Classic Movies Seen In The Theater

[happyfilmluvguy]

There's something about watching a movie in the dark. We all do it at home with our television. I guess it gives us the sense of reclusiveness, quiet, and relaxation. That's what really makes a movie house. The atmosphere pulls you into the movie just as the movie does. My high school film teacher, (I'm not in high school anymore), has said on a few occasions, when I have brought up whether theaters will last or not, "I'll always prefer watching movies in a theater", and I can completely agree.

A couple of months ago I saw "Mildred Pierce" with Joan Crawford on the big screen. Not only that but in a one screen movie house. I have seen it so many times on television and I have it on VHS, but the movie experience for me, hightened 10 times more in that theater. After that I didn't think I could watch it on my television again. At The Silent Movie Theatre here in LA, I saw Charlie Chaplin's "The Kid" on Father's Day. Not only did they play the movie but previews, had a Charlie Chaplin imitator contest, the owner went on stage and SUNG to the audience, and it had live piano accompaniment.

Classic movies aren't show as often as new movies are in the theater, but if you find out that a classic movie is playing at a theater near you, DO NOT hesitate. It's a whole new experience.

So, what classic movies have you seen in the theater and where?

 

[dostacos]

There's something about watching a movie in the dark. We all do it at home with our television. I guess it gives us the sense of reclusiveness, quiet, and relaxation. That's what really makes a movie house. The atmosphere pulls you into the movie just as the movie does. My high school film teacher, (I'm not in high school anymore), has said on a few occasions, when I have brought up whether theaters will last or not, "I'll always prefer watching movies in a theater", and I can completely agree.

A couple of months ago I saw "Mildred Pierce" with Joan Crawford on the big screen. Not only that but in a one screen movie house. I have seen it so many times on television and I have it on VHS, but the movie experience for me, hightened 10 times more in that theater. After that I didn't think I could watch it on my television again. At The Silent Movie Theatre here in LA, I saw Charlie Chaplin's "The Kid" on Father's Day. Not only did they play the movie but previews, had a Charlie Chaplin imitator contest, the owner went on stage and SUNG to the audience, and it had live piano accompaniment.

Classic movies aren't show as often as new movies are in the theater, but if you find out that a classic movie is playing at a theater near you, DO NOT hesitate. It's a whole new experience.

So, what classic movies have you seen in the theater and where?

and even better if you can find an old theater that has a HUGE screen and hundreds of seats like the olden days.

 

[Midnight Palace]

Sadly, none. However, I plan to end that streak on October 11 with the Lon Chaney "Triumph" screening :eusa_clap

 

[sweetfrancaise]

I saw Singing in the Rain (all-time favorite :eusa_clap ) and The Wizard of Oz both when I lived in North Carolina. Funnily enough, I haven't seen anything else classic since I moved back to California 9 years ago, unless you want to count Tommy!lol

 

[imoldfashioned]

I've watched old movies all my life--in fact one of my first memories is watching Duck Soup with my father when I was 2 or 3 years old.

I was lucky to have a great revival house available when I was in high school, the Uptown Theater in Minneapolis. The Uptown was (and, I believe, still is) an intact single screen 1930's movie house. Most weekends during my teen years I'd pack a lunch, pay $3.00 for a double feature and watch the classics from the front row of the balcony. That period of my life was really quite difficult and I came to feel like that theater was a sort of haven--it really sustained me.

Thanks to the programmer at that theater I pretty much took a classic cinema class during those weekends. Off the top of my head I remember seeing Bringing Up Baby, Holiday, Easy Living, The Lady Eve, Meet Me in St. Louis, Dinner at Eight, Queen Christina, Ninotchka, Suddenly Last Summer, Stop Making Sense (about 9 times!), A Room with a View, The Thin Man and all the sequels, Libeled Lady, Little Women (both the 1930s and 1940s versions), City Lights, Stella Dallas, The Big Sleep, Double Indemnity, Murder My Sweet...I could go on and on. I feel so lucky that the first time I saw most of the classic films I was in an authentic atmosphere with an audience experiencing those films the way they were originally meant to be seen. It really is a whole different, superior experience compared to watching at home.

For most of the years I went there the theater was unrestored and I liked it better that way--because it hadn't been touched it didn't take much imagination to pretend that it was 1939. It was such a grand space with this great "Ladies Lounge" that you'd enter through an oval anteroom. They did a nice job restoring the place but the new paint and new seats just seemed too...new. I make a point to drive by whenever I'm in Minneapolis but I haven't been back inside since around 1986. Next time I'm in town though I'll make it a point to go and get some pictures of the interior--as you may be able to tell I still have enormous affection for the place.

Some photos pulled from the web;

The empty storefront at the right was briefly one of the best croissant shops I've ever been to--I still miss their smoked turkey and gruyère croissants; yum!

 

[Joie DeVive]

I saw Rear Window a few years ago when it was re-released. I saw it in a theater in downtown Berkeley. It was fantastic. In those silent Hitchcock moments, you couldn't even hear the other people breathing they were so quiet!

I saw The Wizard of Oz last year in one of the big megaplexes in Denver. They put it on their biggest screen one Saturday morning. I loved it.

I hope I get the opportunity to see many more as they were meant to be seen! :eusa_clap

 

[John in Covina]

Gone With the Wind

I was in my teens when they did a re-release and saw it at the Syosset theater which was pretty big.

Lawrence of Arabia on the big screen was awesome too.

 

[Flivver]

About 10 years ago, I saw "Gone With The Wind" at the restored Fox Theatre in Detroit.

I think I enjoyed the theatre itself even more than the movie...and GWTW is one of my favorites.

The old Poli Palace Theatre in my hometown of Worcester, MA is undergoing reatoration. But it will become a center for the performing arts and probably won't show vintage movies.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Many and often, given where I work. Over the past two years I've seen (and in some cases, I was also the projectionist --)

The General
Casablanca
North By Northwest
The Thin Man
Bringing Up Baby
Sunset Boulevard
Citizen Kane
A Star Is Born (1954)
Gone With The Wind
The Kid Brother
Laura
Christmas In Connecticut
King Kong (1933)
42nd Street
Easter Parade
Mary Poppins
The Wizard of Oz
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Mutiny On The Bounty (1935)
The Black Pirate
Monkey Business
Lifeboat
The Mark of Zorro (1920)

All silent films were shown with live musical scores. Next month we'll be featuring "Nosferatu" as our Halloween special.

Classics I've seen theatrically other than at work --

Napoleon
The Freshman
Assorted Chaplin shorts
Duck Soup
Cavalcade
Wizard of Oz (1997 reissue)

and others I can't recall...

 

[Amy Jeanne]

Double Feature: Mantrap (1926) & Call Her Savage (1932)
As part of a Clara Bow Festival at the Film Forum in NYC

Double Feature: It (1927) & Dangerous Curves (1929)
Same Clara Bow Festival. I also may have gotten the movies mixed up a bit -- it was a while ago (99 or 2000).

Double Feature: Red Headed Woman (1932) & Red Dust (1932)
As part of the "Women Of Pre-Code" Festival at the Film Forum in 2001.

The Blue Angel (1930)
At the Film Forum in 2001

Nosferatu (1922)
At a local college, '01

Metropolis (1926)
At a local theatre when it was released theatrically. In '02, I think.

The Black Pirate (1926)
Prince Music Theatre in Philly, 2003

One Week (1920) and Sherlock, Jr (1924)
Prince Music Theatre in Philly, 2004

Modern Times (1936)
Prince Music Theatre in Philly, 2004

I haven't been to see an olde time flick in over 3 years! Oh dear!

 

[dhermann1]

Anything released in the 50's I would have seen in a theater. I'll never forget the impact "Vertigo" had on me. I also saw "GWTW" and "Wizard of Oz" in a theater. (It was an unusual theater, actually. It was Higgins Hall, in Chautauqua Institution, an old building that had been turned into a movie theater. Among its claims to fame is that it was the site of Theodore Roosevelt's first public appearance after the 1904 election. He spoke and had lunch.) I also saw Olivier's "Hamlet" there.
In the 70's I saw "Casablanca" at the old Regency Theater on Broadway. That made quite an impression as well.
I had a chance to see the 1929 Paul Whiteman film "The King of Jazz" at a screening at NYU in the 70's. That was pretty cool.

 

[Quigley Brown]

There's a historic theater a few blocks from my home. Along with live performances there's a nice variety of classic films. Coming up are Citizen Kane, White Christmas, Fantasia, Seven Samurai and.....Fast Times at Ridgemont High.lol

 

[Doctor Strange]

As another old-timer, I saw *lots* of classic films in revival theaters back in the days before cable/VHS (much less DVD!). I went to all the NYC revival houses: run-down ones like the Elgin, Bleecker Street Cinema, and Thalia; nicer ones like the Regency and Little Carnegie; unique ones like Theater 80 St. Marks - where the film was rear projected into what was essentially a big living room... For that matter, I also saw plenty of 16mm prints in peoples' living rooms and basements!

And even before my hardcore film buff days, as a kid the late 60s/early 70s, I saw rereleases in local theaters of films that didn't yet play on broadcast TV back then, like Gone With The Wind and The Ten Commandments. And I saw a huge number of classic Disney films during their 50th anniversary rerelease frenzy in 1973...

You can't beat *film projection*! As I've observed here before, sitting in the dark with strangers is a far more magical experience than watching at home, no matter how sophisticated the TV and sound system. (Movie projection is different: you really are sitting in the dark a full 50% of the time, as the projector's shutter closes as each frame is advanced. Video images are continuously refreshed, so you're never actually in the dark.) The movie theater experience is related to the old shaman-by-the-campfire-revealing-mythical-truth experience that was an essential part of human existance until a couple of hundred years ago, so it's not surprising that we have strong built-in fear/wonder responses that it activates most effectively!

 

[Novella]

When I was in England last year I liked to go into London and watch films at the BFI. I watched Greed, The Asphalt Jungle, Strip, Strip, Hooray!, and a quota quickie film that I can't remember the name of right now. Two years ago at UCSB I watched the silent film Purity.

 

[Matt Crunk]

We're lucky enough to have the Alabama Theatre (above), fully restored to it's original 1927 glory. In addition to live performances it shows classic golden era movies througout the year.

-MC

 

[imoldfashioned]

As another old-timer, I saw *lots* of classic films in revival theaters back in the days before cable/VHS (much less DVD!).

I was thinking about this the other day (and feeling old!)--remembering how it used to be that I'd read about a film but have no easy way to see it. You either stayed up 'till 2 am and dealt with the homemade furniture store commercials or prayed it would be scheduled at a revival house. DVD's are an imperfect way to see films but I'm grateful for the access they provide.

 

[Miss 1940's]

[/IMG].....this is the fox theatre..our local movie house,I and my sister "joots" getting all gussied up to go see Gone with the wind

 

[Edward]

I've seen a few, here and there. Back in the 70s / early 80s, before Disney started to release anything on home video, I saw all of the Disney Classics. My first trip to the cinema was to see Alice in Wonderland, i think that was about 1976.

Nine years ago at Halloween, I had my first experience of seeing Rocky Horror in the cinema. A little outside the classic era, but it certainly pays homage to much classic cinema, and it's a film like no other where it is just impossible to replciate the cinema experience at home. I also in the same cinema saw The Old Dark House and Plan 9 From Outer Space as part of an all-nighter. They also tried to show Night of the Demon with Dana Andrews, but alas the print kept breaking. I do have a special fondness for the old horrors. I must start picking them up on DVD.

I do enjoy old-style film projection, though I do see DVD taking over as inevitable. Maybe not as nice an image to begin with, but they don't degrade as quickly, and given how much cheaper and easier they are to produce and distribute, in time the DVD format is likely to lead to the preservation of old movies that might die out if left to print. A new print costs a significant sum to have struck, whereas a DVD costs a few pence - they can burn a new DVD and make a profit on it first time out, so I think that will save a lot of obscure movies for show in classic cinemas. Where it does leave a question mark though is the future for qualified and skilled projectionists who can become superfluous when all that needs done is a few buttons pressed in a central control room. That would be a shame.

 

[Joie DeVive]

:eusa_doh: I can't believe I forgot GWTW!:eusa_doh:

Especially since it's such a cute family tradition.
My grandparents saw it the day they got their blood tests.
My parents saw it in the theater while they were engaged,
and I saw it in the theater with my husband when we were dating.

 

[Paisley]

I saw Gone with the Wind in 1997 when they restored it. I also saw Rear Window at an art deco theater in 2000.

Here in the Denver area, the city of Sheridan has re-zoned the land where a drive-in theater sits. The developer is planning to build condos. This, in a time and place that is glutted with housing. :eusa_doh: