Ziegfeld Theatre
141 W. 54th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
141 W. 54th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
130 people
favorited this theater
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The NY Times gave a full review last Friday and while people do read the Daily News and the Post, I do think that the majority of the target market does in fact read the Times. I don’t believe that neither the Post or the Daily News reviewed the film. The lower brow does not see silent films from the 1920’s. :–)
There was no promotion at all for for Metropolis in either the Daily News or the Post — no paid ad and no blurb in the “Goings On” sections. I didn’t see the Times so I don’t know if they covered it, but promoters have to realize that movie lovers also read the News and the Post, and not just the high-brow Times.
They should have a 70mm retrospective. I’m not a fan of silent films. I appreciate their history and place in cinema, but thats it. I remember seeing Metropolis on TV with modern music years ago. For its time, it was quite imaginative.
Unfortunately, due to disappointing grosses this weekend the Ziegfeld’s run of Metropolis will close this Thursday night (10/28), one week early. It looks great — see it while you can!
They also screened it back in 2002.
I saw Metropolis at the FF but seeing it again at the Ziegfeld should be a great experience. Will this be the first time a silent film screened at this theatre?
Definitely, definitely go see the “new” Metropolis at the Ziegfeld. It will be a mind-blowing experience. I had the good fortune to see it at Grauman’s Chinese as the closing film of the TCM festival. What you see at the Ziegfeld will never, ever be duplicated on the largest home theatre you can imagine in Blu-ray. Something you will always remember.
With no disrespect to NYC’s Film Forum, which has great programming, and where it already played, the Ziegfeld experience cannot be matched.
Wow Justin, what should you expect on visiting the Ziegfeld? I agree with Ziegfeld Man that you should throw out any preconceptions of the classic movie palaces of old. This is not a Radio City, a New Amsterdam, a Loew’s Wonder Theater, a Beacon. It is, however, a perfect example of the “Modern Movie Palace”; which incorporates top sound and sight lines with curtains that open and close (usually) and a wonderful staff that makes seeing a film here always special. I won’t say anymore, but this is without a doubt, my favorite place to see a movie in New York.
Yes, the restored Metropolis will be onscreen at the Ziegfeld Oct 22-Nov 4. The New York Times' A. O. Scott will be writing about this special engagement in Friday’s paper.
Info on Metropolis, I missed this at the Ziegfeld eight years ago, this maybe my last chance to see it there, is this still going to happen?
Justin: I really hope the curtains are working and the presentation is at its best on the day you attend, so you can see what the Ziegfeld is really all about. Unless you’ve been to the Lafayette in Suffern NY, you may have never seen curtains on a movie screen.
Maybe you should wait till early next year, if TCM is showing a classic movie there again like they did in March 2010 with “All About Eve”. It was the New York City edition of their Classic Film Festival, and it was an incredible night at the Ziegfeld.
Justin, let’s just say that you’d forget your favorite AMC Rockaway and its stadium seating, non-curtain rising/falling cookie cutter screen plex. Maybe you’d be daily blogging about the Ziegfeld here as well. :D
On my infrequent visits, I do have to say that its hit or miss presentation wise. Sometimes the curtain is used, sometimes not. Sometimes the sound levels and overall experience is stupendous and then not.
Justin:
You should not expect Radio City Music Hall, which, if I had my druthers would still be showing films, at least periodically. Instead, you should expect the last NYC has to offer (which is damn great)in a single big screen, thousand plus seat, great sound movie going experience. You will also have the experience, if LeRoy is there, which he usually is, of getting a friendly, “Welcome to the Ziegfeld, where the best seat in the house is the one you’re sitting in.”
More than that would include “spoilers”
I am the Ziegfeldman and I approve of this message. I love the place.
Thank you
When I visit this theater for the first time, what should I expect?
I am sure this event was noted somewhere in the 3,400 plus comments appearing above – I did not have the time to check – but I thought you would find this recollection interesting.
The only time that I have ever visited the New Ziegfeld occured when it premiered Martin Scorcese’s “The Last Temptation of Christ” in the teeth of a Papal protest supported by the local Cardinal. I remember having to go past the, by that time, dwindling group of the faithful – the movie had opened about week before then – who decried the heresy I was just about to consume. The only lesson I took from this whole experience was that the Pope is a terrible movie critic. I really enjoyed seeing this underrated – and, in its own way, truly religious – near-masterpiece in this terrific environment. And Harvey Keitel’s Judas was, in its decidedly non-idiomatic way, really extraordinary.
I really should visit this beautiful theater again.
Is this still going to happen?
The 2010 restoration of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis is coming to the Ziegfeld for a two week run starting October 22!
Look on this map from 1970 at 54th St. between 6th and 7th Aves. and you’ll see a representation of the brand-new Ziegfeld Theatre (1Z).
View link
Here’s an index listing all the other theaters represented:
View link
Bill:
I couldn’t agree with you more—I was at the TCM festival in Hollywood and another is in the works for next year. To see, on the big screen, at the Chinese Theatre and the Egyptian, “A Star is Born,” “King Kong,” “Sweet Smell of Success,” “The Producers,” “North by Northwest,” “Singin' in the Rain,” “The Good Earth” (with Luise Rainer present at 100 years old!!)and the glorious restored METROPOLIS—well EVERY screening was like that “All About Eve” night at the Ziegfeld.
We have all enjoyed classic screenings at the Ziegfeld, this board is on fire when the classics are being shown.
We got a great start to this just a few years ago—it shouldn’t die. It musn’t. Lets let Craig and Clearview know how much this all means to us.
Gary: I must’ve been to the Ziegfeld at least 200 times in the last 40 years, and that showing of “All About Eve” was one of the all-around greatest shows I’ve ever seen there – or anywhere else, for that matter. Let’s hope TCM will have another festival next year and show something else at the Ziegfeld.
The key word is “Exclusive”—if the Ziegfeld had an exclusive on “Inception” can you imagine what the results might have been. With no disrespect to the Film Forum, which has amaxing classic programming, the FF is showing “ a spectacular new 4K digital restoration ” of “The Bridge on The River Kwai” in September. Can you imagine this on the Ziegfeld screen?
There is bound to be some downtime this fall for some movies shown “the way they were meant to be seen.”
Please, please contsct Craig via e-mail ,
Remember that wonderful night with Rosbert Osborne, Elaine Stritch and “All About Eve”?
Best,
Gary
…in 1971.
Stan, the RKO 86th Street re-opened as a twin in
I ran across a couple of Ziegfeld tidbits yesterday while going through some old files.
From Boxoffice Magizine, May 1978, an article on CE3K expanding from its exclusive Ziegfeld run in Manhattan to the Loew’s State 1 (70MM), Bay Cinema (70MM), and RKO 86th Street (35MM) on 4/26/78.. (A comment on this site on the latter theatre says that it closed in 1968, so I don’t know. This is the way the article listed it.) Michael Coate’s post of 4/16/08 shows 4/26/78 to be the date CE3K ended its 23 week run at the Ziegfeld to be replaced by The Last Waltz.
As background the article stated that CE3K opened at the Ziegfeld for a NY / NJ exclusive run on 11/16/77 before expanding to 11 other locations four weeks later. However it stayed exclusive in Manhattan for all 23 weeks. According to Boxoffice, the Zeigfeld grossed a record setting two million dollars during its run.
At the opposite end of the record setting department is a note from Variety from December 1971 when they still listed the Manhattan theatres and their grosses, usually with a cute line to describe the take.. According to Michael the theatre had been closed for 14 weeks leading up to its big Christmas movie of 1971, Star Spangled Girl. It opened on 12/22/71 and here is the way Variety described the gross: “Only $928 for this huge house.” That means that this 1300 seat theatre with its listed $16,500 nut brought in about 250 customers all week. Got to be the record. Should have stayed closed.
Thanks to Michael I see that it ran for 5 weeks before the theatre went dark again for the three weeks prior to the opening of Cabaret.
The Ziegfeld was mentioned on the latest episode of “Mad Men”. Of course it was the old Ziegfeld, torn down three years before this one was built in 1969 (the show is set in 1964), but it still a thrill to hear the words “Ziegfeld Theatre” spoken on national television.