Calling all...Matty

Okay, I have what can loosely be described as a photography question.

Hypothetically, say that your upstairs neighbors was evicted. And say that his freaky ass got booted so fast, that he left a good portion of his belongings on the outside balcony, never to be reclaimed. And say the landlords tell you to take what you want, and send the rest to the dumpster. So, maybe you're rooting through the boxes like the sorry dumpster diver that you are, and you find the can-opener that mysteriously and suddenly disappeared a few weeks ago. You'd probably ruminate for a minute, realize that the freaky evicted neighbor had your house keys, and determine that he let himself in and helped himself to your can-opener, forcing you to secure a new one.

Okay.

Then say, you continue through the boxes, mostly crap, and happen upon a forgotten item of value. A Kodak Elph camera! What a find! You push the switch and it whirrs to life! A working Elph! You would probably do a little jig at your extraordinary luck. Then, you'd hand it over to your boyfriend triumphantly. Maybe he takes it and notes the coincidence that this is the exact same model as his Elph. What fun! Matching Elphs! You are too cute!

But then, maybe, a suspicion starts to crawl into the crevices of your innocent, trusting heart. You and your boyfriend race downstairs to scavenge his room. Mysteriously, inexplicably, astonishingly, his Elph camera seems to be missing. Now, you start to think about the finished roll of film that had been sitting next to the camera. Is the first half of that roll your Halloween pictures? Is the last half...too horrible to contemplate, potentially illegal, given the noises you have been hearing above your head?

Now throw this in: maybe it rained the night before, so a lot of the knick-knacks were wet. And say you had a trip coming up to an exotic new country that called for a camera far better than your own little piece. How do you know that the purloined Elph will hold up on the trip and take photos? If it's still operational as far as zooming and electronics and all that, will it most likely be okay? Is there any way to tell, other than buying film, taking random photos, and paying to have it developed, which you perhaps cannot afford?