positive with no obvious fading or red shift.
Projection history
Light vertical scratching is visible running through the picture area across all three frames, consistent with a print that has passed through a projector gate.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single shot, and the content is consistent with a fantasy live-action production matching the film on record.
Era check
The dual variable-area optical soundtrack, acetate base tint, and colour positive stock are all consistent with a theatrical release print from the mid-1980s, matching the 1986 release date on record.
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 000063052
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
