One of the biggest things that I miss about the movies are the red velvet curtains that would hang from ceiling to floor across the whole length of the screen. I would be sitting in the dark waiting for the show to start when the projector would start to hum, and the waves of fabric would slowly gather up, revealing a new world behind the curtain. The deep red brought a feeling of rich opulence that added to the special experience of going out to watch a movie.
 | ||
| Let's not forget the chilly touch of a ghost in the balcony. (Picture of the Coronet, Notting Hill) |
That wasn't the only thing about the theatre experience that I miss. You used to be able to choose if you wanted to watch a movie from the stalls, or up in the balcony seats. I preferred the balcony, especially at the front of the row, as it offered the unobstructed view of the screen. Being a kid, there's nothing worse than trying to peer between people's shoulders to watch a movie. Sitting in the stalls gave others the opportunity to throw things at you. There's nothing worse than getting a chunk of hair cut out because of a stray piece of chewing gum.
 |
| Patrick Stewart before the problem with the gum. |
I also miss those pre-show cartoons that used to show before the main feature kicked in. They may have only been a few minutes long, but it sure could buy you extra time if you were running late for the movie, and provided a lot more entertainment than all the ads you get bombarded with nowadays. I think the last pre-movie short I saw was Valley of the Stereos by Peter Jackson.
This leads on to movie intermissions. Imagine if you will, watching Avatar
(running time 162 minutes) and drinking a large coke. Now imagine what it is like around the 2 hour mark and you're starting to get cold sweats from keeping that litre of coke in your bladder. Don't they know that people have died from bursting bladders? Intermissions used to give the projectionist a chance to swap film reels (yes, physical media) and for the cinemas to sell you more wholesome snacks. |
| Expensive salty-buttery packing foam |
It wasn't all great back in the old days though. The seats were stiff backed forcing you to sit up straight for the whole length of the movie, which in turn annoyed the little boy behind you struggling to see over your head. The seats were also narrowly spaced between the rows so that more people could get squeezed in (just like modern airlines). You either got your toes trod upon, or you were in danger of flipping over the front seats. On top of that, most of the early cinemas I remember going to were not air conditioned! They probably found it too expensive to run a bank of air conditioners to cool down a large auditorium back in the old days (or had a lot of environmental forethought). Then again, it was cheaper to watch a movie back then too as it is over NZ$15 to watch a movie today (well over a 300% increase in price). That probably means that it'll cost $45 when my kids get to my age.
 |
| "Could I have four tickets for Star Wars Episode 9: The Ewoks Take Coruscant (3D)" |
So the screens are generally smaller today compared to their predecessors (apart from the IMAX screens), but it also gives us more choice of what to watch. It isn't uncommon to get 12 movies running concurrently, whereas back in the day, you could choose from either Superman
or Drunken Master
for the whole week. That's not such a bad thing though, as I'll explore next week about the whole zeitgeist of the 70s and 80s.
