Motion Picture Gems : 4/1/11

4/30/2011

Vintage Movie Theaters: Portage Theater (Chicago IL)

Today's featured theater is the Portage (official site), located on Chicago's northwest side in the Portage Park neighborhood. According to Cinema Treasures, the theater opened in 1920 (91 years old!), so this would be the oldest theater in Chicago still showing motion pictures in the same building space using its original name. How about that!

And the best part is - it shows classic films. Since 2006, it's become a great venue to see silents and talkies. The Silent Film Society of Chicago and the Northwest Chicago Film Society both screen movies here.

Today my friend and I went to a Universal Studios monster film fest and saw Bride of Frankenstein and Son of Frankenstein. The program included a raffle in between each movie. Memorabilia dealers had tables set up in the lobby.

In this photo from the 1970s, you can see how the theater used to have a huge vertical sign with big red letters that would shine brightly at night. Big red-letter vertical signs were almost always a part of theaters built in the 1920s and 1930s. As the sign became too expensive to maintain, it was taken down. Photo courtesy of Chicago Now-Portage Park

In this 3-minute video, I attempt to explain a little bit about its history. My apologies for the poor sound quality

Here's the cool ticket booth, and it's still being used! This is the only theater in Chicago where you can step back in time and experience this

Here's the elegant inside of the theater; renovated in the early 2000's. Seats over 1,300!

Here's what the inside looked like today for the monster film fest; lots of dealers with vintage monster/horror memorabilia, comic books, videos, etc.

Coming soon to the Portage: The classic silent Nosferatu (with organ accompaniment!) and Bride of the Monster!

I'll end this post with a quick video of fresh hot popcorn popping. Smells so good!

4/23/2011

Small Town Theaters - Mount Airy, North Carolina ("Mayberry")

Mt. Airy, North Carolina is the birthplace and childhood home of American actor Andy Griffith whose 1960-68 TV show was set in Mayberry, patterned after this town. Downtown Cinema Theatre in Mt. Airy, opened in 1937. According to Cinema Treasures, it was originally called the Earle Theater

In November of 1938, the theater held the world premiere of Shirley Temple's Just Around the Corner, and the theater was featured in a national movie trade magazine called "The New Dynamo" (according to Simple Pleasures, June 2005 - view PDF of article) PS - Happy Birthday Shirley! Read Dawn's salute with adorable videos.

It closed for short time in the 1980s, was restored, and is now open again, serving as both a live theater and a movie theater, showing $3.00 movies on certain days. No, I did NOT see Transformers 2 when I was there in September 2009

Many gift shops and restaurants on Main Street are named after "Mayberry" or a character from the television series, and many tourists (including myself!) come to visit the town to see the "original Mayberry".

Below: "Opie's Candy Store"

Below: One of the characters from the show, "Otis" entertains fans outside an antique store

Below: I think this station served as inspiration for Goober's on the show.

Below: Yes, this is a real place to get your hair cut.

Below, Andy, me, Opie

Small Town Theaters - Pensacola, Florida

According to Cinema Treasures, the Saenger Theater opened in 1925, with a seating capacity of over 1,800.

In 1981 it was restored, and now serves as a performing arts center in old downtown Pensacola. According to their official website, blues guitarist BB King will perform there in June.

Further restoration efforts have taken place since the 1980s.

I passed through Pensacola last year on a road trip along 1-10

More on the Saenger Theater at Wikipedia

4/22/2011

The Ten Commandments (1956)

Really should have been titled, "The Life of Moses", as it essentially is, from his very birth to his death.

It is a fine effort of Cecil B. Demille to remake his own silent film of Moses over 30 years earlier.

The music score is memorable, and most of the scenes in the movie are filmed as if they are paintings.

DeMille apparently disliked the Cinemascope/widescreen process, and never did a widescreen film.

The visual optical effects are impressive for the time: scenes of miracles such as the burning bush, staffs turning into snakes, and the parting of the sea earned the film an Oscar for Best Visual Effects.

Charlton Heston, in the role he is most remembered for, plays Moses as a young man and old who leads the Israelites out of captivity from Egypt and into the Promised Land of Israel.

The rest of the cast includes Anne Baxter, Edward G. Robinson, Yvonne De Carlo, Debra Paget, John Derek, Cedric Hardwicke, Nina Foch, Martha Scott, Judith Anderson, Vincent Price, John Carradine, Woody Strode.

New film about Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly

photo source: IMDB
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Before Breakfast (IMDb link) is a short film (12 minutes) about a meeting between Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly "before" Breakfast at Tiffany's and Monaco. It's a fictional story, and is meant to be a light comedy.

It was first shown at a film fest in LA, and is currently playing in film fests around the US.

Though I haven't seen it yet, I first head about it from Enchanted Serenity of Period Films, which always has the latest news on upcoming period films.

Since then, I've learned that the two stars of the film - Paulie Rojas (Audrey) and Elspeth Keller (Grace), who wrote the film - are very good friends in real life. And they're both fans of the legends they portray, so for them, this was a dream project.

In a post on her blog last year, Ms. Keller recalls how the idea for the film came about:

Paulie showed me a photograph in which they were caught together, waiting patiently backstage to present at the 1956 Academy Awards. So they had met, and maybe they were even friends. Perhaps they giggled over coffee like Paulie and I did. And maybe, just maybe, they had experiences similar to those of modern day actresses - uncertainty and exhilaration - again, much like Paulie and me. In the photo, Audrey and Grace are caught candidly - both looking completely gorgeous, and very serious. (http://www.elspethkeller.com/blog)

Judging by the trailer itself, this looks like a quality production. And its directed by veteran film/TV producer Paul A. Levin, whose credits over the years include working on Julie & Julia, Sleepless in Seattle and The Sixth Sense.

Hopefully it'll come to DVD or will be made available online to watch.

The trailer can also be viewed on Facebook or here on IMDb (Internet Movie Database)

4/11/2011

Small Town Theaters: DeKalb, Illinois

For this next installment of "Small Town Theaters", the team from Motion Picture Gems went to DeKalb, Illinois, home of Northern Illinois University (where Tom went to college) and the annual DeKalb Corn Fest. We also travel to nearby Sycamore, IL and find an old fashioned downtown theater.

"Welcome to DeKalb", land of corn aplenty

Our first stop is the now defunct "DeKalb Theater", in the heart of downtown DeKalb on Third Street.

According to Cinema Treasures, the DeKalb Theater opened on March 16, 1949 and was dubbed "The Theatre of Tomorrow."

Twinned in its later years as part of the Kerasotes circuit it was closed in 1991. The theater was last operated as a "brew pub." It has since closed.

It is now a beauty school called "Debutantes", which sounds like the title of a 1930s era musical.

Next, we head just a block down to Second Street to the historic Egyptian Theater (still open!!).

Though it primarily hosts live performances, it does occasionally show classic or art house films.

According to Cinema Treasures, it first opened in 1929. Wow!

It's been a long time since I've been inside, but I remember it being elegant, filled with Egyptian decor. I came here many times for movies and plays during the time I was in college.

Next, let's head over to the sleepy town of Sycamore, Illinois, home of the famous Sycamore Pumpkin Festival (held every October). I've been to it once. Here's what the downtown street looks like:

According to Cinema Treasures, The State Theatre opened in 1925 as the Fargo Theatre and once contained a 60-foot-screen. The State Theatre was closed in the 1970's and became a church. It became a theater once again in the late-1980's and was completely renovated by a private individual with the desire to run films and have live musical entertainment. The idea collapsed quickly and the theater remained closed in spite of having just been completely renovated.

About a year later, Main Street Theatres bought and reopened the State Theatre after splitting the main floor into two theaters.

A year later, the stage was converted into a third screen and the now triplexed theater still shows first run films today

Unfortunately, they are not showing anything I'm interested in seeing.

Next door is a retro Soda Fountain! How cool is that!

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Stay tuned for the next installment of Small Town Theaters where we travel to another downtown theater

Small Town Theaters: Downers Grove, Illinois

In this installment of Small Town Theaters, let's take a quick look at the Tivoli, where I went to see Another Year the other day. According to Cinema Treasures the theater opened on Christmas Day 1928 for the Balaban & Katz chain.

It has a grand marquee. I didn't get any photos inside but next time I go I'll try to get some and will update this page. This theater is a real cinema treasure!

Stay tuned for the next installment of Small Town Theaters

4/09/2011

Films directed by Sidney Lumet

1957 12 Angry Men
Henry Fonda, Lee J Cobb

1958 Stage Struck
Susan Strasberg

1959 That Kind of Woman
Sophia Loren

1960 The Fugitive Kind
Marlon Brando

1962 A View From the Bridge
Raf Vallone, Maureen Stapleton

1962 Long Day's Journey Into Night
Katherine Hepburn, Jason Robards

1964 The Pawnbroker
Rod Steiger

1964 Fail-Safe
Henry Fonda

1965 The Hill
Sean Connery

1966 The Group
Candice Bergen, Shirley Knight

1966 The Deadly Affair
James Mason, Simon Signoret

1968 Bye Bye Braverman
George Segal, Jack Warden

1968 The Sea Gull
James Mason, Vanessa Redgrave

1969 The Appointment
Omar Sharif, Anouk Aimee

1970 Last of the Mobile Hot Shots
James Coburn, Lynn Redgrave

1971 The Anderson Tapes
Sean Connery, Christopher Walken

1972 The Offence
Sean Connery, Trevor Howard

1972 Child's Play
James Mason, Robert Preston

1973 Serpico
Al Pacino

1974 Lovin' Molly
Anthony Perkins, Blythe Danner, Beau Bridges

1974 Murder on the Orient Express
Albert Finney, Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Richard Widmark

1975 Dog Day Afternoon
Al Pacino, Chris Sarandon

1976 Network
William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Peter Finch, Beatrice Straight

1977 Equus
Richard Burton, Peter Firth

1978 The Wiz
Diana Ross, Michael Jackson, Lena Horne, Richard Pryor

1980 Just Tell Me What You Want
Ali MacGraw, Alan King, Myrna Loy

1981 Prince of the City
Treat Williams, Jerry Orbach

1982 Deathtrap
Michael Caine, Christopher Reeve

1982 The Verdict
Paul Newman, James Mason

1983 Daniel
Timothy Hutton, Mandy Patinkin

1984 Garbo Talks
Anne Bancroft, Ron Silver, Carrie Fisher

1986 Power
Richard Gere, Julie Christie

1986 The Morning After
Jane Fonda, Jeff Bridges

1988 Running on Empty
River Phoenix

1989 Family Business
Dustin Hoffman, Sean Connery

1990 Q&A
Nick Nolte, Timothy Hutton

1992 A Stranger Among Us
Melanie Griffith

1993 Guilty As Sin
Don Johnson, Rebecca de Mornay

1996 Night Falls on Manhattan
Andy Garcia, Ian Holm

1997 Critical Care
James Spader, Kyra Sedgwick, Helen Mirren

1999 Gloria
Sharon Stone

2006 Find Me Guilty
Vin Deisel

2007 Before the Devil Knows Your Dead
Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke

4/08/2011

Top 10 Box Office Stars of 1974 (USA)

1932| 1933| 1934| 1935| 1936 | 1937 | 1938 | 1939 | 1940 |
1941 | 1942 | 1943 | 1944 | 1945 | 1946 | 1947 | 1948| 1949 | 1950 |

1951 |1952 | 1953 | 1954 | 1955 | 1956 | 1957 | 1958 | 1959|1960 |
1961 | 1962 | 1963 | 1964 | 1965 |1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 |
1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977-present

The rankings come from Quigley Publishing Co.'s annual list (since 1932) of top money making stars in the USA, which based on a poll of hundreds of theater executives. The list does not rank stars only on how much cash their films made, but on what theater owners say about who attracts audiences on their star power alone.

1. Robert Redford