1939---GWTW Still the Winner--Vote for 1967 NOW!- Page 4

[lildogs]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 4:06pm

I know that some other films were priced that way--I think Griffith did it for NATION and INTOLERANCE--and now we have the DREAMGIRLS tix--can you think of other films marketed in this way?

Wow--we are thread-jacking like there's no tomorrow...call Miss Haggard!

[StageManager2]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 4:06pm

They shouldn't count the re-releases, IMO.

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 4:06pm

BTW, chicolini ---Love the av!

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 4:12pm

"Road Show" releases were very popular back in the day.

The Great Ziegfeld had one too, and in the '50s, films like Oklahoma!, The Greatest Show on Earth, The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur, all had Road Show releases first.

In the '60s it got really crazy with Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, Mary Poppins, and many, many others having them.

The last one I actually remember (as a kid) was Fiddler on the Roof, although there might have been one after that. But that was the end of the "era" of ANY film having a Road Show release...

Dreamgirls is the first in a long while, and for that reason alone, I HAVE to go!

They all had similar things... reserved seats, programs, special lobby displays, etc. Some also had added "Overtures" and "Exit Music" which you can find on the DVDs of several of the films I mentioned above.

I kinda like it. It "classes up the joint" a bit. And for certain films, I think we need a little glamour back in our lives, even if it costs a little more to do it.

End of thread-jack... for now... maybe... I think.

Updated On: 11/22/06 at 04:12 PM

[chicolini]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 4:13pm

Thanks best12bars. It's the answer to the age-old question "What to you get when you divide the circumference of a jack-o-lantern by its diameter?"

Edit - so THAT'S where the exit music/overtures came from. I expected it on the movie musicals, but for things like The Great Race I was confused.

Updated On: 11/22/06 at 04:13 PM

[lildogs]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 4:15pm

I knew that alot of those 60s musicals and 50s epics were sold that way--I guess it does make it a little more special huh?

Hell, they HAD to do it with GREAT ZIEGFELD--The Pretty Girl number cost over $100,000 alone!

[StageManager2]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 4:17pm

You know what would be cool? I'd always wanted to watch GWTW and OZ in one of those old-time cinema houses that looked like theaters, complete with mezzanines and balconies. I'm not a fan of the "big boxes" we have now, which is probably why I rarely go to the movies.

Updated On: 11/23/06 at 04:17 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 4:20pm

lildogs---the DVD of The Great Ziegfeld is its Road Show release, with Overture and Exit Music (plus the intermission, which it always has). No souvenir program though, dang!

The 4-disc DVD of GWTW has a mini-reproduction of the Road Show program. Pretty cool!

SM2---You have to see those films in a big, classy theatre. I've seen them both several times in various "cool places," and it does make for a better experience. No doubt about it.


EDIT: More thread-jacking!!!

The 2-disc DVD release of Oklahoma! has BOTH versions. The 70mm Road Show release (with overture, entr'acte and exit music), and the 35mm wide release. And they were shot separately too, which means you're watching different takes of the actors... it's like seeing a stage show on two different nights. The only bummer is that the 70mm print SUCKS. It's soft and makes me think I'm going blind. And the 35mm release is "brown" and faded, but at least it's sharper. Fun stuff to compare side-by-side, though!

Updated On: 11/22/06 at 04:20 PM

[lildogs]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 4:23pm

When I was on tour, many of the theatres we played were old movie palaces--there are still so many left! Some of them are just so spectacular--they practically scream for an Erich Von Stroheim festival. They usually had a style, like Turkish or Southwestern...just gorgeous.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 4:29pm

best12bars: Have you ever been to Grauman's Chinese Theatre?

Updated On: 11/23/06 at 04:29 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 4:31pm

We have a great series here in L.A. every year. It's downtown (where no man likes to go after dark)... but that's where the old movie and vaudeville palaces are. They are truly incredible, and they're used for location shoots all the time... including in the film Dreamgirls!

I've seen the original silent Ben-Hur, with (no joke!) the original organist who played opening night in 1925, when he was 18 years old. He was in his 90s when he played the score for us, but it was incredible "live." I've also seen The Women, with a live 1930's fashion show, "Laura" with David Raksin (who wrote the incredible music) introducing the film... Seven Brides... so many others! To see them in the old palaces is truly an event. They usually show five or six classic films each season (which is usually late-spring, early summer, since they have to do it before the heatwaves kick in... those palaces for the most part aren't air conditioned).

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 4:31pm

SM2--- Many times! I live only about a mile away. I've seen both "Oz" and GWTW there. Star Wars, Titanic, Raiders of the Lost Ark, etc.

Updated On: 11/22/06 at 04:31 PM

[lildogs]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 4:34pm

They did a fashion show for THE WOMEN? Were they Adrian designs? I am so jealous if they were!

[StageManager2]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 4:35pm

best12bars: I'm so jealous! The closest I got to watch GWTW and OZ on the big screen was when they re-released them back in 1998, at my rinky-dink movie theater.

Updated On: 11/23/06 at 04:35 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 4:40pm

It was a mix of 1930s film fashions, lildogs, but some were Adrian!


SM2---1998 is when they had them both play at the Chinese!


They also had Anita Page there for The Broadway Melody. Anita FRIGGIN' PAGE!! She starred in the 1928 Best Picture, and she's gotta be 2,000 years old now. Leonard Maltin interviewed her on stage.

Updated On: 11/22/06 at 04:40 PM

[lildogs]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 4:43pm

I almost brought that one up when we were talking about the road shows--it came to mind almost immediately--what a treat! Now she wasn't nommed, it was Bessie Love right?

The closest thing I have was seeing Maureen O'Hara at the St Pat's Parade several years ago--I screamed her name, and she saw me and waved--I absolutely died!

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 4:45pm

Neither Oz or GWTW were widescreen films, so the re-releases you saw at your theaters were probably just fine. The last road show film that I can recall, is MAN OF LA MANCHA. Although, I believe that GANDHI got a limited road show release, as well. Whereas, La Mancha's road show release was in all the major cities. Road shows, included reserved seats and intermissions, and also programs.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 4:46pm

Didn't they crop GWTW to make it widescreen when it was re-issued back in the 1960s?

[justme2]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 4:48pm

I am lucky to live close enough to both the Stanford theater in Palo Alto and the Castro Theater in SF. Both theaters show classic movies in those beautiful houses. Stanford shows more classics, Castro tends to go towards more popular classic films, and campy ones as well. Saw GWTW and OZ at Stanford, with the Wurlitzer playing the music to both before and after the films, and its' quite the experience.

Castro is showing the ORIGINAL, SILENT, Chicago movie on December 2nd, and I will be there for that one.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 4:49pm

Was there ever any doubt, justme2?

[lildogs]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 4:49pm

The Castro is great--they program really well there too.

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 4:50pm

Bessie was nominated, and I think she should have won!

That's another "Oscar oops!" moment, when Mary Pickford won for her first talkie (Coquette)... and by all accounts gave a mediocre performance at best... It's pretty crappy, actually. When they called her name out as the winner, the "legend" (again, I wasn't there, but this is what they say) is that the crowd actually booed! The race was marked as "fixed," and there was a lot of controversy surrounding the Academy's practices for vote-counting.

Can you imagine anyone booing at an Oscar-winner as their name is called out?

And Pickford was a legend already, and a founding member of the Academy... which is probably why she was standing at the podium picking up a little gold that night.

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 4:53pm

Yes, there have been some really tragic attempts to make GWTW an Oz wide screen. They are just chopping off the top and bottom of the picture and re-framing it. Ugly stuff. I've never gone to either, when I heard they were "wide screen" versions playing.

I don't think they will do that again... (God, I hope not!)

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 4:53pm

Didn't they crop GWTW to make it widescreen when it was re-issued back in the 1960s?

Yes! Usually, we have cropped widescreen films being put onto video, or shown on television, where they crop the sides. In the case of GWTW, they blew-up the 35MM 1.37:1 prints to make them 70MM and wide, cropping the top and bottom of the frames, and stretching the sides. It looked horrible, too (even though the adds said: In the Splendor of 70MM). You could actually see through the images on the screen. The whole thing had a misty look about it.

[StageManager2]

Posted: 11/22/06 at 4:54pm

But weren't Norma Shearer's wins fixed, too? She was married to Irving "Golden Boy" Thalberg, after all.

Updated On: 11/22/06 at 04:54 PM