Martin Hill

Early life

Martin Hill started collecting over fifty years ago. After he got out of the army, he and his wife, Patsy, began dealing in army surplus. One day, he used all of their savings and bought a literal ton of gun parts for $200. He cataloged and sorted all the pieces, over 36,000, and sold them to dealers. He turned a $200 investment in a $4000 one.

Collection

Hill's camera collection includes a VistaVision camera from The Ten Commandments, to raise the $6,000 necessary to complete the documentary. They reached their goal on August 21, 2011, with help from the historian Leonard Maltin, who blogged about their documentary. Maltin says, "Would you like to see the brushes Leonardo Da Vinci used to paint the Mona Lisa, or the chisel Rodin employed to carve The Thinker? Think of these cameras in the same way, and you’ll understand why they have artistic as well as historic value." The documentary depicts, among other things, Hill's long-time friend Mark Mervis (a professional cinematographer) cranking up and running film through the "treasure" of his camera collection: a 1920s camera that Charlie Chaplin used to film most of his silent movies. Hill and his family entered the camera at an auction sponsored by Debbie Reynolds.

The documentary has had a few rough cut test screenings, but has not been released yet due to copyright issues.

Health

On July 3, 2012, Hill suffered from a stroke that paralyzed half of his body.

Death

Martin Hill died peacefully on March 24, 2017, at Clear Creek Nursing Home and Rehab.