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Talbot’s New Yorker Theatres and distributor
posted by
AlAlvarez
on
October 21, 2009 at 7:45 am
NEW YORK, NY — A new book has been published about the Talbot Theatres arthouse legacy in Manhattan’s upper west side. These theatres, the New Yorker, Cinema Studio, Metro and the still open Lincoln Plaza, helped a new generation discover many rare classics and changed the way specialty films were perceived. The Talbot’s cinemas influenced many new filmmakers, among them Martin Scorsese and Woody Allen.
In addition to the contribution made by their theatres, their distribution arm, New Yorker, made celebrities out of many talented new foreign directors previously unknown in the US. They released previously unseen works by rising star directors as well as helped make media darlings out of Fassbinder and Saura, eventually providing a wealth of arthouse hits for their screens as well as copycat operations all over the US.
A good solid read for movie theatre fans and foreign film fans alike.
UPDATE 12/14: Publisher Link
Comments (2)
I think I need to buy this, thanks for posting this.
Al, thanks for the tip; this was great reading for an eight-hour round-trip Amtrak ride (leading to Orlando’s Plaza Theatre and singer Neko Case).
Toby Talbot’s dismissal of Roger Corman and his perceived inability to properly distribute “Shoah,” however, doesn’t take into account Corman’s solid presence in the 70s/80s art film scene (“Cries and Whispers,” “Amarcord,” “Fitzcarraldo,” etc.) New World Pictures knew how to serve both the arthouse and the grindhouse.
This book was the first I’d heard of New Yorker Films closing down after 44 years (in March 2009). I’m grateful to them for presenting much of the work that first lured me to international cinema.