SIFF Cinema Downtown

In a word, wow!

Universal presents KING KONG. World Premiere Monday, 12 December 2005 Ziegfeld Theatre, New York City. Regular performances start Wednesday, 14 December 2005 at the Ziegfeld Theatre, New York, the Cinerama Dome, Hollywood, CA and Seattle Cinerama.

saps, when in Seattle, check out the bare remains of what was once a great theatre town: the Paramount, on Pine St, is the grandest. Rapp & Rapp in fine form, in association with the regional movie palace wizard, B. Marcus Priteca. Next, the 5th Avenue, which, in Ben Hall’s immortal phrase, ‘nearly out-Chinesed Grauman’s Chinese’ is a fine specimen in a dignified building. Both houses are in excellent (restored) condition, the 5th less so. The Coliseum, also on 5th, remains in frontage form only, as its interior is now, sadly, just another Banana Republic. But what a frontage it is, with ‘COLISEVM’ spelled out in Roman Empire form, way up there under the cornice. All three survivors, interestingly, used to be members of the Fox Westcoast chain. The marvelously oddball Moore, which still uses a sandbag fly gallery backstage, is down on 2nd. Almost more like a lodge hall than a theatre. Long gone in the immediate vicinity: the Town, the Music Box, the Blue Mouse, the Music Hall, and the beloved Orpheum. The Egyptian, up Pine St, actually was a masonic hall turned into theatre. Nice atmosphere. The Neptune, up in the University District, is fairly low key, but it sports busts of the sea god around the periphery of the auditorium, with eyes that glow in sea-greenish-blue. The Rivoli, the last burlesque house in Seattle, bowed to the wrecking ball in the early 1970s. This said, seeing the Cinerama restored was a major lift in a town known for being a filmgoers' paradise, but ironically, not a good turf for movie palace restoration, except in the two cases above.

I meant the 68 foot screen.

I saw ‘Grand Prix’ and ‘2001’ here in Cinerama-ish presentations, as well as many other fine films, including ‘Lord of the Rings’, in lavish style. Then, in 2004, ‘How The West Was Won’ in 3-strip Cinerama. The two side projectors were from Peru! An unforgettable experience. It was as if I’d never seen the film before. Synchronization was excellent. Never has Alfred Newman’s score sounded so good, or the color been better. The artistry of John Ford’s Civil War sequence was a revelation. The three projectionists were welcoming and cheerfully addressed our group’s many questions. There were so many of us that we could hardly fit in the spacious righthand projection booth! And on Superbowl day, no less. I had an original program booklet, which made a hit in the general vicinity.

The restoration of the theatre itself is stunning. The moderne/populuxe feel of the place is 10 times better than the original, which was simply an endless array of dull red curtains. The Seattle Cinerama should serve as an inspiration to theatre owners everywhere! Bless you, Paul Allen!

I’d love to get back to Seattle someday and see a Cinerama revival. (I had seen several Cinerama shows back home in Chicago in the 1950s and early ‘60s)

My only experience with the Seattle Cinerama theater was in early 1969, while stationed at Fort Lewis, near Tacoma. I wanted so much to see Kubrick’s “2001:A Space Odyssey” and this seemed the perfect place to watch it. I was not disappointed.

Although “2001” was shot in “Super-Panavision 70”, MGM (or Technicolor) did make special prints just for Cinerama type theater showings (cf: imdb.com)) It projected very impressively on Seattle’s deep-curved screen. I had seen a matinee showing – went to dinner and came back to watch it again, I was so impressed. Happy to hear the theater still stands and is supported by local fans.

If only all theatres were like this one! How ironic it is though that it’s currently run by AMC, which represents many of the things that are wrong with today’s theatres!

Hi, Ross & Patrick. Hey, I just was looking over your page on the Cinerama in Seattle, and it still says that Cineplex Odeon converted the building to 2nd run. The theatre was NEVER a 2nd run theatre. It was always — even in its delapidated later condition — THE first run house in Seattle. The only exception is that during its last couple of months it ran Air Force One and Titanic several weeks into their release. Also, the chain is now AMC, which bought out General Cinemas.

Cheers!
—Matt