Ziegfeld Theatre

These are all true classics and excellent choices!

Bob… I think it’s a matter of pride amongst us New Yorkers. Yes, it’s true that classic movie presentation in a true movie palace is happening in Jersey City and in Suffern, but there is none of that going on in New York City. To some extent, it’s still NOT happening in New York City because the Ziegfeld is not a bona fide old fashion movie palace (we seem to have razed just about every last one of them, thank you very much). But having these films exhibited in our last remaining premiere-style big single screen house is certainly noteworthy.

Craig – let me join in on commending the friendly and courteous staff at the Ziegfeld who have certainly made the series an even more enjoyable experience. They are certainly the finest crew of any theater I currently attend on a regular basis. I am also very pleased to hear that the series has been extended and I’m thrilled at the prospect of a 70mm presentation of “Lawrence of Arabia.” I hope that a nice 70mm print of “2001” can make its way into your theater before long!

The screen at the Ziegfled – while not immense as I recall the one at the old Rivoli – is nice and big, particularly from my favorite vantage point at 10th row center. I think the “proscenium” makes the screen look smaller than it is. I’m sure they could install a floor to ceiling screen, but that would take some serious remodeling and would likely spell doom for the curtain. A curve would be nice, but again, that would require considerable renovations to the front of the house (and the loss of some seats, I would imagine).

Andreco – Yup, I’m aware that WSS was not Rita Moreno’s first motion picture. What I meant to say was that the audience applauded her first appearance in the MOVIE on Tuesday night – like audiences sometimes do when a major star makes their first stage entrance in a Broadway production.

Bob: I think nostalgia has a lot to do with it, in my case anyway. I’d only been to the Loew’s Jersey once before it was closed and re-opened, for “Ben-Hur” in 1961. And I’d never been to or even heard of the Lafayette until the Big Screen Classics series started. But the Ziegfeld was like a home to me. I must have seen “2001” there more than 20 times. Also “Lawrence of Arabia”, “Spartacus”, “Vertigo” – all in 70mm and multiple repeat viewings. Having the classics playing successfully there now makes me feel like the Ziegfeld has come back from the dead.

I’m at my wits end! I keep getting e-mail notifications when someone replies despite the fact that I don’t have the box at the bottom checked off. I’ve written to Cinemtreasures but it’s not stopping. I’m betting tons of these.

Anyone know what to do?

andreco-

Film Forum is sponsored and run by individuals that come from more of a film ‘fellowship’ if you will than the Ziegfeld. Not to take anything away from the mangement of the Ziegfeld, but the people at Film Forum, because of their backgrounds might pay more attention to issues like having new prints, etc. Once again, not dissing or taking away anything from the Ziegfeld. Did you see the print of ‘The Gang’s All Here’ at Film Forum? I know that not many of those prints exist, but the one that Film Forum had last summer was not in the best of shape by any means. Scratchy, frames missing. Parts of it were a real mess. Why didn’t Film Forum decide NOT to run that film at all because of it’s condition? Did they exaust all of THEIR resources, from their illustrious board of directors or trustees, or whatever they call it to have a new print made if a good negative of that film even exists?

The point is, is that these films are OLD, and in all the years that I was going to revival houses when there were still alot of them in the city, you always ran into a bad print here and there. I remember seeing ‘Easy Rider’ at Theater 80-Saint Mark’s about 15 years ago and they screened the made for TV print! It was hilarious. Parts of the film were totally cut out including the part where Dennis Hopper flips off the truck drivers at the end. Snipped right out!

What more do you want? They just held over the classics series at the Ziegfeld and you have one of the people involved in management looking at this board, responding directly to us, and trying to accomodate our very specific film viewing needs. Cut ‘em some slack! I don’t think you need to pressure anybody about what has already happened addressed.

Re the quality of prints — specially My Fair Lady at the Ziegfeld: How come the Film Forum, a small — very small — independent non-profit cinema here in NYC can get new struck prints in scope and double projection 3D for their revivals and Clearview, a giant exhibitor, can’t? Any answers, Craig?

TO CRAIG O'CONNOR/CLEARVIEW CINEMAS:

So glad to hear the great news about extending the classics festival! It’s great to know that A) there will be more classic films and more reasons for me to go to The Ziegfeld, a place I really love and B) that Clearview and the management of the Ziegfeld have found this a worthwhile endeavor. Obviously the numbers are good and people are filling the seats. Contrary to popular opinion, there IS an audience for this type of entertainment that goes beyond film geeks like us here on Cinema Treasures. It just goes to show that if you present something and you do it with class you can’t lose. I hope the classics series continues well beyond March and we see this as a regular attraction at the Ziegfeld. Film revival is something that was always one of the great aspects with living in the New York City area. It has been gone for far too long and hopefully with this classics series we will be seeing it’s long overdue renaissance.

To clarify, the true Cinerama screen is gone from the Uptown. However, as I said, the Uptown offers the best possibility for Cinerama in the east coast. LA & Seattle venues are in daily moviehouses, which I doubt the Mayfair-Demille-Embassy 2-3-4 will become again. Cinerama is only presented for a few weeks at most in those W. Coast cities. The Uptown could put the screen back, open up the A & C booths again, bring back projectors & sound. No other daily moviehouse has the infrastructure of 3 booths.

The KB Cinema’s 35-70 mm projectors are at the Loew’s Jersey.

The Uptown still has the huge curved screen and has the potential of offering patrons a great cinematic experience and have done so with previous 70mm shows, but they don’t have regular projectionists. I was there this past summer and had a horrible experience watching the last Star Wars movie that was slightly off the screen with sound that was turned down, with little to no noticeable surround sound. The manager acknowledged that they did not have a FT projectionist and didn’t seem to care about it or know what to do to fix it. If I could speak Hindi, maybe I could’ve conveyed my sentiments a bit better ;)

The Ziegfeld’s digital projection and sound system was the best place to see it as far as I am concerned, but their screen is rather small. The ideal set up would be the Uptown’s wide screen and the Ziegfeld’s sound system. Just my 2c.

Craig, you’ve done a great job at Chelsea Classics and it looks like you’re a success here as well. Bravo!

Mr. O'Connor, that’s great news! I didn’t turn in my white card asking for more films, because I was going to think about it and turn in if I attend later.

I’d like to see the film MASH, having not seen it on the big screen.

And, whereas I’ve already seen the first three James Bond films from the early 1960’s, I would like to see the others from the 1960’s and early 1970’s.

And, like many others on this page, I am a fan of 70 mm and would especially like to see the restored Dr. Zhivago, and the restored Spartacus prints in 70 mm. I would consider seeing many other titles in 70 mm, and expect you will see more mentioned below.

THANK YOU for all your good work. I also want to say that the staff at the Ziegfeld is especially nice to customers.

Hey Saps,

No, MFL did NOT have any credits at the end.

Hello,

Thanks again for all the comments and suggestions about the series. I have some good news for you! Hollywood Classics is being extended for 3 weeks!

We in the process of lining up some good product (& good prints). I should have some of the programming information to share with you by tomorrow.

One title I can confirm at this time is “Lawrence of Arabia” presented in 70 mm beginning on March 24th.

Once again, thanks for supporting The Ziegfeld!

Craig O'Connor
Clearview Cinemas