Rivoli Theatre

Hello-

to Al A.– thanks for the correction as to the length of

      Half A Sixpence's roadshow run at the Criterion 
                      which was 11 weeks not 6. but even at 11 weeks 
                      doesn't that make it the shortest roadshow run 
                      in the seven houses I listed?
                

to vindanpar- the currently available Blu-ray disc of

           Cleopatra in terms of richness of the colors
                           and the crispness, clarity and sharpness of 
                           both the picture and the multi-channel 
                           tracks is he very definition of !WOW! when 
                           Taylor descends from the Sphinx her outfit
                           is bright shiny gold with a capital G. so
                           I have no idea what the quote you quoted
                           is talking about. 
                

Cleopatra’s original 1963 visual quality is what I enjoyed in 70mm in August 2018 at the Museum of Moving Image via the new print struck in 2006 by Fox. Real film, not digital pixels.

Is that a record for shortest roadshow run in NY? Poor Half a Sixpence. It’s a stunningly designed Edwardian musical. Visually gorgeous with some sensational Gillian Lynne numbers who went on to gain fame as the choreographer of Cats and Phantom. I guess Tommy Steele on film was a bit much but it does have the wonderful Julia Foster straight from Alfie.

By the way I have not seen the bluray of Cleo but I assume it is from the 50th anniversary restoration I saw which I thought magnificent as stated above. However there are those on threads on bluray.com who think it is a botched job with some of the colors poorly judged and a lost opportunity claiming the film will never be seen again in it’s original visual glory. This was very surprising to me.

One quote ‘Yup, totally agree. In the documentary they’re all set to film Cleopatra’s entrance into Rome when director of photography Leon Shamroy called a halt, the light wasn’t quite right, & what did they end up with on the Blu-ray? A scene that could have been shot on Scotland in the winter. The whole film is too cool, & the colours have been mucked about with, all the yellow has been taken out, all the gold bling the Cleopatra wears now looks like silver. I still have the Blu-ray, I don’t know why, I’ll never watch it again.’‘ I agree with what others have said, this needs to be re-color timed, but first it needs an 8K scan. I’ll be very surprised if any of that comes to be.’

As concerns Half a Sixpence the run might have been longer as it played at the Criterion for Easter so probably had at least a two month run as Easter was in mid April and the film opened in NY in mid February. If it closed before Easter that’s quite a disaster. I guess one has to look at Variety and the ads in the NY Times. I also believe Paramount was lying to Variety and inflating boxoffice figures at least 10k a week. Variety was not happy.

The film had a respectable road show run at the Astoria in London and was nowhere near the disaster there as it was here.

The history of the Rivoli as a roadshow house is a very confusing one in terms of screen size and reserved seat runs turning into continuous runs.

Dolly is probably another one that eventually showed a profit. Even Jerry Herman who did not like it when it opened came around to it. Streisand claims a lot of people tell her how much they like it at which she is incredulous. Why is she so surprised? She’s at her vocal best in terms of a movie musical. Cleopatra which I saw twice at its 50th anniversary restoration is wonderful. The flop status it was accorded at the time is totally unjust. If only the 6 hour director cut had survived. Those 4 hours flew by for me.

Al and Bigjoe… This is the page you might be thinking of.

“The Lion In Winter”, “A Funny Thing Happened…”, “Can-Can”, “How the West Was Won”, and “Mutiny on the Bounty” all ran under 44 weeks first run on Road Show. Define “successes”.

What roadshow runs were considered successes that didn’t run at least 44 weeks?

I think the only successful film that I know of was Patton which AAlvarez explained was Fox wanting to get into general release as soon as possible because of its publicity and controversy managing somehow in this socially confusing period to appeal to both the youth market and the aging conservative population.

It seems that all the films that bombed as a roadshow were not successful in general release either.

Hello-

to Al A. as always thanks for your font of knowledge when ‘ it comers to the roadshow policy. another question. I hope to find it again but a few years I came across a site that listed Manhattan’s roadshow engagements listed by length of run with the theater listed. now I saw The Greatest Story Ever Told twice during its roadshow run “in Cinerama” at the Warner. I enjoyed it regardless of the reputation the film has. now the list stated TGSET roadshow run at the Warner lasted 44 weeks. at the time the film was a big loss for UA since it cost to damn much for the dollar value of the day to turn a profit. but if it was a disappointment for UA why in God’s name did the Warner keep it for 44 weeks? some roadshow runs that were considered successes didn’t run 44 weeks.

It sounds like they didn’t have a house nut guarantee and simply broke the contract and waited to be sued. Under Walter Reade, when the Ziegfeld couldn’t get an extended house nut deal or a new film, they also closed. Most first run film contracts included a minimum number of showings per week.

bigjoe, there was usually an advance payment made by the theatre with a promise for a minimum run of x weeks. If the box office dropped below a certain point, the distributor guaranteed to keep paying the pre-agreed overhead costs (“house nut”) to stay on screen or the theatre could pull the film if the distributor did not want to keep paying. In Manhattan, even non-roadshow films were often handled this way. Many long runs at the Ziegfeld were subsidized by the distributor just to stay on screen long after they were profitable.

Hello-

one of my most pleasant experiences of seeing a film at this theater was the opening day 1st performance of A Bridge Too Far. aside from from enjoying the film and getting a nice free brochure guess who was outside the theater shaking hands and greeting people as they entered? none other than Joseph E. Levine himself.