ABC Ewell

Kingston Road,
Ewell, KT19

Unfavorite 3 people favorited this theater

Additional Info

Previously operated by: Associated British Cinemas Ltd., Cannon Cinemas, MGM Theatres

Architects: Eric Norman Bailey

Styles: Art Deco

Previous Names: Rembrandt Cinema, ABC 1 & 2, Cannon, MGM

Nearby Theaters

ABC Ewell

The Rembrandt Cinema opened as an independent cinema on 3rd October 1938 with a double bill; Claudette Colbert in “Bluebeard’s Eighth Wife” and Don Terry in “Squadron of Honour”. The cinema, which was located on the main A240 Kingston Road, was actually in a residential area, next to the railway line, and had a cafe and a large free car park.

From 31st January 1943 it was taken over by Associated British Cinemas (ABC) and they continued to operate it for many years. It was twinned in 1971 with 606 seats in the former circle and 152 in the former stalls area.

It was later re-named Cannon, then from 21st May 1993 it became the MGM. For its last few years of operation it reverted back to the ABC name. It closed on 23rd April 1998 with a well attended special screening in the large former circle cinema of “The Last Picture Show”. The building was demolished a year later and a housing development named ‘Rembrandt Court’ was built on the land.

Contributed by KenRoe

Recent comments (view all 6 comments)

Ken Roe
Ken Roe on September 11, 2005 at 12:28 am

Some extra history & photographs of the ABC Rembrandt Cinema here:
View link

DerekPhillips
DerekPhillips on September 22, 2005 at 11:29 pm

I’m building a comprehensive on-line archive of the Rembrandt Cinema Ewell at View link

This includes Photos, history, original architects drawings (well, bits of them) and memories of people who visited it. I would love to hear comments from more people to worked at or saw films at the Rembrandt, and there’s a link to my Local History Forum in order for people to do this.

Ian
Ian on May 6, 2006 at 10:47 pm

A few photos here (interior & exterior) from 1988 as the Cannon Cinema:–

View link

View link

View link

Ian
Ian on July 27, 2008 at 7:15 am

A detail of the splay wall plasterwork can be seen here:–

View link

kevinp
kevinp on September 7, 2008 at 6:38 am

some more pix here
View link

View link

and a great picture of the car park sign featuring the original name ‘Rembrandt’

View link

kesgreen
kesgreen on April 1, 2011 at 7:28 am

Following he untimely death of Derek Phillips, his Rembrandt history pages can now be found here:

View link

You must login before making a comment.

New Comment

Subscribe Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.