Most Memorable Moviegoing Experiences

In no order of preference-
1.Seeing "House of Wax" with Vincent Price in 3-D. (Early 70's)
2. Going with my late father to see "Modern Times" and "The Great Dictator"
(Chaplin films) around the time when Chaplin got the Oscar. Seeing them on the
big screen was a real treat.
3.Seeing "Jaws" and getting the sh** scared out of me at least three times.
4.My mother taking us kids to see those nerdy Disney films (1001 Dalmations,
etc) and my really cool aunt taking just me to see GOOD fun movies like "King
Kong VS
Godzilla" or "3 Stooges Meet Hercules"
5.Seeing movies at the old fashoined drive-ins.
PR

Jeff NY

2004-10-08 02:48:51 UTC

Don't think I can come up with ten, but here's five...

1) KING KONG (1933)
When: Mid-70's Revival
Where: Radio City Music Hall
Why: Because it was in RCMH, with virtually every seat filled by a wildly
responsive and appreicative audience that made it exhilerating, riveting, and
my ultimate movie-going memory.

2) MARY POPPINS
When: Original Release
Where: Loew's Kings Theater, Brooklyn
Why: My first trip to a movie theater...not to mention a bonifide movie

palace<, and for better or worse I've never been the same. When, a week

later, my Mom asked me if I wanted to go again, and it slowly dawned upon me
that a movie wasn't a one-time event --- that it was something that could be
seen again and again, well... I burst in tears of happiness that I couldn't
verbalize to my baffled Mom. (I wasn't simple-minded... merely 4 years old.)

3) KING OF JAZZ (1930)
When: Early 80's (I think?)
Where: The Museum of Modern Art-NY
Why: After years of being told by "experts" that few, if any, early musicals
still existed, seeing a complete print of the film for the first time with a
SRO audience that embraced the film (even singing along during the Illustrated
Song sequence), I realized that many of these films weren't so much lost as
merely neglected or dismissed by the then current crop of historians. Not
sure, but I believe I encountered RIO RITA here around the same time too.
(Note: Both prints were more complete than any versions I've seen since!)

4) THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT (1974)
Where: The Ziegfeld Theater (NY)
Why: Wasn't much a fan of MGM's "golden age" musical output then --- nor now,
but seeing the effect these old clips had on the audience moved me greatly.

5) DAYS OF THRILLS & LAUGHTER (Mid 60's reissue)
Where: The Loew's Kings (Brooklyn)
Why: My first silent film experience. Couldn't understand much of the screen
action, but vividly remember the audience howling to raise the roof to such a
degree that it frightened me. Sobering now to realize that many in the audience
saw these films upon original release, and welcomed those faces back like old
friends. It all must have subliminally registered, for when I encountered an
ad for Blackhawk Films (selling regular 8mm prints of "Double Whoopee") in the
NYTimes a few years later, things were never the same.

jeff

Dwight Frippery

2004-10-08 04:38:11 UTC

The time I saw Lon Chaney in a ultra-rare
nitrate print of THE CLOWN AT MIDNIGHT, accompanied by the Asbury
Park Chamber Orchestra playing arrangements of Smetana with special
lyrics by Chet Forrest and Bob Wright.

Lknafc

2004-10-08 05:58:36 UTC

Fun topic! : )

1) CURSE OF THE MUMMY'S TOMB
circa 1970, Redwood City, CA in a tiny little revival theater (maybe the Fox?)
Went as a wee tot with my sister, and was scared out of my wits. She comforted
me on the way home by explaining it was just a rubber mummy and I shouldn't be
upset he got squashed under a bunch of rocks. I was more upset about the guy
getting his fingers caught in the stone door!

2) FANTASIA - countless times, countless places, saw it just about every time
it came out in the 70's and 80's
With my dad . . . a tradition. Was upset when they changed from the original
soundtrack . . . used to love it every time, pops, scratches and all!

3) HAROLD AND MAUDE - circa 1980 - Tanforan Theatre, south of San Francisco
With sister and her boyfriend, boyfriend was the one who recommended the film.
Changed my life, really! Made me realize I wasn't such a nut (I'll leave it at
that). Saw it countless times in revival theaters with King of Hearts.

4) LAWRENCE OF ARABIA - circa 1982 - Castro Theatre, San Francisco
With my dad. He'd tried to get me to it for years, finally went. During the
intermission he asked how I was and I said in a gasping voice, "Thirsty!"

5) MARATHON MAN - circa 1980 - revival theater in San Francisco (unsure which
one), with dad and sister
I really really didn't want to see this movie, I didn't like violence in films,
I hated seeing blood. Finally went in about ten minutes in (I was standing in
the lobby being stubborn) and it blew my mind. Turned my into a Dustin Hoffman
fan!

Other movie memories I don't have specific time frames for are seeing Chaplin
films and things like Allegro Non Troppo, The Silent Partner, The Ruling Class
and Fantastic Planet (not to mention the 3-D version of Creature of the Black
Lagoon) at the UC Berkeley. Also vividly remember seeing Life of Brian at the
Red Victorian in San Francisco. Also the many many Beatles film fests that
played around the Bay Area, I used to catch those every time they came around .
. . fun!

Linda Kay

Stephen Cooke

2004-10-08 11:42:29 UTC

Post by Lknafc
5) MARATHON MAN - circa 1980 - revival theater in San Francisco (unsure which
one), with dad and sister
I really really didn't want to see this movie, I didn't like violence in films,
I hated seeing blood. Finally went in about ten minutes in (I was standing in
the lobby being stubborn) and it blew my mind. Turned my into a Dustin Hoffman
fan!

I know this is getting OT, but I saw this again recently, and I forgot how
unconventional this film is compared to today's so-called thrillers, and
even though it has its flaws, those flaws somehow make it even more
interesting.

swac
Oh yeah, and Marthe Keller...*rowr*

James Roots

2004-10-08 13:24:06 UTC

Post by Dwight Frippery
The time I saw Lon Chaney in a ultra-rare
nitrate print of THE CLOWN AT MIDNIGHT, accompanied by the Asbury
Park Chamber Orchestra playing arrangements of Smetana with special
lyrics by Chet Forrest and Bob Wright.

I'm disappointed in you, Dwight. I was sure you were going
to claim to have seen it performed live on stage rather than
on film, and then you went out for drinks with "Loan"
afterwards whereupon he drunkenly confided to you alone
that he was the love-child of Dan Leno and Eleanora Duse.

Jim

Neil Midkiff

2004-10-08 06:17:35 UTC

Post by Feuillade
What are the five (or ten, if you're ambitious) most memorable moviegoing
experiences of your life?

MY FAIR LADY, in its original 1964 release, at a big 1920s downtown
Kansas City movie palace. I was eight; our family dressed up for the
event, so it may well have been a roadshow engagement. I've loved movie
musicals ever since. We bought the soundtrack LP and practically played
it to death.

GONE WITH THE WIND, even in its 1967 pseudo-widescreen off-color
version, clearly a masterpiece of storytelling on screen. I couldn't
believe my watch when it was over; the three and three-quarter hours
seemed to have flown by. I soon checked the novel out of the library
and was thrilled to see how closely the movie matched the book. (I'd
been thoroughly disillusioned on this point by the 1967 DOCTOR DOLITTLE.)

2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, in 1968; my older brother and I got to go on our
own to a matinee showing at one of the city's big downtown theatres. A
completely stunning film, with breathtaking visuals and glorious music,
gloriously recorded.

THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT, 1974, also in a big Kansas City theatre. This is
the film that let me know just what I'd mostly been missing; I decided
then and there that classic films had something special that most newer
moviemaking had lost.

THE WIZARD OF OZ, sometime around 1975, during my undergraduate years,
at a tiny revival house in Columbia, MO, probably in 16mm, but the first
time I'd ever seen the whole film with the Oz sequences in Technicolor.
We had a black-and-white TV set at home, and of course had watched it
that way every year when it came on the tube. Every time the door opens
into Munchkinland, the magic still works, and I'm once again some
combination of eight years old and nineteen.

SWING TIME, approximately 1978, probably in 16mm, at the Law School Film
Society in Kresge Auditorium at Stanford University. Somehow I had
never seen Fred and Ginger before then. I've rarely missed a chance to
see them since. By the way, this is where I fell in love with Thirties
comedies like HOLIDAY and THE AWFUL TRUTH. This Friday night series
inspired me to start a Monday night film series which I'd project in
16mm in the basement lounge of the graduate engineering dorm where I
lived. Ah, the good old days of Kit Parker, Audio Brandon, and other
nontheatrical rental sources whose catalogs were an education in themselves!

A NIGHT AT THE OPERA and A DAY AT THE RACES, on a double bill, about
1979, at what was then billed as the New Varsity Theatre in Palo Alto
(now, unfortunately, masquerading as a Borders bookstore). I'd never
seen either before; I still had sore muscles the next day from laughing
so hard at them.

LOVE ME TONIGHT, sometime in the mid-1980s, at UCLA, on a Mamoulian
double bill with BLOOD AND SAND (1941). None of the books on film had
prepared me for an early-30s musical with that cinematic sweep and
verve. And for someone who only knew Chevalier from GIGI, what a
revelation to see him as a younger man!

Pretty much all the Fred Astaire films, at the three-week memorial
retrospective presented by David W. Packard in the summer of 1987 in
Palo Alto. He rented a beat-up, broken-down, usually vacant theatre
called the Stanford, brought in carbon-arc projectors and trained
projectionists, and with his connections to the archives, put together
within a few weeks of Astaire's death a nearly-complete tribute series.
I bought a season pass; the place was packed with real film lovers who
applauded the dance numbers. It was a real rediscovery of filmgoing as
an *event* like seeing MY FAIR LADY as a kid. Packard repeated the
success with a five-week Mamoulian/Lubitsch/von Sternberg festival in
early 1988, and on the strength of the response to that, bought the
building, renovated, restored, and seismically retrofitted it, and began
showing classic films there on a regular basis. I'm proud to have been
an audience member from the beginning. The summer Wednesday evening
silent series with live organ accompaniment on the Mighty Wurlitzer
(especially when Dennis James is playing) sparked my interests that led
to my participation in this newsgroup.

And I guess that says it all.

-Neil Midkiff

Phil P <>

2004-10-08 19:01:30 UTC

Post by Feuillade
What are the five (or ten, if you're ambitious) most memorable moviegoing
experiences of your life?

Ah, you folks are so young.......

1. Seeing City Lights for the first time at the Plaza in NY in 1964. Large
audience, huge reaction. I had been waiting years to see it, having seen only
one other CC feature...

2. Modern Times in a small theatre matinee in Far Rockaway, the first Chaplin
feature I saw.

3. All the other Chaplins at the Plaza 64-5

4. House on Haunted Hill at the Strand in FR. We all threw stuff at the
skeleton as it made its way through the theatre, above the audience.

5. 2001 in Cinerama in the 60's. Incredible experience aided no doubt by my...
'state of mind'....shall we say.

6. Seeing the animated "Hansel and Gretel" with my Dad in '54 or '55, the first
movie I went to alone with him and "Tap" in '89, the last. I had seen other
films in theatres before this. Te first was Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" in its
original run.

There are more...

R H Draney

2004-10-08 07:41:29 UTC

In many cases, the film itself is almost irrelevant to whether the experience
was memorable...so here goes:

Sundowner drive-in, Silver City, New Mexico, early 70s...seeing THE MAGIC
CHRISTIAN with a certain fellow smartass, and going without a car...we stood
when "God Save The Queen" played, segueing into "Come and Get It"....

Gila theatre in Silver City, late 70s...watching the reissue of LET IT BE as
waterlogged plaster kept falling from the ceiling onto the first six rows....

Theatre whose name I can't remember, Douglas, Arizona, October 1980...AN
AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON...walking home afterwards, two days before
Halloween, by only the light of the full moon, with neighborhood dogs all
howling up a storm....

About a year later, a theatre in Eagle Rock, California, the only one in
Southern California at that point still playing HEAVY METAL...was one of only
two people in the entire theatre when the movie started...two more came in about
halfway through, but the other original audience member left around the same
time....

Harkins Christown, Phoenix, CONAN THE BARBARIAN...some guy in the back row kept
up a running commentary...in a better movie it would have been merely annoying
but in this case it added to the entertainment value...highlight: as the young
boy Conan is forced to work a huge mill-wheel with other children, who drop out
from exhaustion as time passes, eventually the now-adult Conan is shown turning
the wheel himself, and our interlocutor lets out "Attaboy, Arnold! PUSH that
thing!"...r

Bob Birchard

2004-10-08 08:13:11 UTC

1) seeing "The Great Locomotive Chase" at the Alex Theater in 1956. My first movie
in a theater.

2) seeing "Around the World in 80 Days" at the Carthay Circle in 1956 or 1957. I
was really impressed with the "Trip to the Moon"/Edward R. Murrow prologue.

3) Seeing "When Comedy Was King" at the Vogue Theater in Hollywood in 1960. First
time seeing silent comedies on the big screen.

4) Seeing "The King of Kings" at the Silent Movie Theater in 1961. My first
silent feature film experience.

5) Seeing "Singin' in the Rain" at the Glendale College auditorium in 1962 or
early 1963 along with a musical excerpts reel from MoMA that had clips from "Rio
Rita" (1929) and some Busby Berkeley stuff. I was thrilled when NBC scheduled
"Singin' in the Rain" for their Monday night movie in November 1963, but it got
pre-empted due to the four-day Kennedy assassination coverage.

6) Seeing "Safety Last" at the Wiltern Theater in 1963 with Gaylord Carter at the
Kimball pipe organ, and meeting Carter after the screening.

7) seeing "Love Me Tonight" at UCLA's Royce Hall in 1966 or 1967. It was part of a
summer series of musicals. I generally didn't care for musicals at the time, but
the series was a rare opportunity to see a bunch of early films on the screen.
When I saw this I finally figured out what musicals were all about

7) Seeing "Support Your local Sheriff" at the San Fernando Valley State College
(Now Cal State Northridge) auditorium in 1969--gave me an appreciation of modern
films after being a "silent movie snob" for several years.

8) Seeing David O. Selznick's 3 strip Tech print of "A Star is Born" (1937) at the
Bing Theater at LACMA probably in 1970--this was a special screening with only
about a half dozen people in attendance--Ron Haver, Kevin Brownlow, Richard
Simonton Jr., William Wellman, Dorothy Coonan Wellman, Bill Gleason and myself.
Wellman said the scene at the sanitarium was based on a visit he'd made to Spencer
Tracy in a similar facility.

9) a similar, very hush-hush screening in the same theater around the same time,
with some of the same folks of "Cimarron" (1931) at a time when it was still
considered a lost movie.

10) Seeing Gaylord Carter score "The Kid Brother" for Harold Lloyd at the Toluca
Lake Bijou in 1969 or 1970, the basement theater of the Simonton family with a four
manual mighty Wurlitzer. The real thrill was observing Lloyd, who was able to
divorce himself from the character on the screen and be very analytical about the
film.

11) another screening at the Toluca Lake Bijou on a Saturday evening in 1970 of
Lloyd's "Girl Shy" with Carter at the organ. This one had a capacity crowd (65
people). This was the only Lloyd that Simontons had not run, and Lloyd was
reluctant to screen it because he didn't like his character in the film--thought
the stuttering made him look weak. He had made no effort to preserve the film as a
whole, though he had preserved part of the chase for "H L's World of Comedy."
Outstanding audience reaction persuaded Lloyd that evening that he ought to
preserve the film.

--
Bob Birchard

Now available from the University Press of Kentucky
Cecil B. DeMilles Hollywood
by Robert S. Birchard
I.S.B.N. # 0-8131-2324-0
http://kentuckypress.com/viewbook.cfm?Category_ID=1&Group=42&ID=1113

Corse

2004-10-18 17:10:12 UTC

When did Wellman say that about Tracy? I'm sure he didn't since it didn't
happen.

Corse

_____________________________________________________

8) Seeing David O. Selznick's 3 strip Tech print of "A Star is Born" (1937)
at the
Bing Theater at LACMA probably in 1970--this was a special screening with
only
about a half dozen people in attendance--Ron Haver, Kevin Brownlow, Richard
Simonton Jr., William Wellman, Dorothy Coonan Wellman, Bill Gleason and
myself.
Wellman said the scene at the sanitarium was based on a visit he'd made to
Spencer
Tracy in a similar facility.

Max Nineteennineteen

2004-10-18 21:34:10 UTC

Post by Corse
When did Wellman say that about Tracy? I'm sure he didn't since it didn't
happen.
Corse

And your confidence in this opinion is based on what?

Tracy's benders have been well enough known for many years. That he
went somewhere to dry out at least once is hardly surprising.

Corse

2004-10-20 09:23:26 UTC

Post by Corse
When did Wellman say that about Tracy? I'm sure he didn't since it didn't
happen.
Corse

And your confidence in this opinion is based on what?

Tracy's benders have been well enough known for many years. That he
went somewhere to dry out at least once is hardly surprising.

_______________________

Well, to begin with Tracy and Wellman hated each other so I doubt seriously
that Wellman would have been visiting Tracy at a sanitarium. Second, Tracy
didn't go to sanitariums to dry out. He went to regular hospitals. Third,
because Tracy and Wellman didn't get along (they had a fist fight in a
nightclub in 1937), Wellman regularly through his life bad mouthed Tracy.
Tracy, of course, never said anything about Wellman.

Corse

Frederica

2004-10-20 14:59:01 UTC

Post by Corse
Well, to begin with Tracy and Wellman hated each other so I doubt seriously
that Wellman would have been visiting Tracy at a sanitarium. Second, Tracy
didn't go to sanitariums to dry out. He went to regular hospitals.

Third,

Post by Corse
because Tracy and Wellman didn't get along (they had a fist fight in a
nightclub in 1937), Wellman regularly through his life bad mouthed Tracy.
Tracy, of course, never said anything about Wellman.

Corse

2004-10-20 19:38:37 UTC

Third,

I suspect the correct word here is "sanitorium" not "sanitarium." Sanitoria
*were* regular hospitals. They also treated long-term illnesses. I think
most people now think of them as being TB hospitals, but in the
pre-antibiotic era, illnesses often required quite long hospital stays.

Frederica

_____________________

Tracy didn't check into 'sanitoriums' either. He would just be admitted to
a regular hospital like the Harness Pavillion at the New York Presbyterian
Hospital . The purpose was to stop his drinking, rehydrate him, etc. It
was the way drinking was treated in those days.

Corse

Frederica

2004-10-20 19:59:44 UTC

Post by Frederica
I suspect the correct word here is "sanitorium" not "sanitarium."

Sanitoria

Post by Frederica
*were* regular hospitals. They also treated long-term illnesses. I think
most people now think of them as being TB hospitals, but in the
pre-antibiotic era, illnesses often required quite long hospital stays.
Frederica
_____________________
Tracy didn't check into 'sanitoriums' either. He would just be admitted to
a regular hospital like the Harness Pavillion at the New York

Presbyterian

Post by Frederica
Hospital . The purpose was to stop his drinking, rehydrate him, etc. It
was the way drinking was treated in those days.
Corse

(Blink.) It's the way it's still treated. I think you were missing my
point.

Frederica

Corse

2004-10-20 23:10:17 UTC

Post by Frederica
I suspect the correct word here is "sanitorium" not "sanitarium."

Sanitoria

Tracy didn't check into 'sanitoriums' either. He would just be admitted to
a regular hospital like the Harness Pavillion at the New York Presbyterian
Hospital . The purpose was to stop his drinking, rehydrate him, etc. It
was the way drinking was treated in those days.

Corse
___________________________________________________________

(Blink.) It's the way it's still treated. I think you were missing my
point.

Frederica

___________________________________________________________

No. Now celebrities go to places like the Betty Ford Center for alcohol and
drug rehabilitation. That's not what Tracy was doing.

I suppose your point was to correct everyone's spelling. Not much of a
point.

Corse

Eric Stott

2004-10-21 00:10:17 UTC

Post by Corse

Post by George Shelps
_____________________

Tracy didn't check into 'sanitoriums' either. He would just be admitted to
a regular hospital like the Harness Pavillion at the New York Presbyterian
Hospital . The purpose was to stop his drinking, rehydrate him, etc. It
was the way drinking was treated in those days.
Corse
___________________________________________________________
(Blink.) It's the way it's still treated. I think you were missing my
point.
Frederica
___________________________________________________________
No. Now celebrities go to places like the Betty Ford Center for alcohol and
drug rehabilitation. That's not what Tracy was doing.
I suppose your point was to correct everyone's spelling. Not much of a
point.
Corse

Corse

2004-10-21 01:17:16 UTC

Post by Corse

Post by George Shelps
_____________________

Tracy didn't check into 'sanitoriums' either. He would just be admitted to
a regular hospital like the Harness Pavillion at the New York
Presbyterian
Hospital . The purpose was to stop his drinking, rehydrate him, etc. It
was the way drinking was treated in those days.
Corse
___________________________________________________________
(Blink.) It's the way it's still treated. I think you were missing my
point.
Frederica
___________________________________________________________
No. Now celebrities go to places like the Betty Ford Center for alcohol and
drug rehabilitation. That's not what Tracy was doing.
I suppose your point was to correct everyone's spelling. Not much of a
point.
Corse

No, there were special places that Alcoholics went. They had several
variations:

The ones which kept your drinking a secret, and masqueraded as regular "rest
homes"

The ones run by quack physicians, who would pump a "Chloride of Gold"
treatment
into you, or some such crap. The "Keeley Treatment".

The ones which considered you a mental patient and strapped you down to your
bed.

NY State had all three kinds.

Stott

__________________

OK. I'll try again. Tracy didn't take the "Keeley cure", he wasn't
admitted to any mental hosptial and he didn't go to any "rest home". He
simply went to regular hospitals and dried out.

Corse

Frederica

2004-10-21 15:09:00 UTC

Post by Corse
OK. I'll try again. Tracy didn't take the "Keeley cure", he wasn't
admitted to any mental hosptial and he didn't go to any "rest home". He
simply went to regular hospitals and dried out.
Corse

Corse

2004-10-22 09:20:42 UTC

OK, and I'll try again. Regular hospitals WERE sanitoria. Sanitoria WERE
regular hospitals. The division is a recent one having to do with health
care economics. "Regular" hospitals now treat acute and emergency care
patients rather than long term chronic illnesses, which is what alcoholism
and "drying out" is.

Frederica
----------------------

You're persistent, aren't you. The type of sanitarium shown in A Star is
Born was not a regular hospital. It was a place that was supposed to treat
acoholics to get them to stop drinking. Tracy never went to any place like
that. He simply went to hospitals where people went to have babies and have
their appendix taken out. He stayed in those hospitals, usually, for a week
or so and then checked out and went home. Get it yet?

Corse

Frederica

2004-10-22 14:53:22 UTC

Post by Frederica
OK, and I'll try again. Regular hospitals WERE sanitoria. Sanitoria WERE
regular hospitals. The division is a recent one having to do with health
care economics. "Regular" hospitals now treat acute and emergency care
patients rather than long term chronic illnesses, which is what alcoholism
and "drying out" is.
Frederica
----------------------
You're persistent, aren't you. The type of sanitarium shown in A Star is
Born was not a regular hospital. It was a place that was supposed to treat
acoholics to get them to stop drinking. Tracy never went to any place like
that. He simply went to hospitals where people went to have babies and have
their appendix taken out. He stayed in those hospitals, usually, for a week
or so and then checked out and went home. Get it yet?
Corse

You know, this is really not worth it. It's SANITORIUM, NOT SANITARIUM.
I'm not correcting your spelling, I'm correcting THE FUCKING WORD. They are
two different things. Get it yet?

Frederica

Corse

2004-10-22 15:12:47 UTC

You know, this is really not worth it. It's SANITORIUM, NOT SANITARIUM.
I'm not correcting your spelling, I'm correcting THE FUCKING WORD. They are
two different things. Get it yet?

Frederica

__________________

Plonk

Bob Birchard

2004-10-08 08:24:31 UTC

12) I should add another film going experience. A series of ten films from the
1930s in 1969 at the Academy Theater on Melrose. They ran "A Slight Case of
Murder" and Edward G. Robinson was there. ""I'm No Angel" and Mae West was there.
Others who appeared with films included Cary Grant, Howard Hawks and Lawrence
Weingarten--but the stellar moment for me was when I ran into my Art History TA
from UCLA and she said, "Hello, Bob, I'd like you to meet my husband . . ." and I
suddenly realized that Mrs. von Sternberg was MRS. VON STERNBERG! The film that
evening was "The Devil is a Woman" at a time when it had been unseen since the
1930s.

--
Bob Birchard

Now available from the University Press of Kentucky
Cecil B. DeMilles Hollywood
by Robert S. Birchard
I.S.B.N. # 0-8131-2324-0
http://kentuckypress.com/viewbook.cfm?Category_ID=1&Group=42&ID=1113

Stephen Cooke

2004-10-08 11:48:03 UTC

*snip Bob Birchard's recollections*

Hmmm...now sitting next to Brian dePalma at a screening of Visions of
Light doesn't sound so impressive.

swac

Stephen Cooke

2004-10-08 12:05:51 UTC

1. Disney's The Jungle Book, in its original release, in Ottawa: I was
three years old, it was my first movie, and I absolutely loved the
experience. (Plus I went Jungle Book mad, getting the album, Jungle Book
wallpaper, and finding out who Phil Harris and Louis Jordan were when most
kids were more concerned about Ernie and Bert.)

2. 2001: A Space Odyssey in Washington, D.C. in 1982: I'd never seen the
film before and I was on a bit of a sci-fi kick thanks to the Star Wars
trilogy. Nothing prepared me for this though, and although the cousins I
dragged to see it hated it--"What was the point of those apes?"--the
film's meaning seemed very clear to me right off the bat.

3. The Return of Martin Guerre at Wormwood's Dog and Monkey Cinema, early
'80s: My first foreign film with subtitles. Opened up a whole new world
for me.

4. 16mm print of The General in the Bell Auditorium at the Nova Scotia
College of Art and Design, early '80s: What can I say, it was love at
first sight.

5. Gaumont colour test footage at Cinefest in Syracuse, mid-'90s: My first
Cinefest, and one of the many things that hooked me. I knew I was seeing
something special that I'd never see anywhere else (although I saw it a
few months later in the Dryden in Rochester). I'll never forget the shiver
of delight that went through the audience when it switched from black and
white to colour. Oh, and I thought Bebe Daniels was pretty hot in Senorita
too.

Plus: Phil Carli playing for The Fire Brigade in the Dryden, City Lights
with Symphony Nova Scotia, John Carpenter's The Thing at the Acadia in
Wolfville (my first Restricted movie...and I was only 14 or 15), Star Wars
at the Brackley Beach Drive-In in P.E.I. (with the screen against the
black night sky, the space ships seemed real), and a showing of One Flew
Over the Cuckoo's Nest at the Toronto International Film Fest hosted by
Chow Yun Fat...the first time I ever felt like I was in the presence of a
"movie star".

swac
Oh yeah, there was a screening of the hometown thriller Siege, which used
as an exterior the same building we were watching the film in! When the
bad guys came in the front door on the screen, everyone looked back to the
theatre entrance to see if they would come in and watch the film with us.
(Plus it was the first time I saw friends of mine onscreen as extras...)

Bob Birchard

2004-10-08 14:28:50 UTC

Post by Stephen Cooke
1. Disney's The Jungle Book, in its original release, in Ottawa: I was
three years old, it was my first movie, and I absolutely loved the
experience. (Plus I went Jungle Book mad, getting the album, Jungle Book
wallpaper, and finding out who Phil Harris and Louis Jordan were when most
kids were more concerned about Ernie and Bert.)

i suppose one can overlook the lapse in a three year old's
memories--Louis Jordan built a stairway to Paradise, it was Louis Prima who
walked and talked like you. ;-}
--
Bob Birchard

Now available from the University Press of Kentucky
Cecil B. DeMilles Hollywood
by Robert S. Birchard
I.S.B.N. # 0-8131-2324-0
http://kentuckypress.com/viewbook.cfm?Category_ID=1&Group=42&ID=1113

Brent Walker

2004-10-08 17:27:07 UTC

i suppose one can overlook the lapse in a three year old's
memories--Louis Jordan built a stairway to Paradise, it was Louis Prima who
walked and talked like you. ;-}

Except that I'll bet the Louis Jordan Stephen's mixing up with Prima
isn't the one who built a stairway to Paradise...it's probably the LJ
who'd "never seen such scufflin' and shufflin' 'til the break of dawn"
at the Saturday night fish fry.

Brent Walker

Bob Birchard

2004-10-08 17:48:05 UTC

Post by Brent Walker

i suppose one can overlook the lapse in a three year old's
memories--Louis Jordan built a stairway to Paradise, it was Louis Prima who
walked and talked like you. ;-}

You're probably right.

--
Bob Birchard

Now available from the University Press of Kentucky
Cecil B. DeMilles Hollywood
by Robert S. Birchard
I.S.B.N. # 0-8131-2324-0
http://kentuckypress.com/viewbook.cfm?Category_ID=1&Group=42&ID=1113

R H Draney

2004-10-08 18:39:53 UTC

Post by Brent Walker

Post by Bob Birchard
i suppose one can overlook the lapse in a three year old's
memories--Louis Jordan built a stairway to Paradise, it was Louis Prima who
walked and talked like you. ;-}

Should we change the title of this thread to "Three Guys Named Lou"?...r

William Ferry

2004-10-09 00:40:18 UTC

I think it was Georges Guetary who built a stairway to paradise; Louis
Jourdan was a fool without a mind (or has he merely been to blind to
realize?)
Side note: my dad's criticism of Georges Guetary: "This guy's like a French
Ricky Ricardo!"
--
Yours for bigger and better silents,
(although Vitaphone musicals are good, too!)
Bill Ferry

Post by R H Draney

Post by Brent Walker

Post by Bob Birchard
i suppose one can overlook the lapse in a three year old's
memories--Louis Jordan built a stairway to Paradise, it was Louis Prima who
walked and talked like you. ;-}

Should we change the title of this thread to "Three Guys Named Lou"?...r

Neil Midkiff

2004-10-08 17:41:19 UTC

i suppose one can overlook the lapse in a three year old's
memories--Louis Jordan built a stairway to Paradise, it was Louis Prima who
walked and talked like you. ;-}
--
Bob Birchard

OK, Bob, now you've got *me* confused. Do you mean Louis Jordan the
swing bandleader, Louis Jourdan (Gaston in GIGI), or Georges Guetary,
whose French accent sounds a lot like Jourdan, who "built a stairway to
Paradise" as Henri Baurel in AN AMERICAN IN PARIS?

-Neil Midkiff

Stephen Cooke

2004-10-10 06:01:29 UTC

i suppose one can overlook the lapse in a three year old's
memories--Louis Jordan built a stairway to Paradise, it was Louis Prima who
walked and talked like you. ;-}

D'oh....no, I knew it was Prima...I just posted when I was very tired and
suffering from general lack of sleep.

But it's hard to deny the coolness of both Louises.

swac
That's a pair of Louis, not Louise.

s***@yahoo.com

2004-10-11 16:40:24 UTC

In no particular order...

1. CAPTAIN SINBAD at the 14 Flags Drive-in in Oklahoma City, ca. early
1960s. So many images from this silly film stayed with me, and I've loved
drive-ins ever since.

2. UN CHIEN ANDALOU at a midnight movie at the Park Terrace theatre in OKC,
ca. early '70s. I don't even remember what feature it was paired with. I
was in seventh or eighth grade, and boy, did it blow my mind.

3. HORSEFEATHERS/DUCK SOUP at the Mini-Mall Theatre in OKC, 1974. An utter
epiphany. I've been a fervent and devoted Marxist ever since.

4. CHRISTMAS IN JULY at NYC's Thalia Theatre at some point in the 1980s. I
fell deeply in love with everything Sturges that night.

5. CASABLANCA, shown on-campus at the University of Oklahoma in 1979 or
'80. There was an audible gasp in the audience (I wasn't the only one) when
Ingrid Bergman first appeared onscreen. I fell in love with her and with
that movie then and there. I also fondly recall seeing a screening of
CASABLANCA at Radio City Music Hall some years back. It was a real treat to
see one of my favorite films in that astonishing venue with an enthusiastic
audience.

6. LA TRUITE at, I think, the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas in NYC in the summer of
1982. I don't think it was a great picture, but it was my first foreign
film and opened up a whole new cinematic world to me.

7. A month-long pre-code festival at Film Forum in June 2001. I'd seen a
few pre-codes before, but given that I'd just been laid off from my job and
so could attend every single double bill of this festival, I gained a whole
new appreciation of them.

8. A series that ran at Film Forum some years ago that featured, every
Monday night, silent movies that were filmed in or depicted NYC. It was
called THE SILENT CITY, and it was magical. The highlight of the festival
was LONESOME, which moved me greatly, but the entire series was just great.

9. ALIEN at the Northpark Theatre in OKC. I've never been more frightened
by a movie. I was on a date the first time I saw it, and the girl I was
with could barely watch. I attended the movie again a week later, just to
savor the special effects and the construction of the movie. Well, forget
that -- I was just as scared as the first time I saw it, and the same thing
happened the third time, too.

10. JAWS at the Northpark. I was working there as a usher when it came out,
and the excitement surrounding the film was palpable. The anticipation was
so great that when the theatre ran a huge ad in the newspaper a week before
it was to open, enough patrons to fill the theatre several times over were
fooled into thinking the movie was opening that night. We employees tried
not to spoil the movie for ourselves, as we often did by watching a few
scenes during our shifts, but it wasn't easy. The squeals and screams
coming from the auditorium made it hard not to peek.

There are many, many more.

Brett

--
* * * www.brettandyou.com * * *
Read it now; regret it later.

Jim Beaver

2004-10-11 17:49:55 UTC

Post by s***@yahoo.com
In no particular order...
1. CAPTAIN SINBAD at the 14 Flags Drive-in in Oklahoma City, ca. early
1960s. So many images from this silly film stayed with me, and I've loved
drive-ins ever since.
2. UN CHIEN ANDALOU at a midnight movie at the Park Terrace theatre in OKC,
ca. early '70s. I don't even remember what feature it was paired with. I
was in seventh or eighth grade, and boy, did it blow my mind.
3. HORSEFEATHERS/DUCK SOUP at the Mini-Mall Theatre in OKC, 1974. An utter
epiphany. I've been a fervent and devoted Marxist ever since.
4. CHRISTMAS IN JULY at NYC's Thalia Theatre at some point in the 1980s. I
fell deeply in love with everything Sturges that night.
5. CASABLANCA, shown on-campus at the University of Oklahoma in 1979 or
'80. There was an audible gasp in the audience (I wasn't the only one) when
Ingrid Bergman first appeared onscreen. I fell in love with her and with
that movie then and there. I also fondly recall seeing a screening of
CASABLANCA at Radio City Music Hall some years back. It was a real treat to
see one of my favorite films in that astonishing venue with an
enthusiastic
audience.
6. LA TRUITE at, I think, the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas in NYC in the summer of
1982. I don't think it was a great picture, but it was my first foreign
film and opened up a whole new cinematic world to me.
7. A month-long pre-code festival at Film Forum in June 2001. I'd seen a
few pre-codes before, but given that I'd just been laid off from my job and
so could attend every single double bill of this festival, I gained a whole
new appreciation of them.
8. A series that ran at Film Forum some years ago that featured, every
Monday night, silent movies that were filmed in or depicted NYC. It was
called THE SILENT CITY, and it was magical. The highlight of the festival
was LONESOME, which moved me greatly, but the entire series was just great.
9. ALIEN at the Northpark Theatre in OKC. I've never been more frightened
by a movie. I was on a date the first time I saw it, and the girl I was
with could barely watch. I attended the movie again a week later, just to
savor the special effects and the construction of the movie. Well, forget
that -- I was just as scared as the first time I saw it, and the same thing
happened the third time, too.
10. JAWS at the Northpark. I was working there as a usher when it came out,
and the excitement surrounding the film was palpable. The anticipation was
so great that when the theatre ran a huge ad in the newspaper a week before
it was to open, enough patrons to fill the theatre several times over were
fooled into thinking the movie was opening that night. We employees tried
not to spoil the movie for ourselves, as we often did by watching a few
scenes during our shifts, but it wasn't easy. The squeals and screams
coming from the auditorium made it hard not to peek.
There are many, many more.

Brett, sounds like you and I were in OKC around the same time. I saw lots
of stuff at those same theatres while I was in college in Edmond.

Jim Beaver

s***@yahoo.com

2004-10-11 19:43:32 UTC

Post by Jim Beaver
Brett, sounds like you and I were in OKC around
the same time. I saw lots of stuff at those same
theatres while I was in college in Edmond.

Nice to know, Jim. I don't know if you ever get back or not, but the
Northpark is now a dollar movie theatre (actually, $2 admission, I think),
with all four auditoriums now divided in half or quarters.

When I worked there, it was one of the premier theatres in OKC.

Brett

--
* * * www.brettandyou.com * * *
Read it now; regret it later.

Max Nineteennineteen

2004-10-08 17:38:28 UTC

Post by Stephen Cooke
swac
Oh yeah, there was a screening of the hometown thriller Siege, which used
as an exterior the same building we were watching the film in! When the
bad guys came in the front door on the screen, everyone looked back to the
theatre entrance to see if they would come in and watch the film with us.
(Plus it was the first time I saw friends of mine onscreen as extras...)

That reminds me of seeing Candyman, partly shot at the Cabrini-Green
housing project, at the ratty Chestnut St. theaters which were the
movie theaters closest to Cabrini-Green. At one point a child goes
into an outdoor restroom and a black woman in the audience says (try
to imagine the right voice), "That door should be locked!"

Eric Grayson

2004-10-09 00:26:21 UTC

In no particular order:

1) The opening shot in Star Wars. After seeing cheese like Logan's Run
the year before, it was really awe-inspiring that such a shot could
even be done. It's cliche now, but when that came on screen in 1977,
it was amazing.

2) The auction scene in North by Northwest. I saw this and couldn't
stop laughing. It was then I realized that NxNW was the real thinking
man's James Bond film, and infinitely more sophisticated. One of the
great films ever made.

3) There It Is at Cinesation. What the hell is this? A film by a
totally unknown comedian, years ahead of his time. Charley Bowers is
one of the reasons we all go through dumpsters looking for old film.
The guy pre-dates Willis O'Brien's best work and probably influenced
young Ernie Kovacs. Ever notice that Eugene's gags are very similar to
some in There It Is?

4) The golf scene in Goldfinger in my dad's barn. I bought a 35mm of
this reel as a lark and used it to test my projectors. After looking
several hours of newer 35mm film, I realized that this IB Tech stuff
was for real and that my candy-colored memories of childhood films were
more accurate than I knew.

5) Anything in Cinerama. I'd seen a couple of them on TV and they were
great yawners. Cinerama on a real screen is tremendous, cooler than
IMax any day IMHO. A standout is the ice sled in Cinerama Holiday.
Yeesh. I don't ever want to do that!

6) The last 30 minutes of Barbed Wire. Wow! What an amazing film! If
this doesn't get to you, you must be dead.

7) The first 10 minutes of Raiders of the Lost Ark. It's been
mentioned before. One of the greats, and the movie is far from dull
after that is over.

8) The Unknown. Browning detractors notwithstanding, this is one of
the most genuinely sick films ever. I love to watch it with an
audience that's unfamiliar with it... first they laugh at it being over
the top, but by the end they're crawling out of their seats. A
classic.

9) Lawrence of Arabia. This is an amazing film. It is completely
worthless on video. Don't even watch it unless you can see it on a big
screen.

10) The Man on the Flying Trapeze--the scene in which Fields decks
Grady Sutton. One of the most gratifying moments in all Cinema.

Other nominees: The Match King, While the City Sleeps, Lupino Lane, The
Old Dark House, Private Life of Sherlock Holmes...........

Larry S

2004-10-08 09:56:03 UTC

I can think of a few here:

1) Watching "The Forgotten" (1973) also known as "Don't Look in the
Basement". My family and I watched this at a drive-in movie theater back
when I was a kid. It aired right after "Smokey and the Bandit", when IT
first came out. This movie scared the s**t out of me because it was long
before I acquired a liking of horror movies (which is NOW one of my favorite
genres. I swore I would never watch that movie again -- to this day I have
NOT YET seen it a second time, although I've come close to watching it
again.

2) Seeing "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (1975) at the cinema, although it
was early- to mid-80s when I saw it. I saw people throwing rice and
lighting lighters and throwing pieces of toast everywhere. I was wondering
what the h**l all that was about, thinking that the theater owners are gonna
have a heck of a mess to clean up! "Do they [owners] know what is going on
in here?" I wondered.

3) Watching "Best Little Whore House in Texas" (1982), also at a drive-in,
while spending a couple weeks with an uncle and aunt, who are now extremely
and devoutly religious.

4) Watching "Men in Black" (1997). This, too, was at a drive-in; but we
had taken the kids, when they were younger, to see it.

5) Watching "Return of the Jedi" (1983) at a theater. The only reason that
this sticks out that well in my mind so much is that a little boy, who lived
in my neighborhood, liked this movie tremendously. Shortly after seeing
this movie, he and his brother died after an accident in which they
suffocated.

I don't think I can muster up five more ......... [Hehehehe!!!!]

--Larry S.

Post by Feuillade
What are the five (or ten, if you're ambitious) most memorable moviegoing
experiences of your life?
They don't all have to be silent films, but they do have to have been seen in a
movie theater. Movies seen at home on video or DVD do not count.
So tell us the name of the film, where and when you saw it, and what made the
experience memorable.
I'll get around to telling mine in a little bit. :)
Tom Moran
"I noticed that George W. Bush's daughters
didn't volunteer to fight in Iraq."
-- Jack Germond

Stephen Cooke

2004-10-08 12:07:44 UTC

Post by Larry S
2) Seeing "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" (1975) at the cinema, although it
was early- to mid-80s when I saw it. I saw people throwing rice and
lighting lighters and throwing pieces of toast everywhere. I was wondering
what the h**l all that was about, thinking that the theater owners are gonna
have a heck of a mess to clean up! "Do they [owners] know what is going on
in here?" I wondered.

I once worked at a theatre that showed RHPS...let me tell you, we didn't
look forward to it.

swac
The mice must have feasted on stray grains of rice for weeks afterwards.

Larry S

2004-10-09 03:19:59 UTC

I can only imagine. I sure wouldn't want to be the one going behind,
cleaning up all that mess. I've seen it several times since that first
time, and know what to expect, of course. I can understand why so few
cinemas show it on such few occasions!!!! [Hehehehe!!!!]

--Larry S.

"Stephen Cooke" <***@chebucto.ns.ca> wrote in message news:Pine.GSO.3.95.iB1.0.1041008090627.28458F-***@halifax.chebucto.ns.ca.
..

Post by Stephen Cooke

I once worked at a theatre that showed RHPS...let me tell you, we didn't
look forward to it.
swac
The mice must have feasted on stray grains of rice for weeks afterwards.

Robert Lipton

2004-10-08 12:45:01 UTC

1: TO SIR WITH LOVE at the Hewlett Fox. My first understanding of what
Star Power really meant.

2: STAR WARS at the Loew's Astor Plaza. Poeple had been telling me I
needed to see this scifi flick. When they blew up Aladaran, I saw
something that I had only seen in my mind for fifteen years. Now I
could speak to other people about it.

3:LORD OF THE RING.... my cousin took me to previews of each movie and
every time I saw it I was in shock that, yes, they could do things
right, even to the goddamned stupid Elf tricks.

4: YOU'RE DERN TOOTING: I watched, laughed, watched some more, laughed
some more, then a patch showed up during which the gags became
repetitious ... and Ben Model's score made me lauugh even harder than
before.

5: BEAU GESTE at MOMA... a nitrate print. I never seen the nitrate glow
before.

6: MANTRAP at the Film Forum. Preceded by THE PIP FROM PITTSBURGH.

7: It's the late 70s and we're going out for a cheap dinenr after a
gaming session and we go to the Olive Tree on Macdougall.... and they
show CITY LIGHTS. They're still showing Chaplin movies with your shwarma.

8: So I move into the apartment on 73rd Street and dscover that the
Regency is about seven blocks away. And unlike the 80 St. Marks, they
have good prints. And a balcony. And they're showing NORTH BY
NORTHWEST, which I've never seen before. Movie geek heaven.

9: The Walter Reade during their Alan Dwan Festival.... and there's
STAGE STRUCK. The woman was fearless.

10: Oh, so many.... which shall I pick out? No, all of them. Even when
there are screaming children in the audience, your feet stock to the
floor, the print's scratchy on the first day of release and the picture
is so bad you walk out.... it's still all wonderful in the dark.

Thanks for the topic.

Bob

Max Nineteennineteen

2004-10-08 14:07:10 UTC

This morning I picked up the Chicago Tribune, glanced briefly at the
list of the "Ten Best" choices playing in the Chicago International
Film Festival this week, thought "Yawn, a new Theo Angelopolous
movie..." and decided I would probably not even bother with that
frequently maddening event, since there will also be movies at the
Music Box, the Siskel Film Center, Doc Films, Facets, the Landmark
Century (fine, they open a Landmark somewhere I live after all those
years of subscribing to American Film and knowing one of my benefits
was a discount at a California theater chain), etc., etc. Not to
mention all the Budd Boetticher westerns I just Tivod, and so on.

Ah, how different things are for my blase middle-aged self than they
were when I was growing up in Kansas and the slightest chance of
something unusual playing somewhere sent me furiously consulting the
meager bus schedules to see if there was some way I could get to the
Scottish Rite Temple to see The General. My Wichita memories:

1) The Crest Theater, better known in my childhood as THE place to
play 70s Disney movies like Candleshoe or Unidentified Flying Oddball,
exactly once indulged in showing classic movies-- a triple bill one
Saturday afternoon of Animal Crackers, Monkey Business and My Little
Chickadee, when I was about 12. For years after, when I met someone
in Wichita who cared at all about film, I could bring up this
showing-- and absolutely guaranteed, they'd been there. Nearly all my
high school-era friends, both halves of a long term couple who didn't
know each other yet, etc.

2) Sleuth and Tom Jones, no not a double bill, but a very odd
phenomenon-- after seeing each, at 13 or 14, I spent the next day in a
kind of reverie at their most un-Wichitan sophistication, in which I
could quite literally remember almost all the dialogue verbatim-- I
think after one of them I turned on the tape recorder and recited
large chunks, pretty accurately. What was it about those slick,
rather light entertainments that produced that strange phenomenon,
which I have never experienced again in all these years?

3) The Boat and The Navigator-- I had seen plenty of silent film, that
is on the wall at Shakey's Pizza or in compilations like Four Clowns.
But I had never seen a decent presentation of a great comedy in a
darkened theater, and came out of this one walking on air.

4) Modern Times-- a late night (possibly even midnight) showing at
Wichita's Communist coffee house. (How I talked my parents into
dropping me off at such a show when I was 16 or something, I don't
know.) Ended up chatting with a college student who was there with an
English professor from the university who also hosted the late night
movies on one of the TV stations(!), asked him if he'd been at the
Crest Theater for the triple bill of Animal Crackers etc., he said "Of
course!", we've been friends ever since...

5) Nosferatu-- in the basement of the Media Resource Center at the
university, with probably two other people in the audience (no, I've
never identified who they were), a Goethe Institute print with German
titles-- and a free jazz score, so that when Max Schreck skulks
creepily along, it's to drums going "Boom chahchahchahchah, boom
chachahchahchah, boom chachahchahchah, ting!" Pretty much every
silent I've seen since then has been uphill from there....

Max Nineteennineteen

2004-10-09 19:19:21 UTC

My first five were all moments of glorious discovery, but you've
jogged my memory of examples of sheer perversity at the movie
theaters, so I should share them too:

6) The Wichita drive-in which kept showing the preview for Make Them
Die Slowly, an Italian cannibalism flick which featured some of the
grisliest, most cringe-inducing gore ever shown (and that was just the
trailer! I'm not sure they ever actually showed the movie, just the
trailer.) The guy getting his cojones put into a kind of Puritan
stock, only to have them neatly shorn off with a machete, was surely
the perfect anti-aphrodisiac for softcore sex films like H.O.T.S.
What amazes me now is that they actually showed this outdoors, where
it would have been visible to all passersby from several roads, I have
to think. You're driving along and-- out of the corner of your eye,
fifty feet high, thwack! Your bangers are separated from your mash,
as Austin Powers would say.

7) Tarkovsky's Sacrifice, at 9 in the morning at Telluride. First,
that they showed a Stan Brakhage short in front of it-- and everyone
in the audience, maybe even Brakhage included, had to be thinking,
"Why the F does a Tarkovsky film need a SHORT before it!" Then, a
moment comes when a character lights a candle and starts to walk with
it, only to have it blow out-- and everyone in the audience who has
seen Nostalghia groans in unison.

8) 10) Also Telluride, William K. Everson reading, in his dry British
accent, the translation of Marlene Dietrich's dialogue from the titles
in The Woman Men Yearn For (1929). "Um, darling, my soul burns with
the fire of my tempestuous love, let me give myself to you or I shall
die. Heh-hem."

9) One of my most embarassing moments running films: a showing of
Syberberg's endless Parsifal film, made more endless by the fact
that-- unlike any other opera film I'd ever seen-- it wasn't even
subtitled, a fact we didn't discover until a good 20 minutes into it.
Luckily, I had printed up a synopsis and handed it out. Unluckily, it
was something like two and a half hours before a break between acts
gave me the chance to stop the film, flick on the lights, apologize,
and encourage everyone to read up quickly before we ran the remaining
nineteen hours. (Parsifal-- it only SEEMS like the longest Syberberg
film I've ever seen!)

10) This insufferably pretentious overheard conversation, at the
showing of Boris Barnet's Outskirts some months back at Facets (taken
down verbatim and emailed gleefully to friends the next day), a guy
telling his companion what was on his ten-best list for 2003:

HIM: --That was number 3 on my ten best list. I have it here in my
Palm Pilot-- number one was The Stone Reader-- number two was The
Pianist-- no, wait I think that was number 3, and [much tedious
shuffling of precise placements of completely non-comparable films
follows]

HIM: Number four was Power and Terror: The Lonely Sainthood of Noam
Chomsky--

HER: Is that really something you could enjoy? I would think that
would just be hates America, America is bad, thank you, I got it
already--

HIM: Well, that falls in the category of movies people need to see.
Number five was Unpresidented: How George Bush Stole The Election and
Eats Babies, number six was The Weather Underground, number seven was
Castro: Lone Defender of The True Way Against the Evil American
Hegemon, number eight was Injection-Molded Electorate: How the
Plastics Industry Is Subverting American Democracy With Primary
Colors, number nine was Alger Hiss: The Only Decent Man in American
History, And Anyway We Shouldn't Call It America Because We're Just
Rewarding the Conquistadors for 400 Years of Rape, Torture, and Unfair
Labor Practices, and number ten was--

HER: Did you put Lord of the Rings on there?

HIM: You know, I've never seen one of those movies. Number Ten was
President Ralph: How Bush and Gore Conspired To Block the Real Win--

HER: Oh, you really should see them, just for the effects alone.
Remarkable. The best character isn't even real, he's just--

HIM: Then my runner-up ten was--

Richard Roberts

2004-10-09 23:08:53 UTC

No time for top ten, but here's a few

1.SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS at the Fox Theatre downtown Phoenix,
sometime early-mid sixties. Beautiful old theatre, and the Evil Queen
turning into an old hag scared the pants off me.

2. WHEN COMEDY WAS KING : Wallace and Ladmo Matinee, mid sixties, Fox
theatre downtown.(This was Phoenix's movie palace, and became a favorite
place to be) . Fell in love with silent comedy then and there, and saw
more Robert Youngsons whenever they showed them, and horror films, Three
Stooges, cartoons, and serials(just finally found out that PANTHER GIRL
OF THE CONGO was the one serial they ran that I remembered for all those years).

3. Watching a nitrate print of TRENTS LAST CASE in the living room of
Gary Lacher's mobile home and realizing that we were the first people to
have watched this film in forty-some years.

4. seeing A NIGHT AT THE OPERA for the first time in the 1972 reissue,
and the print's complete. I know this because the next time I saw it, I
wondered where the musical opening before the restaraunt scene was. What
has become of that print!!!!!

4. Seeing John Hampton's print of TILLIES PUNCTURED ROMANCE at the
Silent Movie Theater and realizing that it was a much better film in the
full six reels.

5.Sitting with Robert Wise in the Back row of the Gallagher Theater,
University of Arizona, watching THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, and
having him talk all through it about the shooting and the editing, and
getting shushed from time to time by the boneheads in front of us. It
was like having a live commentary track years before DVD's!

6. Seeing the restored NAPOLEON at the Shrine Auditorium as part of
Filmex in the middle of June with no air conditioning and a packed house
of celebrities. Ah, the sound of Anthony Quinn and Charlton Heston
snoring a few seats away. Thought the film was a painful bore then, and
it didn't improve when I saw it later with air-conditioning.

7. watching the print of THE HOMEOWNER with Buster Keaton in my living
room and realizing we were the first people to have seen the film in
forty-some years.

and one bizarre audience experience: Running films at Neeb Hall, Arizona
State University. We had a packed house one night for something or other
and the film hadn't arrived, so we ran our stand-by replacement film,
which was Ken Kennedy's THE IRON ANGEL. We had never watched it, but had
bought the print for twenty bucks and kept it around just in case.

As I said, we had a packed house, including someone in the wheelchair
section, and we announce the change of program and started the film.
Slowly, people start filing out as the film unspools. Soon they're
filing out in droves. When we bring the lights up, the house is
completely empty........and in the wheelchair section sits an empty
wheel chair!

A film so bad, it heals the sick!

RICHARD M ROBERTS

George Shelps

2004-10-10 02:46:34 UTC

Post by Richard Roberts
seeing A NIGHT AT THE OPERA for the
first time in the 1972 reissue, and the
print's complete. I know this because the
next time I saw it, I wondered where the
musical opening before the restaraunt
scene was. What has become of that
print!!!!!

Well, I always wondered what was cut out of the opening of NIGHT. All
prints
I've seen, including 35mm theatrical,
always begin abruptly with the restaurant scene...what exactly was in
the musical
opening?

__________________________________

"The past is never dead. It's not even past."
__William Faulkner

Richard Roberts

2004-10-10 03:35:55 UTC

Post by George Shelps

Well, as my foggy memory recalls (it didn;t realize it was never going
to see it again and should have paid better attention), it's sort of an
italian musical opening, sort of along the lines of the opening of LOVE
ME TONIGHT, where a theme is carried along from stranger to stranger. I
remember something like an italian gondola with a singer on it, and the
theme carried in to the restaraunt where they then go into the scene
with Margaret Dumont and Groucho. At the time I just remember
impatiently waiting for a Marx brother to appear and so the sequence
didn;t do much for me.

Apparently all subsequent prints circulating of A NIGHT AT THE OPERA
derive from a 1943 reissue that eliminates all references to Italy (we
were at war with them at the time), so there's more than a few bits and
pieces missing. I remember there's something before the shot of Harpo in
Lassparri's clown costume trying to sing in his dressing room. The
problem is, seeing that first complete print has basically ruined me
viewing the film ever since because the cuts seem really obvious.

I have been told that the cuts were made in the original negative
material and that Turner holds no more complete material. But I know MGM
still had it in 1972. Where did those prints go?!

RICHARD M ROBERTS

George Shelps

2004-10-10 08:24:29 UTC

Post by Richard Roberts
I remember there's something before the
shot of Harpo in Lassparri's clown
costume trying to sing in his dressing
room. The problem is, seeing that first
complete print has basically ruined me
viewing the film ever since because the
cuts seem really obvious.

Yes, I've always been aware of the rough
transition to the Harpo "singing" scene
and always wondered about it.

That the cuts were made to eliminate
referenes to Italy is a fascinating piece
of information...especially since the
first part of the movie is supposed to be
set in Italy!

You've solved a mystery that has had
me perplexed for decades, thanks!

(I'm reminded of the cuts made in
ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT
to make the professor's speech to the
young German students seem more
warlike and fascistic.)

__________________________________

"The past is never dead. It's not even past."
__William Faulkner

John Aldrich <jazzman56@earthlink.net>

2004-10-10 18:16:28 UTC

Post by George Shelps

Leonard Maltin discusses the missing sequence in the commentary track
on the recent DVD of A NIGHT AT THE OPERA.

--John A.

Phil P <>

2004-10-10 21:02:26 UTC

Post by John Aldrich <***@earthlink.net>

On Sun, 10 Oct 2004 11:16:28 -0700, John Aldrich

Post by George Shelps

Leonard Maltin discusses the missing sequence in the commentary track
on the recent DVD of A NIGHT AT THE OPERA.
--John A.

And Viking published both the original and final scripts in book form in the
70's. One thing not mentioned so far in this thread was that there was an
establishing shot of an opera poster for Lasparri's performance in Milan.

ChaneyFan

2004-10-12 02:34:02 UTC

Here's more than 10. I could probably come up with another 50.

1957: I'm 4 years old and my parents send me to bed early so I can get up at
11:30 to watch KING KONG on the late show. This is the film that turned me
into a movie buff.

1964: I was about 11 and my Dad took my brother and me to a triple feature of
TARANTULA, EARTH VS. THE SPIDER, and THE FLY. It is the only time in my life I
recall having nightmares because of a movie. I kept waking up and looking
under the bed to make sure there were no bugs crawling around.

1974. I went to my first Cinecon and saw Stu Oderman play for WOMAN IN THE
MOON. When the lights came up I said, "I don't know how he does that, but I'm
going to learn to do that!"

1975: I had just moved to North Carolina, had a free afternoon and went to see
JAWS. I went alone, it had been playing for months, and the theater was almost
completely empty. I was shaking so badly coming out of the theater that I had
to sit in the car for 15 min before I could safely drive home. (I just ran it
for my kids who said, "That isn't scary at all!")

1976: WHY WORRY in 35mm at the NYC Cinecon (in Little Carnegie Hall I think).
I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my life (and the movie has
subsequently never hit me as anywhere near as funny).

1976: I had played for a few silent films for small audiences, but my first
big event was playing for WINGS at Stewart Theater at North Carolina State
Univ. It was a sell-out of about 750 people and I was scared shitless. When
it was over I got (I kid you not) a 15 min standing ovation. I had never
gotten any kind of ovation before and had no idea what to do. I was just
standing back stage listening to the screaming and hollering and it kept
getting louder and louder and I was thinking, "Why don't these people go home?
It's over!" The next day a friend said, "You idiot, they were cheering for you
and wanted you to come out for another bow!"

1976: Frank Capra came to NCSU and ran a film none of us had ever heard
of...IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE.

1978: (SPOILER ALERT!) I was loaned a print of THE BIG PARADE which I had
never seen. The film was on a recessed hub reel so I glanced back when John
Gilbert returns to America. It looked like there was only about 30 sec of film
left on the reel. I had tears pouring down my face and I screamed at the
projector, "OH NO! HE'S NOT GOING TO FIND THE GIRL! I **HATE** THIS
MOVIE!!!!!" Then of course there was 5 min to go.

1979. A friend in Raleigh had some free passes to see a sneak preview of "a
new science-fiction film. I don't know anything about it." We went in not
even sure what we were seeing and ALIEN came on the screen. Yikes!

1979. Cinecon in NYC. We run SUNRISE in 35mm at MOMA with George O'Brien in
the audience. At the end of the movie everyone turns around to give O'Brien a
standing ovation and tears are pouring down his cheeks.

1981. The same friend who had gotten me the ALIEN movie passes was going
through a messy divorce and we brought him to Cinecon to cheer him up. Without
thinking, I suggested he go see THE CROWD. "It's a really good movie," I
reminded him. He was so freaked out after seeing it that he wandered off into
downtown Kansas City late at night and a bunch of us were running around
looking for him.

mid-80's. I played for the 1927 LES MISERABLES. It's 6 hour long and they
split it over two nights. By the end of the film there were about a dozen
people in the audience sobbing and sniffling loudly. I'd never seen an
audience get so emotional over a film.

1984: At the Cinecon I hosted we ran a tinted nitrate of THIS IS THE NIGHT
(1932). I was slack-jawed through the whole film it was so funny and so
gorgeous to look at and I kept thinking, "It just doesn't get any better than
this."

1997: I took my daughter to her first silent film (SAFETY LAST...Dennis James
on organ). She sat on my lap and I had to whisper the titles into her ear
because she wasn't reading quite well enough on her own.

2001: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING. I had waited decades for a film version of
this and was sure I was going to be disappointed. When it was over my wife and
I just turned and looked at each other and we simultaneously said, "WOW!" And
after RETURN OF THE KING, my daughter turned to me and said, "WHOA!"
===============================
Jon Mirsalis
e-mail: ***@aol.com
Lon Chaney Home Page: http://members.aol.com/ChaneyFan
Jon's Film Sites: http://members.aol.com/ChaneyFan/jonfilm.htm

Jim Beaver

2004-10-12 02:56:05 UTC

Post by ChaneyFan
Here's more than 10. I could probably come up with another 50.

Forgot another one: seeing THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY? with a friend who
hadn't told me he had dropped acid just before the show. Let's just say the
movie didn't cheer him up.

Jim Beaver

Stephen Cooke

2004-10-13 13:56:36 UTC

Post by ChaneyFan
Here's more than 10. I could probably come up with another 50.

Forgot another one: seeing THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY? with a friend who
hadn't told me he had dropped acid just before the show. Let's just say the
movie didn't cheer him up.

A friend of mine did that for a screening of Pee Wee's Big Adventure. The
ushers had to remove him after Large Marge sent him into a screaming fit.

swac

R H Draney

2004-10-13 15:19:53 UTC

Post by Stephen Cooke

Post by Jim Beaver
Forgot another one: seeing THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY? with a friend who
hadn't told me he had dropped acid just before the show. Let's just say the
movie didn't cheer him up.

A friend of mine did that for a screening of Pee Wee's Big Adventure. The
ushers had to remove him after Large Marge sent him into a screaming fit.

I'm surprised the rescue of the snakes from the burning pet store hadn't already
done that....r

Stephen Cooke

2004-10-13 19:33:12 UTC

Post by R H Draney

Post by Stephen Cooke

Post by Jim Beaver
Forgot another one: seeing THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY? with a friend who
hadn't told me he had dropped acid just before the show. Let's just say the
movie didn't cheer him up.

A friend of mine did that for a screening of Pee Wee's Big Adventure. The
ushers had to remove him after Large Marge sent him into a screaming fit.

I'm surprised the rescue of the snakes from the burning pet store hadn't already
done that....r

I think that scene comes later in the film...

swac
Likes the scene where they're filming some sort of pseudo-Jackie Cooper
flick and Pee Wee has to dress like a nun to get his bike.

Homonculus

2004-10-13 16:47:41 UTC

Post by ChaneyFan
Here's more than 10. I could probably come up with another 50.

Forgot another one: seeing THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY? with a friend who
hadn't told me he had dropped acid just before the show. Let's just say the
movie didn't cheer him up.
Jim Beaver

---

Glad John mentioned the original Alien (1979). That is easily the
most frightened I've ever been in a movie theatre. Much better than
it's inspiration, "It, The Terror From Beyond Space".

Another one on my list is Rear Window. I first saw this when it was
rereleased in theatres in the early 1980s and, for me, this is
Hitchcock's best. Of course, Grace Kelly is "indescribably
delicious!"

Bill Vermillion

2004-10-15 17:05:01 UTC

Post by Homonculus

Post by ChaneyFan
Here's more than 10. I could probably come up with another 50.

Forgot another one: seeing THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY? with a friend who
hadn't told me he had dropped acid just before the show. Let's just say the
movie didn't cheer him up.
Jim Beaver

---
Glad John mentioned the original Alien (1979). That is easily the
most frightened I've ever been in a movie theatre. Much better than
it's inspiration, "It, The Terror From Beyond Space".
Another one on my list is Rear Window. I first saw this when it was
rereleased in theatres in the early 1980s and, for me, this is
Hitchcock's best. Of course, Grace Kelly is "indescribably
delicious!"

I think my most memorable [it's really hard to choose as I've seen
so many] was Singin' In The Rain during it's first release. I
liked it so much I pestered my parents to see it again. I was
probably 14 at the time. The second time I was down further in
front and the process shots against the colored screens made the
dancers seem like giants.

This was in a very small town where the maximum run for any film
was THREE DAYS - and some were only two days. Two theaters - so
there were a total of 6 films shown each week. If you missed a
film, you missed a film.

Bill

--
Bill Vermillion - bv @ wjv . com

Dr. Giraud

2004-10-14 01:26:12 UTC

<< Subject: Re: Most Memorable Moviegoing Experiences
From: "Jim Beaver" ***@prodigy.spam
Date: Mon, Oct 11, 2004 10:56 PM

Post by ChaneyFan
Here's more than 10. I could probably come up with another 50.

Forgot another one: seeing THEY SHOOT HORSES, DON'T THEY? with a friend who
hadn't told me he had dropped acid just before the show. Let's just say the
movie didn't cheer him up.

Jim Beaver >>

Weirdest experience I missed--2 of my friends dropping acid before seeing ICE
CASTLES. I'm told they giggled through the whole picture.

Shawn Stone

"I am amused to meet you."
--Monte Blue, SO THIS IS PARIS

Scott Norwood

2004-10-08 13:36:15 UTC

Post by Feuillade
What are the five (or ten, if you're ambitious) most memorable moviegoing
experiences of your life?

Lawrence of Arabia - 70m - Senator Theatre, Baltimore, MD. Spring 2000.
I've seen it a number of times in 70mm, but this was by far the best
presentation and audience (sold out!).

2001 - 70mm - Uptown Theatre, Washington, DC. November 2001. This was
the first time I'd seen it in 70mm. Amazing!

Wizard of Oz - Uptown Theatre, Washington, DC. Recent reissue (1998?).
Gorgeous IB print and great crowd.

Birth of a Nation - Harvard Film Archive, Cambridge, MA. Shown at the
proper speed with piano accompaniment by Martin Marks. Very appreciative
crowd.

Man with a Movie Camera - Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline, MA. With live
accompaniment by the Alloy Orchestra (insert long thread here). Amazing
film and sold-out house.

--
Scott Norwood: ***@nyx.net, ***@redballoon.net
Cool Home Page: http://www.redballoon.net/
Lame Quote: Penguins? In Snack Canyon?

Mile Films

2004-10-08 14:31:00 UTC

1) My mother taking me and my friends for my 8th birthday to The Sound of
Music. We all got thrown out. And I'd do it again!

2) I know where I'm Going. Seeing it in Athens Film Society at Ohio University
and then Days of Heaven two weeks later in NYC. It set me off on my film career
which you now know whom to blame...

3) Seeing Nanook of the North at the Regency in 1984 on my second day at Kino.
Good way to start a job!

4) A private screenig of the nitrate print of QUEEN KELLY at the Thalia before
the restoration process began.

5) Stumbling upon a "secret" screening of Christ in Concrete at the
Cinematheque Francaise with Ben Barzman and his wife around 1985. Half of the
French film community was there and some of them actually knew who I was!
Terribly frightening and thrilling at the same time. The film was okay...

6) Showing Chang at the 1994 Aubervilliers Film Festival in France with 1000
school children clapping rhythmically to the score and then cheering at the
end.

7) Rocco and His Brothers at the NY Film Festival around 1992.

8) Seeing any restoration by UCLA -- epecially at the Egyptian during Cinecon.
(Thanks Bob and Mike, you're great!)

9) On the other hand, Shhh The Octopus at Cinecon. Mike, I take that back! ;-)

10) Lonesome and Beauty and the Boss in Syracuse. I saw the latter on TCM a
couple of years later, and didn't find it half as funny, but who cares. I
plotzed when I first saw it.

Dennis Doros
Milestone Film & Video
website: www.milestonefilms.com

Lloyd Fonvielle

2004-10-11 22:02:48 UTC

Post by Scott Norwood

Post by Feuillade
What are the five (or ten, if you're ambitious) most memorable moviegoing
experiences of your life?

2001 - 70mm - Uptown Theatre, Washington, DC. November 2001. This was
the first time I'd seen it in 70mm. Amazing!

I saw it there during its original run. The front screen projection in
the stone age prologue was the first time, to my knowledge, that I was
ever totally fooled by a process shot (since learning what they were.)
Even on reviewing it I couldn't believe it wasn't shot outdoors.

The whole film was awesome. I didn't like it, exactly, but I knew I was
seeing something truly extraordinary. This one would make my top 20
list of most memorable moviegoing experiences, along with my first
viewings of "Lawrence Of Arabia", "The Conformist", "The Godfather Part
II" and "Titanic" on their initial releases.

=================

Hit the road to nowhere:

http://fabulousnowhere.com

Bill Coleman

2004-10-08 14:54:59 UTC

1) Seeing the entire festival of Buster Keaton at
the Elgin Cinema right after moving to Manhattan.

2) Seeing the silent festival at Radio City Music
Hall with Carl Davis scores, most especially, and
probably #1 on this list, THE WIND, introduced by
Lilian Gish.

3) Napoleon at Radio City Music Hall, even if the
score was only the Coppolla one.

4) Any one of a number of Precodes at the Film Forum.

5) Something else I'll think of after I've sent this!

Bill Coleman

Greta de Groat

2004-10-08 16:50:10 UTC

Oh my, where to start---maybe at the beginning.

1. Robinson Crusoe on Mars at some drive in in Fremont, CA, early 60s.
Must have been one of the first films i ever saw, and i remember it
vividly, though i don't think i've ever seen it again (or if i did it
was on b&w tv). I don't know how old i was, but i was fascinated. I
saw A Hard Day's Night at the drive in about the same time, but RCOM is
the one that really stuck with me.

2. Help! at the Centerville Theater in Fremont ('65 maybe?) Actually,
don't remember that much about the movie, but i remember standing for
about 4 hours in line to get in. It was cold that day, too. Obviously,
i liked the Beatles a lot. I'd never done that before or have done it
since. That theater is now the home of Bollywood movies in an area now
dubbed Little Kabul--just went to a well known Afghan restaurant there
and discovered that behind the parking lot was the old barn that my best
friend and i used to ride to on our bikes to pick blackberries. The old
and the new, side by side.

3. One of the Youngson compilations, probably at the Fremont Hub cinema,
early '70s. Four Clowns maybe? It was the one with the extended clip
from Seven Chances. I'd been watching old comedies on TV for years and
the other Youngson films, but this was my first theater experience. I
thought i'd split a gut at all those rocks coming down!

4. Sadie Thompson at the PFA with James Card hosting, probably 1975.
This must have been the first silent drama i ever saw on a real screen,
at at that time the ending hadn't been reconstructed so it just ended
abruptly when Lionel was sneaking up on Gloria. It was a free screening
to dramatize the need for film preservation. My best friend and i felt
very smug when someone in the audience had to ask how it ended--i don't
think we'd ever seen another screen version yet but we did know the
story.

5. Double bill of The Unknown and Lonesome, a week or so later at PFA.
This was part of a series of films from Eastman House--i still have the
catalog. I persuaded my father to take my friend and i to see this
because we wanted to see Chaney. Besides being wonderful, it taught me
a lot about the vagaries of preservation and screening. The titles of
both films were in French, and they hadn't prepared a script so a French
student had to read and translate them cold. Also, Lonesome was the
first part talkie i had seen, and had a theme song and was tinted--i was
feeling like it had everything but the kitchen sink in it! Anyway, a
fascinating experience with two wonderful films.

6. North by Northwest, at the Festival Theater? (on or just off Cowper
in Palo Alto, probably 1976 or 77). My husband and i loved this little
theater, with its pillows and frozen UNO bars. Our favorite memory was
lying on the pillows practically under the screen watching North by
Northwest. Mount Rushmore has never quite looked like this again.

7. Sunrise at PFA (1980s). Could this have been a nitrate print? It
was just so glowing and beautiful, i'd never seen anything quite like
it. Was so disappointed when i saw the film several years later in a
dim 16mm. And i really liked the film.

8. Passion of Joan of Arc (1980s). Not really a pleasant experience,
but memorable. I did not find the film at all boring, but it was so
intense in practially made me sick. It was a summer afternoon
screening, and i was so disoriented that when i came out of the theater
i thought it was startled that it was still light. My husband said it
was like watching two hours of Auschwitz.

9. The whole Italian Diva series at PFA (3 or 4 years back?) This was
such an exciting series of films i'd never heard of with actresses i'd
never heard of, and i was an instant convert. These ladies were so
fascinating and exotic, they were just loads of fun to watch. I dressed
up in costume and had a ball.

10. La Maison du Mystere (last year i think?) I just loved this
serial, it was like being immersed in a huge novel. It was shown over 3
nights, with Edith Kramer reading the titles (from at prepared script at
least--quite an advance over the 70s). This was a wonderful film with
two great actors and kept me on the edge of my seat for the whole, what,
7 hours or whatever it was. A runner up in the serial department would
be Barrabas, over 3 sundays a few years back with Jon M. on piano. Not
only was the film absorbing, but i was simultaneously going to the
Wagner Ring Cycle at San Francisco opera, so i would be watching one
epic serial and then dashing across the Bay to watch another.

my, i didn't know i had so much to say
greta

Homonculus

2004-10-08 16:53:12 UTC

I don't post often but this was too good to miss. So, in no
particular order:

1. Star Wars (1977) - specifically the opening scene when that Star
Destroyer comes out of the top of the screen. The first time I saw
that, I sat there with my mouth hanging open in total and utter
amazement. I think my exact quote was, "Holy sh*t!!"

2. Bullitt (1968) - some of this movie hasn't aged well (like the
concept of there being "a" security guard for LAX) but that awesome
car chase and McQueen at his absolute coolest made a permanent
impression on me.

3. The Thing From Another World (1951) - turned me on to the delights
of 1950s sci-fi. When I hear Scotty say "Keep watching the skies!"
the hair on my arms still stands on end.

4. To Have And Have Not (1944) - Bogie was great but Bacall was
smokin'. Man, they just don't make 'em like her anymore!

5. Shanghai Express (1932) - OK, a kind of a guilty pleasure but
Dietrich, in those wonderful, gauzy close-ups, was so easy to look at.

6. Metropolis (1926) - I first saw it thirty years ago in a college
film class and Metropolis has never turned me loose. This is a
perfect example of a film that is far more than the sum of its parts.

7. Raiders Of The Lost Ark (1981) - I remember clearly watching this
on its opening weekend in an empty theatre - there was no advanced
word-of-mouth back then. I was exhausted after the first 10 minutes
but I loved every minute of it.

8. Duel (1971) - Yes, this was a TV movie but I have rarely been
engrossed in a movie the way I was the first time I saw Duel. It
doesn't hold the power it first did, but only because its ideas have
been poached by so many movies since then.

9. Orphans Of The Storm (1921) - Not so much because it was such a
great movie but because it was my introduction to silent films. I was
a teenager at the time and I recall being totally smitten with Lillian
Gish. ; - )

10. A Night At The Opera (1935) - There are a lot of films that
proport to be comedies but I laughed so hard at the climactic scene of
this film, it actually triggered an asthma attack (go figure!).

There are so many others moments - the twister from Wizard of Oz
(still as realistic and threatening as any on film), The La
Marseillaise scene from Casablanca (it makes me verklempt!), all the
way down to the wonderfully awful monster in The Creeping Terror
(1964). What strange creatures we are to be so affected by a
flickering image!

H

todd calvin

2004-10-09 00:10:13 UTC

1. THE WIZARD OF OZ on the big screen (around '71) - the tornado and
the witch were even scarier to an 8 year old than they were on tv.

2. THAT'S ENTERTAINMENT when it came out. I was all of 10 and that
film really opened up the world of classic films to me. I started
pouring over the TV Guide searching for classics (GRAND HOTEL) and
not-so-classics (BABES IN ARMS) which would show up on televison. I
joined movie book clubs, sought out soundtrack albums and the like.
Still have many of the books and albums.

3. GONE WITH THE WIND for the first time - around the same period,'74.
I was 10 and the 3.5 hours flew by. I became determined to learn all I
could about the film, the book and Selznick. All of this, while my
friends were lining up for HERBIE RIDES AGAIN.

4. MARY POPPINS reissue - was it '73? Another eye opener and it
whetted my apetite for more classic Disney beyond the animated films I
knew.

5. ANIMAL CRACKERS revivial - mid '70s. More exposure to classic
comedy when it made the theater rounds. Bought Richard Anobile's WHY A
DUCK! and caught the Youngston compilations on cable.

6. JAWS - opening weekend '75 - that was really an event; a jam packed
theater in Peoria Illinois and I remember I had to sit by myself; my
parents and I couldn't find seats together. Scared and enthralled me.

7. ALL ABOUT EVE - saw it for the first time on campus in college.
Remember being blown away by the writing and performances.

8. CASABLANCA - 1992. The film made the rounds in theaters for its
50th anniversary and although I'd seen it countless times on tv, there
was something really special about being immersed in that world
without the distractions of home viewing and an appreciative audience.

Pam or C. Wayne Owens

2004-10-09 00:21:56 UTC

Post by todd calvin
8. CASABLANCA - 1992. The film made the rounds in theaters for its
50th anniversary and although I'd seen it countless times on tv, there
was something really special about being immersed in that world
without the distractions of home viewing and an appreciative audience.

I was Asst. Managing an Art House in the 80's and we booked the first (to my
knowledge) Double feature of "Casablanca" and "Play It Again, Sam." It was
interesting that much of the audience came for the Woody Allen movie and
discovered the original. We actually had crowds stand and applaud. That was
an experience.
wayne
http://www.movieandtvnews.com/

Precode

2004-10-11 23:51:37 UTC

Post by Pam or C. Wayne Owens

Actually, I was the first, in Cincinnati in 1974. We know it was the
first because the local Paramount salesman had to go all the way to
the home office to get permission to sell SAM as a flat rental, which
they hadn't done up to that point.

Mike S.

"Sorry I had to slap you around, but you got hysterical when I said,
'No more.'"--Woody in PIAS

Precode

2004-10-08 23:21:51 UTC

Just off the top of my head and by no means definitive:

1) Being taken at a friend's birthday party to see THE PAJAMA GAME in
1957. I'd been to movies before (WIZARD OF OZ, TEN COMMANDMENTS,
Disney stuff), but for some reason this really left an impression.

2) 101 DALMATIANS in 1961. My all-time favorite movie for two years
until--

3) IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD in early 1964 at the Cinerama
Dabel. It'd already been cut by then, but what was left still
transported me. And continues to do so to this day.

4) THE SATAN BUG in 1965. Don't know why this had the impact on me
that it did, but from that moment on, I knew I wanted to be in the
movie industry.

5) RIO BRAVO, in college, around 1972 or so. I actually saw the
trilogy backwards, so I was more than ready, and it did not
disappoint.

6) PLAYTIME, in the mid-70s, at a public screening at the University
of Cincinnati. A 16mm print. No matter. Took my head off.

7) Exhibitors' screening of JAWS in 1975. We'd been hearing the buzz
for weeks. When we walked out of the theatre, we knew this would
become the biggest grossing movie of all time. The smart ones bought
MCA stock.

8) Ditto for CLOSE ENCOUNTERS in '77. If it's possible to be absorbed
into a movie and feel like you're part of it, this was that film.

9) Ditto for the first STAR TREK movie in 1979. No, it was surely no
CE3K, but after a decade of hope, seeing it unfurl on that gigantic
screen was enough.

I'll leave #10 blank for now, awaiting my memory gap to refill. And if
you're wondering why so many recent films: the criterion was theatres,
and when you lived in Ohio, you saw the classics on TV or not at all.

Mike S.

" "-Tati in PLAYTIME

Precode

2004-10-08 23:32:14 UTC

Precode

2004-10-12 00:25:56 UTC

Post by Precode
1) Being taken at a friend's birthday party to see THE PAJAMA GAME in
1957. I'd been to movies before (WIZARD OF OZ, TEN COMMANDMENTS,
Disney stuff), but for some reason this really left an impression.
2) 101 DALMATIANS in 1961. My all-time favorite movie for two years
until--
3) IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD in early 1964 at the Cinerama
Dabel. It'd already been cut by then, but what was left still
transported me. And continues to do so to this day.
4) THE SATAN BUG in 1965. Don't know why this had the impact on me
that it did, but from that moment on, I knew I wanted to be in the
movie industry.
5) RIO BRAVO, in college, around 1972 or so. I actually saw the
trilogy backwards, so I was more than ready, and it did not
disappoint.
6) PLAYTIME, in the mid-70s, at a public screening at the University
of Cincinnati. A 16mm print. No matter. Took my head off.
7) Exhibitors' screening of JAWS in 1975. We'd been hearing the buzz
for weeks. When we walked out of the theatre, we knew this would
become the biggest grossing movie of all time. The smart ones bought
MCA stock.
8) Ditto for CLOSE ENCOUNTERS in '77. If it's possible to be absorbed
into a movie and feel like you're part of it, this was that film.
9) Ditto for the first STAR TREK movie in 1979. No, it was surely no
CE3K, but after a decade of hope, seeing it unfurl on that gigantic
screen was enough.
I'll leave #10 blank for now, awaiting my memory gap to refill. And if
you're wondering why so many recent films: the criterion was theatres,
and when you lived in Ohio, you saw the classics on TV or not at all.
Mike S.
" "-Tati in PLAYTIME

Finishing up:

#10: SMART BLONDE at the 1976 Cinecon. I've told this story before,
but it was a real revelation for me: to that point, I'd only seen
big-studio A pictures, or el-cheapo Bs. I'd never really seen a studio
B before, and it was so lively and smart and fun that it made me
realize that for all my supposed knowledge of old movies, there was a
whole universe of film out there I knew nothing about.
On a similar note, I was projecting a relatively-unknown film
called BLESSED EVENT at the 1984 Cinecon, which not only put everybody
through the roof, but I was so enrapt by it that I totally blew the
changeover!

And to wrap up, a trifecta: in 1988, I was attending the Santa Barbara
Film Festival (I had a movie in there). Ed Hulse was in town and we
went up for the weekend, and were leaving Sunday after lunch. He
wanted to check out some bookstores, so I decided to see one more
picture, and out of the blue I picked a Hong Kong gangster film that
sounded kinda neat. It was, of course, John Woo's A BETTER TOMORROW,
and it was unlike anything I'd ever seen. I figured it for a one-shot,
until two years later, when Filmex honored Tsui Hark, and ran BT2;
loved it better than 1. But again, didn't see a long-range pattern.
Then that July, the Nuart programmed a week-long festival of HK films,
including BT1 and 2 as a double feature, A CHINESE GHOST STORY,
EASTERN CONDORS, and the incomparable PEKING OPERA BLUES. Saw
everything and that's all she wrote. That week has since been
considered "Ground Zero" for the Hong Kong movement in America, as
hundreds of us truly had our eyes opened as to what was still possible
in the movies. And not until last year's 3-D Expo has such a
concentrated dose of movies so utterly wrung out my senses.

I sleep now,
Mike

Which reminds me: January 24, 2002, at the Egyptian--THE LOST SKELETON
OF CADAVRA. Talk about a life-changing experience!

Hayden Craddolph

2004-10-12 20:08:21 UTC

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Donna Hill

2004-10-09 01:10:14 UTC

In no particular order:

(1) Going to the Vitaphone in Saratoga, CA for the first time about
1976 and seeing The Adventures of Robin Hood, a brand new 35mm nitrate
print. Having never seen 3-strip in a movie theatre, I spent the
first 15 minutes with my mouth open marveling and overwhelmed by the
utter magnificence of real honest to God Technicolor. The muddy TV
print shown on Channel 44 was a shadow of what I saw that night. I've
never forgotten it.

(2) Seeing my first silent film at the Avenue Theatre in SF with Bob
Vaughn at the organ. The film was Blood and Sand, I was a Friday
night regular for a long time afterward. I still regret it's
closing. I also remember Jeff taking me on a tour of the pipes and
organ works under the stage. A real treat!

(3) Attendinhg my first Cinecon and watching 11 movies in 1 weekend.
At that time, a record for me. My last attended Cinecon, I saw 19 of
the films, nit record breaking, but not bad either.

(4)Seeing The Birth of a Nation at John Hampton's Silent Movie with
all those great 78's providing the soundtrack and I had Frank Zappa
sitting behind me. It was the first of many visits and I loved that
place, you had to love the films on those wooden seats! Talk about a
tush numbing experience!

(5)Seeing Murnau's Faust at the Castro.

(6) Seeing the Brownlow version of Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse for
the first time with the mighty Wurlitzer. Dennis James played the
hell out of it (he also plays a really mean Wings).

(7) Fritz Lang's Niebelungen during the SFO Ring Cycle in 1990
(standing at the opera through 3 of the cycles and sitting for the
movie) - a great great summer for me.

(8)Peter Pan with Betty Bronson, I believe!

(9) Being able to see Beyond the Rocks sometime in 2005 (okay, this
has not happened yet and I expect the film to be a glossy programmer,
but it's Swanson and Valentino's only film appearance and I can hardly
wait to see it)

(10) Suffering through the restored Cabiria because I felt it was
historically important for me to see it, but it was a miserable and
long evening. The epitome of dull! The only saving grace was a visit
to Jing-Jing around the corner and a hotter than hell bowl of Hunan
Chicken to appease me.

I'm sure if I thought about it deeply, I could come up with 10 more
interesting and significant film experiances, but this is what came to
my immediate mind.

Donna Hill

Feuillade

2004-10-09 02:45:46 UTC

Wow, I get to answer my own post: cool! :)

These are some of my most memorable moviegoing experiences:

1972: "The Birth of a Nation" at the Movie Museum in Hyannis, MA

This was one of the films that made me a fan of silent films.

1972: "Modern Times" and "City Lights" at the Lincoln Art Theater in NYC

I was already a fan of Chaplin through seeing the Mutuals on Channel 13 in New
York when I saw that "Modern Times" would be re-released in Manhattan. "Wow,"
I said. "This guy made a *feature*?" Saw the film at least a dozen times on
that reissue. Same with "City Lights."

1975: The D.W. Griffith Centennial Retrospective at MOMA

In order to appreciate the magnitude of Griffith's accomplishment as a
filmmaker, you have to see his films in bulk, and on a big screen. I was lucky
to be able to do so at an impressionable age.

1975: "Metropolis" at Radio City Music Hall

This was one of the best experiences I've ever had in a movie theater. Seeing
"Metropolis" at Radio City with 6,000 people in the house and Lee Erwin at the
organ was just awe-inspiring. I feel sorry for anyone who wasn't there.

1975: "Ivan the Terrible" at the Carnegie Hall Cinema

This film made me an Eisenstein fan. And the Carnegie Hall Cinema (now sadly
demolished to make way for a concert hall) was a great place to see old movies.

1975: "Animal Crackers" at the Sutton with Groucho in attendance

Okay, so I wasn't exactly at the screening that Groucho attended -- I was at
the one before. But I was outside the theater when he came in, and it was a
total mob scene. And outside the Sutton I performed the one truly noble deed
of my life -- I prevented the person sitting next to me from grabbing the beret
off Groucho's head.

I was sitting on the hood of a police car at the time. :)

1981: "Napoleon" at Radio City Music Hall

I don't really have to say anything about this one, do I? You had to be there.

1980s: Preston Sturges films at Theater 80 St. Marks

Howard Otway deserves a lot of credit for keeping the films of Preston Sturges
alive when you couldn't see them anywhere else. Theater 80 was a great (albeit
strange) place to see films -- to give just one example of what I mean, it was
the only theater I know about that showed their movies via the medium of back
projection.

1992: "Cast and Crew Screening of "Husbands and Wives"

This was one of the creepiest experiences I've ever had in a movie theater.
Sitting in the middle of the whole Woody-Mia scandal watching that film with
all the people who had worked on it (and who were groaning audibly at some
lines) was absolutely surreal.

I should also add seeing some of the great films of the 1970s on their original
run (some of these at the first screening on opening day): "The Exorcist,"
"Nashville," "Taxi Driver," Chinatown" and "Apocalypse Now."

Tom Moran

"I noticed that George W. Bush's daughters
didn't volunteer to fight in Iraq."
-- Jack Germond

FilmGene

2004-10-09 04:09:35 UTC

<<1975: "Animal Crackers" at the Sutton with Groucho in attendance

Okay, so I wasn't exactly at the screening that Groucho attended -- I was at
the one before. But I was outside the theater when he came in, and it was a
total mob scene. And outside the Sutton I performed the one truly noble deed
of my life -- I prevented the person sitting next to me from grabbing the beret
off Groucho's head.>>

I organized that screening, Tom. It was a benefit for the Langlois Cinematheque
we were trying to build in NY. I was with Groucho and Erin Fleming when they
arrived. Groucho was absolutely terrified by the crowd. If you remember, the
crowd surged towards the glass doors at the theater and the management thought
that they would give way. 57th street was mobbed from sidewalk to sidewalk and
there were mounted cops trying to control the crowd. When Groucho arrived, a
chorus of "Hail Fredonia" arose spontaneously from the crowd.
Groucho was really afraid that he would be mobbed and Erin was furious that the
crowd control wasn't better. After the screening began, they both calmed down
and it went off without a hitch.
Why are all my best memories 30 years old? :-(

Gene Stavis, School of Visual Arts - NYC

Frederica

2004-10-11 17:05:43 UTC

Post by FilmGene
Why are all my best memories 30 years old? :-(
Gene Stavis, School of Visual Arts - NYC

Short term memory loss?

Frede...uhhh...

FilmGene

2004-10-12 04:37:16 UTC

Short term memory loss?

Frede...uhhh...

Did you say something?

Gene Stavis, School of Visual Arts - NYC

chaptal

2004-10-09 04:15:13 UTC

Post by Feuillade
Tom Moran
"I noticed that George W. Bush's daughters
didn't volunteer to fight in Iraq."
-- Jack Germond

Dr. Giraud

2004-10-10 14:42:03 UTC

<< Subject: Re: Most Memorable Moviegoing Experiences
From: "chaptal" ***@earthlink.net
Date: Sat, Oct 9, 2004 12:15 AM

This is a great thread, thanks for starting it.

In no particular order.

1) Mr. Mike's Mondo Video - East Islip Theater - 1978. A drunken audience
watching a very bad movie. Beer bottles were rolling down the aisle, then
being thrown at the screen. The film was then stopped when someone suggested
the rabbit that Mr. Mike was holding be shot. Perhaps by a gun bearing
member of the audience? On came the second half of the double feature. Flesh
Gordon.

2) Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom - NYC - 80s. Not that this was a
great movie, but we saw it on a huge freaking screen with the most amazing
sound I've heard in a theater.

3&4) The General and Trouble In Paradise - McEwan Hall, SUNY Fredonia 1984.
Dr. Shokoff had these on 16mm and played them for us in a class on narrative
film. Changed everything. >>

That makes 2 of us. Hail, Fredonia!

Chronological list:

1. SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN DWARFS, Babcock Theater, Bath NY, 1967 (?). I was
carried out screaming when Snow White "died." I would have happily repressed
the memory but the family kept it alive.

2. STAR WARS, 1977 Babcock Theater, Bath NY. (Theater demolished 1981.)

3. TESS, 1981, Corning Theater, Corning NY. (Theater demolished mid-80s.) Ah,
Nastasia Kinski.

4. TROUBLE IN PARADISE, SUNY Fredonia, November 1982. James Shokoff's class. I
didn't know that anything this perfect was even possible. Extra credit to
Shokoff for also, in the spring of 83, screening a 'scope print of LOLA MONTES.

5. ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, Paris August 1986. A reissue dubbed into
French. Big crowd in a first-run theater for a matinee. Jason Robads still
stole the film, even without the witty line readings, though Bronson--with the
HBO film ACT OF VIOLENCE in theaters, and whatever his current release was (the
one with Carrie Snodgrass as the psycho?)--was all over Paris that month.

6. BLUE VELVET, 1987, Crossgates Mall, Albany. The small audience audibly hated
it. Some walked out. It tanked and was gone in a week, only to return 6 months
later to Albany's art house and pack the place for weeks.

7. Multiple precode festivals at Film Forum in NYC, 1990s-2000s. COCKTAIL HOUR,
THE STORY OF TEMPLE DRAKE, CARELESS LADY, FIVE STAR FINAL, DESIGN FOR LIVING,
BLESSED EVENT, THE STRANGE LOVE OF MOLLY LOUVAIN, GIRLS ABOUT TOWN, VIRTUE,
EMPLOYEES ENTRANCE . . .

8. THE FRESHMAN, 2002 Cinefest. I honestly have never laughed so much at any
other movie.

9. THE DOCKS OF NEW YORK, 2002, Eastman House. My favorite silent, and I
finally got to see it on screen and introduce an old friend to silent movies.

10. BEHIND THE DOOR, 2004, Capitol Theater, Rome NY. Watching a silent from the
teens with a non-film buff audience, and seeing them become absorbed in such a
powerful film . . . memorable.

Shawn Stone

"I am amused to meet you."
--Monte Blue, SO THIS IS PARIS

chaptal

2004-10-10 21:39:10 UTC

Post by Dr. Giraud
<< Subject: Re: Most Memorable Moviegoing Experiences
Date: Sat, Oct 9, 2004 12:15 AM

Post by Feuillade
What are the five (or ten, if you're ambitious) most memorable moviegoing
experiences of your life?
They don't all have to be silent films, but they do have to have been

seen

Post by Dr. Giraud
in a

Post by Feuillade
movie theater. Movies seen at home on video or DVD do not count.
So tell us the name of the film, where and when you saw it, and what

made

Post by Dr. Giraud
the

Post by Feuillade
experience memorable.
I'll get around to telling mine in a little bit. :)

Shokoff also really introduced me to Chaplin. Showed The Tramp in a tiny
little classroom. Singin' In The rain too.

Holy crap, nice to meet you.

Ed Plunkett
SUNY Fredonia call of '87.

Post by Dr. Giraud
1. SNOW WHITE & THE SEVEN DWARFS, Babcock Theater, Bath NY, 1967 (?). I was
carried out screaming when Snow White "died." I would have happily repressed
the memory but the family kept it alive.
2. STAR WARS, 1977 Babcock Theater, Bath NY. (Theater demolished 1981.)
3. TESS, 1981, Corning Theater, Corning NY. (Theater demolished mid-80s.) Ah,
Nastasia Kinski.
4. TROUBLE IN PARADISE, SUNY Fredonia, November 1982. James Shokoff's class. I
didn't know that anything this perfect was even possible. Extra credit to
Shokoff for also, in the spring of 83, screening a 'scope print of LOLA MONTES.
5. ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, Paris August 1986. A reissue dubbed into
French. Big crowd in a first-run theater for a matinee. Jason Robads still
stole the film, even without the witty line readings, though Bronson--with the
HBO film ACT OF VIOLENCE in theaters, and whatever his current release was (the
one with Carrie Snodgrass as the psycho?)--was all over Paris that month.
6. BLUE VELVET, 1987, Crossgates Mall, Albany. The small audience audibly hated
it. Some walked out. It tanked and was gone in a week, only to return 6 months
later to Albany's art house and pack the place for weeks.
7. Multiple precode festivals at Film Forum in NYC, 1990s-2000s. COCKTAIL HOUR,
THE STORY OF TEMPLE DRAKE, CARELESS LADY, FIVE STAR FINAL, DESIGN FOR LIVING,
BLESSED EVENT, THE STRANGE LOVE OF MOLLY LOUVAIN, GIRLS ABOUT TOWN, VIRTUE,
EMPLOYEES ENTRANCE . . .
8. THE FRESHMAN, 2002 Cinefest. I honestly have never laughed so much at any
other movie.
9. THE DOCKS OF NEW YORK, 2002, Eastman House. My favorite silent, and I
finally got to see it on screen and introduce an old friend to silent movies.
10. BEHIND THE DOOR, 2004, Capitol Theater, Rome NY. Watching a silent from the
teens with a non-film buff audience, and seeing them become absorbed in such a
powerful film . . . memorable.
Shawn Stone
"I am amused to meet you."
--Monte Blue, SO THIS IS PARIS

Dr. Giraud

2004-10-11 05:00:09 UTC

<< Subject: Re: Most Memorable Moviegoing Experiences
From: "chaptal"

Post by chaptal
3&4) The General and Trouble In Paradise - McEwan Hall, SUNY Fredonia 1984.
Dr. Shokoff had these on 16mm and played them for us in a class on narrative
film. Changed everything. >>
That makes 2 of us. Hail, Fredonia!

Shokoff also really introduced me to Chaplin. Showed The Tramp in a tiny
little classroom. Singin' In The rain too.

Holy crap, nice to meet you.

Ed Plunkett
SUNY Fredonia call of '87. >>

And you. Small world, this damned internet.

Shawn Stone
SUNY Fredonia, 1985

"I am amused to meet you."
--Monte Blue, SO THIS IS PARIS

Bruce Calvert

2004-10-09 11:50:08 UTC

1. In the early 1990s, I was working in Washington, D.C. and I caught
PATHS TO PARADISE (1925) at the AFI Theater. I had read about Raymond
Griffith in Walter Kerr's silent clowns, but had never seen one of his
films before. Seeing the film with live music and a big crowd was
great, and the film was very funny. I've been a huge Griffith fan
ever since.

2. In 1981, I had to beg and drag my friends to see RAIDERS OF THE
LOST ARK on opening night at a theater in Austin, Texas, where I went
to school. They were giving me a hard time before the film started,
but once it was over nobody was complaining at all.

3. I don't know if this counts because I was not in the theater the
whole time, but in the spring of 1980 there was a huge rainstorm in
Austin. Whole neighborhoods were evacuated because of high water.
Families came to the theater that I worked at and spent the whole day
there, seeing two or three movies because they could not go home. I
remember standing in the lobby and watching the water rise on the
street in front of the now defunct Aquarius theater. I kept wondering
if it would reach the theater. (It never did.)

4. Cinecon 2001 was my first movie convention. I was in heaven
watching five days of continuous rare films. I watched them all, but
I had to skip out of the final film early to go catch a plane. SEVEN
MEN FROM NOW and DANGEROUS BLONDES were my favorites, but my favorite
moment was sitting next to my "idol" Kevin Brownlow for a couple of
films and getting his autograph.

Larry S

2004-10-09 13:09:18 UTC

Post by Bruce Calvert
3. I don't know if this counts because I was not in the theater the
whole time, but in the spring of 1980 there was a huge rainstorm in
Austin. Whole neighborhoods were evacuated because of high water.
Families came to the theater that I worked at and spent the whole day
there, seeing two or three movies because they could not go home. I
remember standing in the lobby and watching the water rise on the
street in front of the now defunct Aquarius theater. I kept wondering
if it would reach the theater. (It never did.)

I'll bet that WAS quite an experience for you!!!! Geez!!!!

--Larry S.

chaptal

2004-10-09 14:39:32 UTC

Wow, what a thread. Thanks for jarring some memories.

1) Mr. Mike's Mondo Video - East Islip Theater - 1978. A drunken audience
watching a very bad movie. Beer bottles were rolling down the aisle, then
being thrown at the screen. The film was then stopped when someone suggested
the rabbit that Mr. Mike was holding be shot. On came the second half of the
double feature. Flesh Gordon.

2) Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom - NYC - 80s. Not that this was a
great movie, but we saw it on a huge freaking screen with the most amazing
sound I've heard in a theater.

3&4) The General and Trouble In Paradise - McEwan Hall, SUNY Fredonia 1984.
Dr. Shokoff has these on 16mm and played them for us in a class on narrative
film. Changed everything.

5) On The Town - Ohio Theater, Columbus Ohio 1998. The Summer Movie Series
that CAPA puts on is one of the pleasures of living in this landlocked city.
I'd never seen this movie before. The first ten minutes, the opening number
on the big screen left me gasping with joy.

6) Four Horsemen of The Apocolypse - Ohio Theater, Columbus, early 90's.
Gaylord Carter played the mighty Morton Organ. 'Nuff said.

7) Jaws - Bay Shore Theater - 1975. That head popping out of the boat still
scares the crap out of me.

8) Aliens - Cine - Fredonia, New York 1980s - The last 45 minutes of this
movie had everyone sitting on the edges, or with their eyes shut praying for
their mamas.

9) Fresh Horses - Cine - Fredonia - 1980s. What a dud of a movie. About a
third in everyone was talking, and no one cared enough to shhh.

10) Sons of The Desert - Ohio Theater - 2004. The site of hundreds of Laurel
and Hardy fanatics, dressed in costume, linking their arms and singing along
was one of the most heartwarming things I've ever seen in my life. Bless
them. It's all about the fun.

Ed

Johnny Frankenstein

2004-10-09 20:06:04 UTC

it was when me and my brother threw beer bottles through the screen at a
showing of The Kids are Alright in 1978.

MSmith

2004-10-09 20:34:10 UTC

Post by Johnny Frankenstein
it was when me and my brother threw beer bottles through the screen at a
showing of The Kids are Alright in 1978.

HAHAHAHAHAHA

Mr. Moose

2004-10-10 03:10:58 UTC

1. Crest theater, Sacramento. A showing of "Citizen Kane". The
manager (Matias Bombal) came out and explained that the print they had
been sent was pure crap, and that they had requested another. The
studio sent the "studio print" (whatever the hell that means), and we
proceeded to watch the cleanest, sharpest, most vivid showing of CK
imaginable. The quality was absolutely phenomenal, and those old arc
lamp projectors did the movie real justice. God, what an experience!!
It was the way theater should be, a just perfect, fine-grain type
print on a big screen with clear sound and bright picture. The movie
shimmered. NO showing will ever equal that for me.

2. Seeing a Looney Tunes festival at the Showcase theater in
Sacracmento, it's last week of operation. Seeing cartoons on the big
screen for the first time was a revelation.

3. Star Wars the first time. I was 6, and the film was at the Century
Theaters. Wow. I was blown away. I was truly scared when Darth Vadar
walked in at the beginning, and laughed hysterically when R2D2 was
zapped by the Jawas.

4. Jimi Hendrix at Monterey played at the Crest theater. The 2nd most
pot smoke I've witnessed in my life.

5. Godzilla '85 at the Capitol theater (Sac town again). A mostly
black audience, who yelled at the screen. We all fell over lauging
over a long shot of an office building, where the people looking out a
window were clearly just a tv screen placed inside the model. What a
movie. (A double feature with Summer Rental, one of the worst movies I
ever saw.)

6. I must have been 5, and my family went to see "Donny and Marie in
Going Cocoanuts". I repeat, I was only five, but I KNEW that movie was
a piece of crap!!

And I'll finish off by continuin that thought. My parents used to take
me to quite a few movies, and they were true kids fare. Disney's
Pinocchio, The Wilderness Family (1 and 2), some movie with Elliot
Gould as a pilot of a ww2 era bomber (wait a minute, I can look that
up on IMDB, can't I? Just a sec...)

(After a minute of looking up and head-scrathching)

Wow!! I suddenly remember the plot and the movie! I must have been
nine, the movie is titled The Last Flight of Noah's Ark. Images of
that still wander through my brain every so often, and I'm now shocked
to find that I can get it through Netflix!! I'm sure it's no good, but
what the heck, some things are worth seeing again.

Mark

Robert Lipton

2004-10-10 03:09:23 UTC

One that I just realized. last month at the Alliance Francaise in
Manhattan. After missing it for three years running at BAM< I finally
saw Serge Bromberg get his TREASURES FROM TH CHEST show. I didn't
believe half his stories, but his excellent humor, his enthusiasm and
the assortment of oddities he pulled out blew me away.

Bob

WWW

2004-10-10 04:23:19 UTC

Going to see CARRY ON films with my parents and if it was in colour, my
mother always saying "Oh colour, this will be good." Which is pretty
much comparable to my father's comment every time Douglas Shearer's name
popped up on the screen. "Oh good, Douglas Shearer did the sound, it
will be a good film."

Going to see VIRGIN SOLDIERS with a friend of mine who had a major role
in it. As soon as he appeared on the screen, he bounced up and down in
his chair, nudged me and said "That's me!". He is very hard to mistake.

Projecting the UK press screening of HIGH ANXIETY with Mel Brooks in
attendance. About half an hour before it was about to start the film
cans arrived and after lacing up the first reel I started to run it to
check all was OK. It was not. No sound! Did all the usual checks,
wiggled cords, checked the exciter lamp, practically stripped down the
Dolby system. Nothing. It was getting close to start time and the press
were arriving. Suddenly I realized the stage crew had a flat up against
the pros arch. Got out the tall-a-scope so I could get up near the top
of the pros arch to check my speaker wire - the stage crew had cut it in
half with the flying wire they'd used to tie back the flat. A quick
repair solved the problem pretty quickly, the screening went just fine
but the nerves were frayed.

Another bothering moment. We also had some engineers come to do the
annual inspection which I was unaware of. The next time I turned on the
projector it was running backwards. For some inexplicable reason they
had disconnected the projector at its main switch and swopped two of the
phases when they reconnected (for those who don't know, and why should
you, if you swop two of the phases on a three phase motor it will
reverse the motor). I wondered if I had fired up the Xenon I would have
got a black hole!

Going to the press screening of TALES OF BEATRIX POTTER and Brian Forbes
and Nanette Newman's kids asking me for my autograph.

Going to the opening of some dreadfully bad horror movie with Peter
Cushing in it, can't even remember the title it was so bad. I dropped my
programme which landed on someone's foot, the gentleman bent down,
picked it up and handed it back to me. It was Peter Cushing. We took the
two seats in front of him. This was a mistake, it was a huge effort not
laugh or say bad things about the film within his earshot, but we
managed.

WWW.

Darren

2004-10-10 06:49:42 UTC

Son Of Frankenstein
Blood Of Dracula (twice)
Freaks

I saw all of thes in the 1980s (Blood of Drac the 2nd time in the
1990s) at Saginaw's Temple Theatre.

There is nothing like watching horror films in a 1920s movie palace. :)

Darren Nemeth
***@giant-squid-audio-lab.com

Owner of "Giant Squid Audio Lab" - Specialists in durable,
high fidelity microphones for discriminating analog and
digital recording enthusiasts.
http://www.giant-squid-audio-lab.com/

Jim Beaver

2004-10-10 17:57:48 UTC

Jacques Cousteau's THE SILENT WORLD, the Irving Theatre, Irving, Texas. My
first movie-going experience (that I remember). My best friend's father
managed the theatre and we always got in free. But the very first time --
those sea turtles gliding through the darkness -- gosh, nothing has ever
been the same.

Working as the playground attendant at the Park Plaza Drive-In in Irving,
Texas. CHEYENNE AUTUMN on the screen, when suddenly the small oil refinery
next to the drive-in blew up, flames shooting hundreds of feet into the air,
and five hundred automobile engines roaring to life as everyone tried to get
out through the tiny exitway. Pretty exciting. Nobody hurt.

Catching a bus from San Diego, where I was stationed, to Hollywood (150
miles or so) to see THE INFORMER for the first time, then catching another
bus back to San Diego in time for reveille. Worth every inch of the trip.

Watching a triple-bill of CAT ON THE HOT TIN ROOF, THE ALAMO, and a nudie
flick at some San Diego all-night grindhouse.

Walking drunk on my 19-year-old ass into a theatre in Hollywood to see ROMEO
AND JULIET (Zeffirelli's) and crying from the sheer beauty of it, and
sobering up slowly as I sat through it again, and cried again.

Racing around Los Angeles in a cab on my last weekend before shipping out
for Vietnam, seeing every movie I could manage to fit into the schedule,
seeing PATTON, M*A*S*H, and THE MOLLY MAGUIRES on the last day, thinking
maybe these would be the last movies I ever saw.

On my first day as a projectionist at a drive-in in Oklahoma City, dropping
the first reel of KLUTE on my foot and breaking two toes, requiring me to be
replaced twenty minutes into my first film.

Back at work a few weeks later, having one of the pair of projectors go out
during LITTLE BIG MAN and having to stop the film every reel change, trying
to change the carbon rods on a still-glowing arc chamber, while a Saturday
night crowd honked and yelled outside the booth. I got on the speakers and
told people the problem and said if they didn't stop honking, I was going
home. They shut up.

Watching some Lex Barker horror movie from the projection booth while
listening to a radio report that Barker had just dropped dead on a Manhattan
street.

Staying up all night with the lights on with my girlfriend after seeing THE
EXORCIST and getting a call in the middle of the night from a lumbering,
tough, ostensibly fearless ex-Marine buddy of mine asking if we were as
scared as he was.

Seeing a midnight screening of CITIZEN KANE in Oklahoma City in a huge old
theatre with a packed house and then seeing people flood up the aisle to
leave as the music swelled and the camera moved over the crates in Kane's
house, leaving BEFORE the shot of the furnace -- me yelling, "Wait, wait!
It's not over!"

Feeling incredibly depressed and going to a movie to cheer myself up. I
picked DAY OF THE LOCUST, and two-thirds of the way through, an usher came
down and told me my sobbing was disturbing the other patrons.

Slightly OT: going to a clip-and-discussion tribute to John Barrymore in
New York and at the end, turning abruptly and colliding with someone.
Looking down and realizing that I was holding Lillian Gish in my arms.

Hearing the audience boo after the cast-and-crew screening of SLIVER.

Seeing THE BIG TRAIL on the big screen with an overflowing house at the
Motion Picture Academy.

Hearing Budd Boetticher apologize for the terrible 16mm print of THE TALL T
screened at the Autry Museum tribute to him. Also having him actually write
something more than just his signature in my copy of his autobiography,
which he was signing that day, because I told him I'd actually read it. He
said, "You get more, because who knows if these other folks will ever read
the damn thing?"

Screening some Bing Crosby musical for myself in the film archive of the
Variety Arts Center in L.A., going to the restroom, and coming back to find
Julie Andrews standing in my office -- the single most stunningly beautiful
creature I have ever seen in my life in person. For the first time in my
life, I really understood what a movie star had that other people didn't.

And probably the single most memorable moviegoing experience of my life:
going to see some old Boris Karloff movie at a drive-in in the Sixties, when
suddenly someone starts shooting people through a hole in the screen.
Karloff himself was making a personal appearance at the theatre that night,
and he himself walked to the base of the screen just as the gunman came out
and faced him down and slapped him. I don't think I will ever forget that
night.

Jim Beaver

Phil P <>

2004-10-10 20:59:15 UTC

Jacques Cousteau's THE SILENT WORLD, the Irving Theatre, Irving, Texas. My
first movie-going experience (that I remember). My best friend's father
managed the theatre and we always got in free. But the very first time --
those sea turtles gliding through the darkness -- gosh, nothing has ever
been the same.
Working as the playground attendant at the Park Plaza Drive-In in Irving,
Texas. CHEYENNE AUTUMN on the screen, when suddenly the small oil refinery
next to the drive-in blew up, flames shooting hundreds of feet into the air,
and five hundred automobile engines roaring to life as everyone tried to get
out through the tiny exitway. Pretty exciting. Nobody hurt.
Catching a bus from San Diego, where I was stationed, to Hollywood (150
miles or so) to see THE INFORMER for the first time, then catching another
bus back to San Diego in time for reveille. Worth every inch of the trip.
Watching a triple-bill of CAT ON THE HOT TIN ROOF, THE ALAMO, and a nudie
flick at some San Diego all-night grindhouse.
Walking drunk on my 19-year-old ass into a theatre in Hollywood to see ROMEO
AND JULIET (Zeffirelli's) and crying from the sheer beauty of it, and
sobering up slowly as I sat through it again, and cried again.
Racing around Los Angeles in a cab on my last weekend before shipping out
for Vietnam, seeing every movie I could manage to fit into the schedule,
seeing PATTON, M*A*S*H, and THE MOLLY MAGUIRES on the last day, thinking
maybe these would be the last movies I ever saw.
On my first day as a projectionist at a drive-in in Oklahoma City, dropping
the first reel of KLUTE on my foot and breaking two toes, requiring me to be
replaced twenty minutes into my first film.
Back at work a few weeks later, having one of the pair of projectors go out
during LITTLE BIG MAN and having to stop the film every reel change, trying
to change the carbon rods on a still-glowing arc chamber, while a Saturday
night crowd honked and yelled outside the booth. I got on the speakers and
told people the problem and said if they didn't stop honking, I was going
home. They shut up.
Watching some Lex Barker horror movie from the projection booth while
listening to a radio report that Barker had just dropped dead on a Manhattan
street.
Staying up all night with the lights on with my girlfriend after seeing THE
EXORCIST and getting a call in the middle of the night from a lumbering,
tough, ostensibly fearless ex-Marine buddy of mine asking if we were as
scared as he was.
Seeing a midnight screening of CITIZEN KANE in Oklahoma City in a huge old
theatre with a packed house and then seeing people flood up the aisle to
leave as the music swelled and the camera moved over the crates in Kane's
house, leaving BEFORE the shot of the furnace -- me yelling, "Wait, wait!
It's not over!"
Feeling incredibly depressed and going to a movie to cheer myself up. I
picked DAY OF THE LOCUST, and two-thirds of the way through, an usher came
down and told me my sobbing was disturbing the other patrons.
Slightly OT: going to a clip-and-discussion tribute to John Barrymore in
New York and at the end, turning abruptly and colliding with someone.
Looking down and realizing that I was holding Lillian Gish in my arms.
Hearing the audience boo after the cast-and-crew screening of SLIVER.
Seeing THE BIG TRAIL on the big screen with an overflowing house at the
Motion Picture Academy.
Hearing Budd Boetticher apologize for the terrible 16mm print of THE TALL T
screened at the Autry Museum tribute to him. Also having him actually write
something more than just his signature in my copy of his autobiography,
which he was signing that day, because I told him I'd actually read it. He
said, "You get more, because who knows if these other folks will ever read
the damn thing?"
Screening some Bing Crosby musical for myself in the film archive of the
Variety Arts Center in L.A., going to the restroom, and coming back to find
Julie Andrews standing in my office -- the single most stunningly beautiful
creature I have ever seen in my life in person. For the first time in my
life, I really understood what a movie star had that other people didn't.
going to see some old Boris Karloff movie at a drive-in in the Sixties, when
suddenly someone starts shooting people through a hole in the screen.
Karloff himself was making a personal appearance at the theatre that night,
and he himself walked to the base of the screen just as the gunman came out
and faced him down and slapped him. I don't think I will ever forget that
night.
Jim Beaver

How does someone make a personal appearance at a drive-in? Does everyone get
out of their cars?

PhantomXCI

2004-10-11 02:44:35 UTC

Post by Jim Beaver
going to see some old Boris Karloff movie at a drive-in in the Sixties, when
suddenly someone starts shooting people through a hole in the screen.
Karloff himself was making a personal appearance at the theatre that night,
and he himself walked to the base of the screen just as the gunman came out
and faced him down and slapped him. I don't think I will ever forget that
night.
Jim Beaver

The film was TARGETS (1968), the last really great movie in which Karloff
appeared.

Jay Salsberg

Jim Beaver

2004-10-11 06:33:27 UTC

Post by PhantomXCI

The film was TARGETS (1968), the last really great movie in which Karloff
appeared.

You saying I wasn't there?

I forgot two:

Seeing a double bill of HOPPY SERVES A WRIT and John Ford's SEX HYGIENE in
William Everson's living room.

And at the aforementioned Irving Theatre, when I was about 12, watching Guy
Madison in DRUMS OF THE DEEP SOUTH and being handed what I thought was a
piece of candy, biting down on it and discovering that it was one of those
crackerball firecrackers. It exploded in my mouth and felt like someone had
just hit my tongue with a hammer. I was afraid of getting thrown out of the
theatre so I acted as if nothing had happened. The theatre manager came
down to see who had popped the firecracker and I just sat there staring at
the screen, a grimace on my face and smoke curling out of my mouth.

Jim Beaver

Lokke Heiss

2004-10-10 19:15:49 UTC

Post by Feuillade
What are the five (or ten, if you're ambitious) most memorable moviegoing
experiences of your life?

Watching Pinocchio at the Illinois Theater, in Jacksonville, Illinois.
Going home living, breathing, eating, drinking Pinocchio for 12
months afterward.

Tarzan's Magnificent Adventure at the same theater as part of a
children's matinee summer afternoon film. A muggy one hundred degrees
outside. 800 screaming restless kids all of us held in check by a
very good film that was for a change, was shot on location -- in fact
the most perfect summer movie one could imagine -- taking us away from
where we were and transporting eight hundred kids en masse to the
green hills of Africa. A real message about the power of cinema in an
old fashioned theater setting.

In my teens, having to drive around a tornado to see Sunrise at the
Sangamon State University's movie theater, in Springfield, thirty
miles from Jacksonville. Watching the funnel cloud to my left, then
having it rain so hard that to stay on the road, I had to drive with
the door open so I could look out the door downward to see the
pavement (kids, don't try this at home). Coming into the theater
leaving puddles behind me on the floor, more wet than if I'd jumped in
a pool, sitting down in the air conditioned theater -- experiencing
Sunrise in my own personal COLD-AND MOIST-O-VISION, especially the
last two reels, the search and survival of the wife becoming a very
personal, an almost transcendental (and pneumonia-threatening)
experience.

I know I've said this before, but no one has really experienced
Sunrise unless they watch the last two reels soaked and freezing.

Watching Robert Wise's The Sand Pebble in Jakarta, Indonesia, in the
70s. A socially-concious film that the audience was incredibly
appreciative of.

These two aren't technically permitted in the rules of the question,
but please allow me some slack:
Ten years ago, --in Romania, in a dirty dingy train station the middle
of nowhere. I mean nowhere, even for Romania. I was expecting Dr.
Doom and his Mordavian hordes to pass by to ask for directions.
Tired, homesick, sitting in a very small room at the station that
passed as a restaurent -- a small black-and-white TV was on. It was
showing The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, in English. I had a personal showing
of this film in a setting I'll never be able to repeat. Hard not to
cry through the last thirty minutes.

And greatest double-feature of all time: I was in Rome, Italy, July
1969. The Italian TV showed Robert Wise's The Day the Earth Stood
Still (in English, with subtitles). I was mesmerised throught the
whole film. Then the film ended and the TV cut to the astronauts
landing on the moon. Bravo, Italians for coming up with that combo!
How can that ever be topped?

Lloyd Fonvielle

2004-10-11 06:48:27 UTC

Post by Feuillade
What are the five (or ten, if you're ambitious) most memorable moviegoing
experiences of your life?

1) "Jailhouse Rock", seen at age six or seven -- the first movie I was
ever allowed to see at night. Until then the idea that movies existed
outside the hours of a Saturday afternoon, and that grown-ups attended
them without children in tow, had not occurred to me.

2) "The Ten Commandments", seen around the same age -- the first film I
saw on a weekday, having been excused from school for the occasion. The
first time it ever occurred to me that movies had a social component
beyond Saturday afternoon fun. (It wasn't the movie itself which
prompted this revelation -- it was the fact that my teacher let me skip
school for it.)

3) "Buffalo Bill" (with William Holden), seen around the same age -- the
first film I ever left in the middle of because I missed my mom,
instructing me that movies aren't everything.

4) "The Yearling", again seen around the same age -- the first film that
affected me emotionally in a disturbing but powerful and inspiring way,
instructing me that movies can be profound.

5) "The Silence", seen at age 15 or 16 -- the first nudity I'd ever seen
on film, instructing me that movies can be highly . . . artistic.

6) "Chimes At Midnight", seen at the age of 17 or 18 -- the battle scene
in the mud was the first moment I became consciously aware that there
was something about the manipulation of the plastic qualities of the
film image which lay at the core of the art of film but was rarely
discussed in writing about movies.

7) "Touch Of Evil", seen when I was 19 or 20 -- when I began to get some
serious insight into the revelation above.

8) "Sherlock, Jr." -- seen around the same time, when I began to realize
that the effects of Welles's exaggerated style could be achieved in less
mannered ways.

9) Every film I've ever seen by Jean-Luc Godard, who always reminds me
that we watch most film images with the most limited perception of what
they are and can be.

10) The Griffith Biograph shorts shown at the MoMA retrospective in 1976
-- which taught me how little the art of film has advanced since the
silent era.

=================

Hit the road to nowhere:

http://fabulousnowhere.com

Jim Beaver

2004-10-11 08:01:10 UTC

Post by Lloyd Fonvielle
3) "Buffalo Bill" (with William Holden),

What film are you actually thinking of here, or is it the right film with
the wrong actor? Holden made no such film.

Jim Beaver

Lloyd Fonvielle

2004-10-11 14:55:51 UTC

Post by Lloyd Fonvielle
3) "Buffalo Bill" (with William Holden),

What film are you actually thinking of here, or is it the right film with
the wrong actor? Holden made no such film.

Joel McCrea?

=================

Hit the road to nowhere:

http://fabulousnowhere.com

Gregory Morrow

2004-10-11 08:49:09 UTC

Does a drive - in count? In 1968 when I was a kid in junior high school I
saw a double bill of _One Million Years BC_ and _The Killing Of Sister
George_ at a drive in in Milan, Illinois.

The very first movie I remember seeing was _Darby O' Gill And The Little
People_...Sean Connery was SOOOO attractive in that (it's just been re -
issued on DVD in fact). The year was 1959 and they also showed the trailer
for _On The Beach_ which scared the beejesus out of me...this was the local
"opera house" in our little downstate IL town.

--
Best
Greg

Grace

2004-10-22 15:24:16 UTC