If the structure mentioned by CWalczak was actually the same building that we now know as the Bloor Cinema, what happened? How did that charming structure turn into the ugly looking exterior that now faces Bloor Street?
70mm as feature film exhibition format is dead as a doornail. It ended when the industry began enlarging standard 35mm film onto 70mm prints. The exhibitors added to the downturn by not equipping their theatres with screens big enough to take advantage of the 70mm format. I remember seeing a 70mm film shown in one of Toronto’s downtown cinemas projected up on a tiny flat screen with an image smaller, yes I said smaller, than their standard 1.85 35mm presentation – no one was impressed. Mike Todd had the right idea when he originated his Todd-AO process back in the 50’s: project large format 70mm prints onto gigantic curved screens and treat the movie as a special event – not simply as a preview of what the local video store will be hawking 3 months down the road.
Since the AMC opened it’s turned into my favorite movie house in Toronto. Classy looking, no pre-show commercials, great seats and excellent 4K digital projection in all of its 24 auditoriums. Sure beats the pants off both the long-gone Eaton Centre cinemas as well as the Scotiabank.
We already have an extreme digital experience here in Toronto at one of the downtown AMC auditoriums. It too has a huge floor to ceiling screen, super-duper sound and very high resolution digital projection that bests the new Imax digital format. AMC calls their experiment: ETX (Enhanced Theater Experience). Looks to me like the Imax corporation goofed big-time. Couldn’t they figure out that any cinema chain with some smarts could easily duplicate, or top their mini-Imax digital installations? It’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out.
If you haven’t seen it, then you have a real treat in store. The Sony 4K projection (in all 24 auditoriums) at my local AMC complex in Toronto is outstanding. So much so in fact, that I can barely stand to view badly projected film prints in the other first run cinemas in town. It’s got to be seen to be appreciated. Perfect focus from edge to edge and top to bottom, huge screens and punchy multi-channel sound. And all of this without having to sit through insulting commercials before the feature begins.
We’ve had 4K Sony projectors in all of the auditoriums at my local AMC complex in Toronto for about a year now. The projection and sound are spectacular, often rivaling the long gone 70mm blowup presentations. The screens are huge and the pictures are definitely sharper than at the so-called Imax 2K digital installations. How these theatres have the nerve to actually charge a higher admission price for this hoax is astonishing. The Imax corporation and the cinemas involved in this scam should be charged for false advertising.
This same thing happened with the original Cinerama 3-projector system. When they switched to showing standard 70mm prints on their deeply curved screens there was nothing Cinerama about it except for a Cinerama logo added to the movie ads (I used to work on these ads). And not much later these same theatres even projected 35mm scope prints on these oversized screens which resulted in fuzzy images and nothing remotely resembling the “You Are There” Cinerama experience. I think we’re now witnessing the same, slow torturous decline and death of the wonderful, original giant screen Imax process.
Tim, I agree with you. Without Drabinsky, the wonderful Pantages (Canon) would now be nothing but a memory instead of a vibrant part of the city’s culture.
I used to run a rep house called the Roxy in Toronto, and it makes me really sad to read about the closing of the Parkway. It sounds like it was a great place to go to share ones love of movies with good friends.
This theatre is definitely still open and running movies on a daily basis. The 20th Century Theatres chain operated this venue for many years as a second run house called the Midtown. In the mid to late 60’s the company changed the name to the Capri and tried to book it as a first-run arthouse. I know about it because I was the art director for 20 Century Theatres at the time and designed the ads announcing the opening of the “new” Capri. In reality nothing really changed except for the name of the theatre on the outside of the building.
The Towne was owned and operated by the 20th Century Theatres chain. The theatre booked first-run art house fare such as: Yesterday Today and Tomorrow, Gigi, The Sky Above and the Mud Below, David and Lisa, etc. It was located right next to a subway stop in the middle of downtown Toronto and was very popular with discerning moviegoers. Unfortunately, the screen was a bit too small for the size of the auditorium which gave one the illusion of looking down a long dark tunnel. Especially if you got stuck sitting in the balcony which was located above the lobby far from the screen.
The Cinerama films that played at the Eglinton were not shown in true Cinerama. The theatre was outfitted with Cinemiracle equipment. Famous Players never installed a louvered 146º Cinerama screen at the Eglinton. The picture was huge, but the screen was of the standard single sheet variety with a very shallow, almost imperceptible, curve. It didn’t even have curtains. Talk about a bare bones set-up. The Glendale, on the other hand, was a genuine 70mm Cinerama house. I was the art director for the 20th Century Theatres chain that owned the Glendale during that period and was quite familiar with all of the first run houses in the city of Toronto.
It’s only more immersive if the film was shot with an ultrawide 180º lens. A standard Imax film is grossly distorted when projected onto a dome shaped screen. Not to mention that light bounces from one side of the deeply curved screen surface to the other washing out dark areas of the picture. Definitely not the best way to view a large format motion picture.
The Tivoli was a great place to see a 70mm film. Oddly enough, because of the stadium seating, there was no place to put a booth for head-on projection. Unless you were sitting toward the back, near the booth, horizontal lines were noticeably distorted. In the business this was quite often referred to as a smile. The 70mm (pseudo Cinerama) presentations at Toronto’s Glendale Cinerama theatre had exactly the same problem. You may be interested to know that both theatres had a huge screen with a 120 degree curvature and projected 70mm film with 6-track stereo sound. The Tivoli’s Todd-AO and the Glendale’s Cinerama presentations looked exactly the same to the audience. The only thing that set them apart was the huge Cinerama logo on the Glendale’s marquee.
I ran a repertory cinema for many years and am well aware of the problems one faces projecting film: faded colors, scratched prints, frames missing because of bad splices, projectionists who refuse to wear glasses, and badly made prints that should never have left the lab. A new AMC cinema complex located near me in Toronto has 24 auditoriums and almost all of them are equpped with Sony 4K projectors. For me, at least, this AMC mutiplex is a pleasure to attend: the seats are great, the lobby is beautifully designed and feels like a movie theatre – not a midway at a carnival, and the digital projection onto their huge screens is always perfect. Truth be told (except for Imax) I haven’t seen such sharp pictures on a cinema screen since the 70mm roadshow days.
My mother loved the movies and I remember being taken to the Capitol at around 4 years of age to see “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” We were sitting in the balcony, a location my mother preferred because you never had a head in front of you to block the view. Not to mention that the theatre looked spectacular from that vantage point.
The color scheme then consisted of various shades of pastel blues with ivory accents on the ornamental plaster work. This changed in 1955 when the theatre underwent an extensive renovation. The revised color scheme emphasized the warmer end of the spectrum and again with ivory accents. The new seats in the downstairs section were the pushback type so that when someone wanted to get past you, you didn’t have to get up.
The updated theatre featured a new chandelier in the balcony, a candy counter was installed on the ground floor, the entire theatre was re-carpeted, the marquee was replaced, new curtains graced the stage and the place was finally air-conditioned. Although this feature didn’t work when the theatre had its grand re-opening. The place was packed and it was really uncomfortable inside.
Stereophonic sound made its debut in Welland when CinemaScope was installed in the winter of 1954. The Capitol was always first with every new innovation. In 1953 the theatre hosted city’s first showing of a 3-D film. And contrary to what we’ve read read in the press recently, no one in the early 50’s watched three dimensional films through red and blue glasses.
I remember seeing Welland’s first 3-D movie “House of Wax” the day the Queen was crowned. The matinee that day was jammed with every kid in the city. And you should have heard the screams when one of the actors threw a chair and it, shockingly, flew right out of the screen at us.
The longest running movie ever shown at the Capitol was “The Ten Commandments” in 1956. It ran for 3 full weeks in an era when most films in Welland played for only 3 days. On the opening night of “Ten Commandments,” the 1200 theatre was sold out a half hour before showtime.
On thing I forgot to mention is that the Capitol had a stage and an orchestra pit. And being located in the middle of the Niagara Peninsula, would have made a great performing arts centre.
I’m confused too. What does the Retzler group hope to do with the Uptown? And what’s happened to the other companies who were supposedly interested in this incredible theatre?
I agree that the loss of real live projectionists has been somewhat of a disaster. On the other hand, I found that many union guys couldn’t have card less either. But then, the ones who did, were worth their weight in gold. Things are just different and no matter how much I personally would prefergoing to a properly run theatre with 70mm film projected onto a huge curved screen, intermissions with curtains, overtures before the film begins, ushers to take us to our reserved seats – those days are probably gone forever. And as to shooting on film, does it really matter anymore? The original negs are immediately digitized so that color corrections, fades, dissolves, titles and special effects are done on computers. The finished product is then either converted back to film or sent to cinemas on hard drives. Then after a couple of months these same films appear on the shelves of our local video stores. I think the movie business as we knew it has basically Gone Away With the Wind.
Hello movies 534. If we had a cinema that was provided with the same quality of prints that the studios view in their plush screening rooms and that said cinema was equipped with top quality, well maintained equipment, well then I might agree with you. However, that is NOT the case. When I go to the movies I expect a steady picture, framed correctly, shown in the right aspect ratio and be in perfect focus from edge to edge. Projection and sound at the Cumberland, the Carlton and a host of others is mediocre at best, and when you compare these examples to the new AMC – the AMC wins on all counts. By the way, I have run a very succesful independent movie house and also been involved in film production. I like film but let’s face facts: its day is fading fast. Like how many people (amateurs & professionals alilke) still shoot their photographs on film? I think we all know the answer to that question.
Love the recent photo of the dome, but surely they could program something that would take advantage of the huge curved screen. A booking of Run Fat Boy Run is just a big waste of this unique resource.
I love old movie theatres too – I ran one for almost ten years. I’m very proud of the fact that I was once complimented on my cinema’s excellent sound system by film composer Jerry Goldsmith. Unfortunately, the only ones left in the city of Toronto with state-of-the-art projection and sound facilities are the Regent and the Royal. The AMC may not be Cinema Treasure from out of the past, but it is one of the few places in Toronto where what a cinematographer records on film, shows up in perfect focus, framed correctly and in the correct aspect ratio on the screen.
This cinema has 5,000 very comfortable seats. All of the cinemas are equipped with Sony 4K projectors which produce images of startling clarity reminding me of what real 70mm used to look like. Not to mention that the multi-channel sound systsem produces uncompressed, full fidelity audio – unlike 35mm film.
And no, I don’t work for AMC, but I used to run a popular rep cinema in Toronto and was the art director for the Famous Players theatre chain for a number of years and am not an easy one to impress.
If the structure mentioned by CWalczak was actually the same building that we now know as the Bloor Cinema, what happened? How did that charming structure turn into the ugly looking exterior that now faces Bloor Street?
70mm as feature film exhibition format is dead as a doornail. It ended when the industry began enlarging standard 35mm film onto 70mm prints. The exhibitors added to the downturn by not equipping their theatres with screens big enough to take advantage of the 70mm format. I remember seeing a 70mm film shown in one of Toronto’s downtown cinemas projected up on a tiny flat screen with an image smaller, yes I said smaller, than their standard 1.85 35mm presentation – no one was impressed. Mike Todd had the right idea when he originated his Todd-AO process back in the 50’s: project large format 70mm prints onto gigantic curved screens and treat the movie as a special event – not simply as a preview of what the local video store will be hawking 3 months down the road.
Since the AMC opened it’s turned into my favorite movie house in Toronto. Classy looking, no pre-show commercials, great seats and excellent 4K digital projection in all of its 24 auditoriums. Sure beats the pants off both the long-gone Eaton Centre cinemas as well as the Scotiabank.
We already have an extreme digital experience here in Toronto at one of the downtown AMC auditoriums. It too has a huge floor to ceiling screen, super-duper sound and very high resolution digital projection that bests the new Imax digital format. AMC calls their experiment: ETX (Enhanced Theater Experience). Looks to me like the Imax corporation goofed big-time. Couldn’t they figure out that any cinema chain with some smarts could easily duplicate, or top their mini-Imax digital installations? It’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out.
If you haven’t seen it, then you have a real treat in store. The Sony 4K projection (in all 24 auditoriums) at my local AMC complex in Toronto is outstanding. So much so in fact, that I can barely stand to view badly projected film prints in the other first run cinemas in town. It’s got to be seen to be appreciated. Perfect focus from edge to edge and top to bottom, huge screens and punchy multi-channel sound. And all of this without having to sit through insulting commercials before the feature begins.
We’ve had 4K Sony projectors in all of the auditoriums at my local AMC complex in Toronto for about a year now. The projection and sound are spectacular, often rivaling the long gone 70mm blowup presentations. The screens are huge and the pictures are definitely sharper than at the so-called Imax 2K digital installations. How these theatres have the nerve to actually charge a higher admission price for this hoax is astonishing. The Imax corporation and the cinemas involved in this scam should be charged for false advertising.
This same thing happened with the original Cinerama 3-projector system. When they switched to showing standard 70mm prints on their deeply curved screens there was nothing Cinerama about it except for a Cinerama logo added to the movie ads (I used to work on these ads). And not much later these same theatres even projected 35mm scope prints on these oversized screens which resulted in fuzzy images and nothing remotely resembling the “You Are There” Cinerama experience. I think we’re now witnessing the same, slow torturous decline and death of the wonderful, original giant screen Imax process.
Tim, I agree with you. Without Drabinsky, the wonderful Pantages (Canon) would now be nothing but a memory instead of a vibrant part of the city’s culture.
I used to run a rep house called the Roxy in Toronto, and it makes me really sad to read about the closing of the Parkway. It sounds like it was a great place to go to share ones love of movies with good friends.
This theatre is definitely still open and running movies on a daily basis. The 20th Century Theatres chain operated this venue for many years as a second run house called the Midtown. In the mid to late 60’s the company changed the name to the Capri and tried to book it as a first-run arthouse. I know about it because I was the art director for 20 Century Theatres at the time and designed the ads announcing the opening of the “new” Capri. In reality nothing really changed except for the name of the theatre on the outside of the building.
The Towne was owned and operated by the 20th Century Theatres chain. The theatre booked first-run art house fare such as: Yesterday Today and Tomorrow, Gigi, The Sky Above and the Mud Below, David and Lisa, etc. It was located right next to a subway stop in the middle of downtown Toronto and was very popular with discerning moviegoers. Unfortunately, the screen was a bit too small for the size of the auditorium which gave one the illusion of looking down a long dark tunnel. Especially if you got stuck sitting in the balcony which was located above the lobby far from the screen.
The Cinerama films that played at the Eglinton were not shown in true Cinerama. The theatre was outfitted with Cinemiracle equipment. Famous Players never installed a louvered 146º Cinerama screen at the Eglinton. The picture was huge, but the screen was of the standard single sheet variety with a very shallow, almost imperceptible, curve. It didn’t even have curtains. Talk about a bare bones set-up. The Glendale, on the other hand, was a genuine 70mm Cinerama house. I was the art director for the 20th Century Theatres chain that owned the Glendale during that period and was quite familiar with all of the first run houses in the city of Toronto.
It’s only more immersive if the film was shot with an ultrawide 180º lens. A standard Imax film is grossly distorted when projected onto a dome shaped screen. Not to mention that light bounces from one side of the deeply curved screen surface to the other washing out dark areas of the picture. Definitely not the best way to view a large format motion picture.
The Tivoli was a great place to see a 70mm film. Oddly enough, because of the stadium seating, there was no place to put a booth for head-on projection. Unless you were sitting toward the back, near the booth, horizontal lines were noticeably distorted. In the business this was quite often referred to as a smile. The 70mm (pseudo Cinerama) presentations at Toronto’s Glendale Cinerama theatre had exactly the same problem. You may be interested to know that both theatres had a huge screen with a 120 degree curvature and projected 70mm film with 6-track stereo sound. The Tivoli’s Todd-AO and the Glendale’s Cinerama presentations looked exactly the same to the audience. The only thing that set them apart was the huge Cinerama logo on the Glendale’s marquee.
I ran a repertory cinema for many years and am well aware of the problems one faces projecting film: faded colors, scratched prints, frames missing because of bad splices, projectionists who refuse to wear glasses, and badly made prints that should never have left the lab. A new AMC cinema complex located near me in Toronto has 24 auditoriums and almost all of them are equpped with Sony 4K projectors. For me, at least, this AMC mutiplex is a pleasure to attend: the seats are great, the lobby is beautifully designed and feels like a movie theatre – not a midway at a carnival, and the digital projection onto their huge screens is always perfect. Truth be told (except for Imax) I haven’t seen such sharp pictures on a cinema screen since the 70mm roadshow days.
Unfortunately, this theatre’s status should be changed from closed to demolished.
My mother loved the movies and I remember being taken to the Capitol at around 4 years of age to see “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” We were sitting in the balcony, a location my mother preferred because you never had a head in front of you to block the view. Not to mention that the theatre looked spectacular from that vantage point.
The color scheme then consisted of various shades of pastel blues with ivory accents on the ornamental plaster work. This changed in 1955 when the theatre underwent an extensive renovation. The revised color scheme emphasized the warmer end of the spectrum and again with ivory accents. The new seats in the downstairs section were the pushback type so that when someone wanted to get past you, you didn’t have to get up.
The updated theatre featured a new chandelier in the balcony, a candy counter was installed on the ground floor, the entire theatre was re-carpeted, the marquee was replaced, new curtains graced the stage and the place was finally air-conditioned. Although this feature didn’t work when the theatre had its grand re-opening. The place was packed and it was really uncomfortable inside.
Stereophonic sound made its debut in Welland when CinemaScope was installed in the winter of 1954. The Capitol was always first with every new innovation. In 1953 the theatre hosted city’s first showing of a 3-D film. And contrary to what we’ve read read in the press recently, no one in the early 50’s watched three dimensional films through red and blue glasses.
I remember seeing Welland’s first 3-D movie “House of Wax” the day the Queen was crowned. The matinee that day was jammed with every kid in the city. And you should have heard the screams when one of the actors threw a chair and it, shockingly, flew right out of the screen at us.
The longest running movie ever shown at the Capitol was “The Ten Commandments” in 1956. It ran for 3 full weeks in an era when most films in Welland played for only 3 days. On the opening night of “Ten Commandments,” the 1200 theatre was sold out a half hour before showtime.
On thing I forgot to mention is that the Capitol had a stage and an orchestra pit. And being located in the middle of the Niagara Peninsula, would have made a great performing arts centre.
To each his own.
I’m confused too. What does the Retzler group hope to do with the Uptown? And what’s happened to the other companies who were supposedly interested in this incredible theatre?
I agree that the loss of real live projectionists has been somewhat of a disaster. On the other hand, I found that many union guys couldn’t have card less either. But then, the ones who did, were worth their weight in gold. Things are just different and no matter how much I personally would prefergoing to a properly run theatre with 70mm film projected onto a huge curved screen, intermissions with curtains, overtures before the film begins, ushers to take us to our reserved seats – those days are probably gone forever. And as to shooting on film, does it really matter anymore? The original negs are immediately digitized so that color corrections, fades, dissolves, titles and special effects are done on computers. The finished product is then either converted back to film or sent to cinemas on hard drives. Then after a couple of months these same films appear on the shelves of our local video stores. I think the movie business as we knew it has basically Gone Away With the Wind.
Hello movies 534. If we had a cinema that was provided with the same quality of prints that the studios view in their plush screening rooms and that said cinema was equipped with top quality, well maintained equipment, well then I might agree with you. However, that is NOT the case. When I go to the movies I expect a steady picture, framed correctly, shown in the right aspect ratio and be in perfect focus from edge to edge. Projection and sound at the Cumberland, the Carlton and a host of others is mediocre at best, and when you compare these examples to the new AMC – the AMC wins on all counts. By the way, I have run a very succesful independent movie house and also been involved in film production. I like film but let’s face facts: its day is fading fast. Like how many people (amateurs & professionals alilke) still shoot their photographs on film? I think we all know the answer to that question.
Love the recent photo of the dome, but surely they could program something that would take advantage of the huge curved screen. A booking of Run Fat Boy Run is just a big waste of this unique resource.
Thanks Howard, I will.
I love old movie theatres too – I ran one for almost ten years. I’m very proud of the fact that I was once complimented on my cinema’s excellent sound system by film composer Jerry Goldsmith. Unfortunately, the only ones left in the city of Toronto with state-of-the-art projection and sound facilities are the Regent and the Royal. The AMC may not be Cinema Treasure from out of the past, but it is one of the few places in Toronto where what a cinematographer records on film, shows up in perfect focus, framed correctly and in the correct aspect ratio on the screen.
This cinema has 5,000 very comfortable seats. All of the cinemas are equipped with Sony 4K projectors which produce images of startling clarity reminding me of what real 70mm used to look like. Not to mention that the multi-channel sound systsem produces uncompressed, full fidelity audio – unlike 35mm film.
And no, I don’t work for AMC, but I used to run a popular rep cinema in Toronto and was the art director for the Famous Players theatre chain for a number of years and am not an easy one to impress.