Classic Movies Seen In The Theater

[Dixon's Dame]

I've been fortunate to see quite a few in revival theaters. Wish I could see more. There really isn't anything quite like that big screen experience.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (several times)
Journey to the Center of the Earth
The Time Machine
Forbidden Planet
This Island Earth
South Pacific
Seven Brides for Seven Brothers
Singin' in the Rain
Where the Sidewalk Ends
Fallen Angel
Gone With the Wind
Ben-Hur
The Ten Commandments

 

[funneman]

Classics?

I saw "The Ten Commandments" and "20,000 Leagues" in the theatre as a kid when they were in general release.

I had the pleasure of seeing "A Touch of Evil" in the theatre several years ago.

Awesome experiences, all.

 

[texasgirl]

Dallas area

The Angelika hosts a lot of classic movies-I saw Grease recently- not very old, but definitely a classic IMO!!! It was sooo much fun- people opened their phones so they would light up and waved them in the air when the good songs came on like a concert with lighters lol

Coming soon:
HITCHCOCKTOBER HITS THE ANGELIKA PLANO

Join us for a celebration of Mr. Hitchcock’s scariest films Every Tuesday in October!

Vertigo - Tuesday, Oct. 2, 7:30 pm

Rear Window - Tuesday, Oct. 9, 7:30 pm

Psycho - Tuesday, Oct. 16, 7:30 pm

The Birds - Tuesday, Oct. 23, 7:30 pm

Dial “M” for Murder - Tuesday, Oct. 30, 7:30 pm



Romance Classics at the Angelika

One Wednesday each month we’ll bring you a new Romance Classic at 7:30 p.m. Bring your girlfriends or your sweetie to be entered in a FREE drawing for a $100 JC PENNEY GIFT CARD!!!

10/24 – REBECCA

11/14 – THE PHILADELPHIA STORY

 

[Kishtu]

Well, we're going to see "Casablanca" at the Odeon over the road from my office tonight!

HURRAH!

Hopefully this will be the first of a tradition of "classic" films they're promising.... (and yes, of course we will be dressing for the occasion...)

My dad has always claimed that he was born during a showing of GWTW. It certainly seemed long enough for that to be true the last time I watched it....

 

[LizzieMaine]

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.

It's an unfortunate trend, really -- already too many theatres of the multiplex sort leave their projection in the hands of popcorn kids and ushers, and the result is shoddy, sloppy presentation that convinces patrons that the problem is in the film itself -- thus increasing the propaganda trend that "digital is better." I have seen the two side by side, though, and there's no doubt in my mind that film still gives a better image.

The studios would like digital conversion because it would save a ton of money on shipping -- it costs an average of $250 per booking to ship a typical six-reel print from theatre to theatre, above and beyond the cost of actually manufacturing, maintaining, and warehousing the print. But the other side of the coin is that the studios *don't* want to subsidize the cost of converting theatres for digital projection. This is totally the opposite of the attitude the industry took during the conversion to sound in 1928-30, where studios provided low or no-interest loans to exhibitors to ensure they'd have an outlet for the new talkies. Nowadays, the studios and the MPAA take the view that conversion costs should be carried entirely by the exhibitors -- which come to a minimum of $100,000 per screen for the appropriate professional-grade equipment -- you can't just throw a home-theatre projector in the booth and call it good. Until and unless that changes, conversion will happen very slowly, and film will continue to be the dominant system. Which suits me just fine.

 

[skyvue]

Hardly a week goes by that I don't see an old movie (or three -- or six) in a theatre. Just last night, I took in a double feature of STAGECOACH and RED RIVER at Film Forum. On Sunday night, it was THE KILLING.

In addition to Film Forum, I catch old movies at MoMA, the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens, the Walter Reade at Lincoln Center, BAM in Brooklyn, the Loew's Jersey in Jersey City, and the Lafayette in Suffern.

It's one of the things that keeps me in New York City, frankly. I couldn't be happy in a city that didn't have multiple venues for old movies because, as has been stated several times in this thread, watching them at home, no matter how good a home a theatre system one has, is just not the same.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

The first classic film I saw in a legit theatre was King Kong, it played in the theatres for it's 20th anniversary. I saw it again years later in a Manhattan art house theatre -- the uncut version. Finally, I found out why Fay Wray had a dress on in one scene and suddenly was in her slip.

I probably saw a number of late 30's and 1940's films in the drive-in theatre.

Also saw the 20th anniversary Gone With the Wind in 1959.

In New York, I saw Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, Reefer Madness (with a rather stoned audience), Cabin in the Sky, and Sabrina. Vertigo, Rear Window, Psycho, South Pacific, The King and I, Ben Hur, Bell, Book & Candle, The Ten Commandments, The Searchers, Rebel Without a Cause, East of Eden, Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago, and many others came out when I was a child and/or young adult so I saw them then, but not later (except for Vertigo in a Hitchcock revival in San Diego).

I saw a number of silent films in theatres, plus lots of old 30's westerns and, of course, the Our Gang comedies.

In a college film course, I saw Citizen Kane, Potemkin, and Metropolis in a theatre. Saw the Threepenny Opera, with Lotta Lenya in it.

Also, Song of Bernadette, Roman Holiday, The Miracle Worker, Lilies of the Field.

Also lots of foreign films in the 60's, most of early Ingmar Bergman (Wild Strawberries, The Virgin Spring, The Magician, and my favorite, The Seventh Seal); also Jules and Jim, A Man for All Seasons, Yojimbo, Two Women, A Room at the Top, Tom Jones.

There are others, but these come to mind right now.

karol

 

[positivelypinup]

My boyfriend and I used to go all the time when we lived in Austin. There was this beautiful theater and it was built in the 20's i believe. We saw the thin man..which is one of my favorites... and a few bogart/bacall movies. I loved it!

 

[Atomic Age]

Lawrence of Arabia in 70mm on its restoration release in 1989
Gone With the Wind
Casablanca
Spartacus
El Cid
The Wizard of OZ

A double feature of Creature from the Black Lagoon and It Came from Outer Space in 3D when I was 13.

Doug

 

[Mr. Godfrey]

I managed to watch the "The Dambuster" last year. I have watched this film on TV and DVD loads of times but it could not beat the big screen. I felt more upset by the aircraft losses and the sound of the aircraft engines had you on the seat edge (and this is in mono!) this is how it should be.

I do not know why they do not show more films, let's face we all get older so there are films that one would like to see again.

 

[Be-Bop Baby]

Half an hour from my house we have a wonderful old silent movie theatre, that was built 1926. You got to love it as soon as you go in. Very big seats and lots of room for the legs. A little bank (don't know how to describe it) for drinks in front of you.

They show selected movies, some famous, some rather unknown, but never mainstream blockbusters. Some of my favourites in the current programme are "Destry rides again" and "Giant". They also regularly show silent movies with live music (they have a wonderful old piano next to the screen). Next week it's going to be "The Navigator" w Buster Keaton.

I remember seeing a wonderful documentary film "Her own song" about Marlene Dietrich in there some years ago. It was just awesome. The atmosphere of the theatre and the movie just "melt". It took me some minutes to get back to reality afterwards.

 

[Sarge]

Back in September of 2006 our local Embassy Theater played the Buster Keaton silent film “The General”. The film’s musical score was performed by the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Orchestra and acclaimed silent film organist Dennis James. Seeing such a great film, with full orchestral accompaniment, in a 1920's era movie palace was a real neat experience.

 

[renor27]

classic films

In High school for 4 years I worked in a art movie house in St Helana California the Liberty. I worked weekends sold popcorn and then tickets and finall moved up stairs to the projectors. They were carben arks and boy did that booth get hot. Saw many of the classics from all over the world. Was a great time in my life.
When I moved to Tahoe got a job in an art house and the last film we showed was Lawrence of Arabia in 70mm. The theater was closing it was mid winter and very fitting the snow was coming down hard the skiing was not that good and for two day I just ran the film. It just seemed fitting that while the world out side was cold and white I was inside warm and in the desert with Lawrence.

 

[Lady Day]

In undergrad a friend and I bought tickets to a local (not movie threader) where they had a screen and showed threader old films. With my pass I got to see;

Gone with the Wind
Anatomy of a Murder
THe Birds
Thief of Bagdad
Vertigo

On the big screen.
It was awesome!!

And recently I got to see All the Presidents Men. Ha!

LD

 

[Lulu-in-Ny]

I actually just found out tonight that Proctors Theater (an old local theater) is running Safety Last with Harold Lloyd on May 27th. I've never seen it with a live audience, and it's being run with live organ accompaniment. Can't wait.

 

[Sefton]

In a lifetime of going to San Francisco's Castro Theater I've seen many,many great films. The ones that stand out the most right now are:Throne of Blood and the original Mothra which was in Japanese and subtitled! Back in the 1980s I briefly lived in Massachusetts and worked at the then 75 year old Somerville theater (sold tickets,but what I really wanted to do was projection!) At the Somerville I saw The Philladelphia Story many times. At the same theater I also saw a live performance of the group Iron Butterfly,but that's a wee bit off topic...

 

[millbrookmusic]

Last Wednesday I was fortunate enough to see a Buster Keaton feature (The Navigator) and a Chaplin short (Pay Day) and a Harold Lloyd short (Get Out and Get Under) at the beautiful Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles.

They had a live organ accompaniment so it was great to see these films in the context that they would've been seen in their day. Plus is was a sold out crowd and the laughter of a big crowd also enhances the whole experience.

I wish I could go back to Chaplin, Keaton & Lloyd in the 1920's and tell them that 80 years from then they'll still sell out theaters and be loved by so many. Do you think that in in 2060 they'll be selling out theaters to watch Wayne's World & Dumb & Dumber? Hardly.

~ Daniel

 

[Mike in Seattle]

Some movies just have to be seen on the big screen for the full visual impact. Watching Star Wars or Lawrence of Arabia or Amadeus on a TV screen just doesn't do it.

 

[Lensmaster]

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

Wow, the look of that theater is very similar to the Temple Theater here in Saginaw, Michigan, that also opened in 1927. The Temple was recently restored to it's original glory. I've seen Oklahoma in the 30 fps speed it was originally released in. A nearby town has a smaller old theater at which I've seen Singing in the Rain and The Portrait of Dorian Grey. Singing in the Rain is my favorite movie and I've seen it more times than I can count. I have it on VHS and now DVD. But seeing it on the big screen there were details of sets and characters outside of the main action that I never noticed watching it on a tv set.

 

[Airshowgal]

I have seen Vertigo & Rear Window when they were restored and re-released some years back. It really was a totally different way of looking at these great films. I loved seeing them the way they were meant to be seen. I've also seen Gone With The Wind on the big screen. In August I'm going to see Some Like It Hot at the Majestic Theatre in Gettysburg PA. It is one of my favorite movies & I'm looking forward to seeing it on the big screen.