Century has installed something they call XD, which I think stands for extreme digital, at this theater. It seems to be a mini Imax format.The screen is floor to ceiling and wall to wall, though the sound was not what you would experience in an Imax theater. I saw “Amelia”. Some of the scenes were in full screen, while other scenes almost looked letterboxed, with small black bars on the top and bottom of the screen.“The Dark Knight in Imax was like this also. Century is charging $14.00 a ticket for this cinematic experience. It is not available on all their nine screens.
I went to the Castro this week to see a double feature of Goodbye Mr.Chips, and Wuthering Heights. About halfway through Wuthering Heights, some people in the audience began laughing at the film in a mocking way.While waiting for the second feature, I formulated the following theory. At some point the people who were laughing had made an emotional connection with the film, but regarded themselves as too tragically hip to have that happen. So as a defense mechanism they mock.This happens fairly often at the Castro. It is especially bad during the annual Film Noir festival. You almost feel people are going to the movies to make fun of them. Comments anyone?
Just one correction to the story. Bill Graham Productions no longer exists. The people who will be working at the Fox are all former BGP employees, but I believe their company is called Another Planet. They plan on announcing a full concert schedule in Feb.
Wow. I have never met an author who doesn’t care if he sells any books.It was the whole linking to the ad for your book thing that threw me off. I am sorry if I offended you, and I look forward to your postings on Cinema Treasures.
Mr Fritscher… Are you planning on doing something nice for the people who run this sight? The reason I ask is that you seem to be using them to try and sell your book under the pretext of posting a picture of the Castro.
Luisv…couldn’t one of the criteria for what makes a theatre a treasure be how people feel about it? I have some wonderful memories of this place. For me this was one of my first experiences with foreign films and as such is important to me. Neighborhood houses deserve to be saved also, if only to provide an alternative to the multiplexes.
I went to the Castro twice this week. On Tuesday there was a 70mm showing of West Side Story. Towards the end of the movie, at a peak emotional moment, the film stops. It seems that one of the projectors had stripped a gear. With only one usable projector, they continued the showing, making reel changes on the one projector. A valiant effort by the Castro staff, but the wait between reel changes kind of ruined the showing for me. The manager was kind enough to give me a readmit ticket, which I used last night to see the restored prints of Godfathers 1 and 2. About 30 minutes into Godfather 2, there was a 4.0 earthquake. I have seen a bunch of strange things happen at this theatre. Like the double feature of 2 William Wellman films. Heroes For Sale was great, but they could not open the curtain,for the second feature, and had to cancel the showing of Wild Boys Of The Road. Or the showing of Vertigo where the sound went out halfway through the film. Or when I went to see Journey To The Center of the Earth and they could not get the masking adjusted for the film and had to cancel that showing. The Castro is a theatre with it’s own personality, and sometimes that personality can be a little cranky.
I just saw a dvd called Back to the Bronx, A View From the Stoop, about the Bronx in the fifties, and sixties. Many still pictres of old Bronx movie theaters are shown, and on the second disc there is a bonus feature on the University Ave.benches. This is basically someone’s old home movies, but you can see PS 82 and the Park Plaza in the background.The discs are available for rental through netflix.
There was a showing of The Poseidon Adventure at the Castro a few years back, which was the event I mentioned in the above post. So while it might not have played as first run, it has been there at least once as a revival.
Actually this showing was a special event featuring a Q & A session with Carol Lynley. Ms.Lynley stayed at the hotel where I work and could not have been nicer.
I worked at the Palladium as an usher in the balcony from around 1978 until Delsener closed the place down.As far as the Silkwood show I remember James Taylor was also on the bill. When he sang Mockingbird he bought out the then Mrs Taylor(Carly Simon) to sing with him. Sorry but I’m a little fuzzy on the date. I worked so many shows there, and while I remember the music the dates all run togeher.
If you go the beautful Castro theatre be sure and dress warm. It is freezing. It is not as bad as it was last year, when I attended a showing of In Cold Blood in 4 layers of clothes, but it is still really cold.
This theatre is also featured in an episode fom the 7th season of the TV series “Homicide, Life On The Street” On the show, a patron is found dead in the Senator.The investigation reveals that the murdered man was a regular at the theatre, who liked to yell back at the screen, telling how the movies end. (Rosebud was a sled. he had it when he was a kid) The theatre manager tries to sedate him into being quiet with barbituate flavored popcorn butter. When this doesn’t work, he ups the dosage, and the patron dies. Had this fictional theatre manager been tried by a jury of CT members I am sure he would have been acquitted.
Bryan; that picture is directly across the street from where the Embassy was located. I am not 100% sure, but I believe after it was the Newsreel theatre, it was the Trans-Lux.
Coming soon to a theatre near you….In a world where previews are as bad as the movies they advertise, a world where, if the movie is about women, at some point in the preview they will be shown dancing. One man stood up,and went to the bathroom to avoid all that mindless garbage. And when he returns the movie better be starting, or this time it’s personal.
Ed- this comes from someone who works at the Beacon. As far as the Allman Brothers, They have such a history with the Beacon that they will continue playing there. MSG took over the Beacon as of the first of January.
Since MSG is taking over, Ron Delsener’s concert productions will be moving uptown to a theatre near the George Washington bridge. Anyone know which theatre?
Only go the Empire if you are seeing a film in theater #1, the wheelchair accessible theater. At the two upstairs theaters you will be lokking at the screen on an angle
Century has installed something they call XD, which I think stands for extreme digital, at this theater. It seems to be a mini Imax format.The screen is floor to ceiling and wall to wall, though the sound was not what you would experience in an Imax theater. I saw “Amelia”. Some of the scenes were in full screen, while other scenes almost looked letterboxed, with small black bars on the top and bottom of the screen.“The Dark Knight in Imax was like this also. Century is charging $14.00 a ticket for this cinematic experience. It is not available on all their nine screens.
I went to the Castro this week to see a double feature of Goodbye Mr.Chips, and Wuthering Heights. About halfway through Wuthering Heights, some people in the audience began laughing at the film in a mocking way.While waiting for the second feature, I formulated the following theory. At some point the people who were laughing had made an emotional connection with the film, but regarded themselves as too tragically hip to have that happen. So as a defense mechanism they mock.This happens fairly often at the Castro. It is especially bad during the annual Film Noir festival. You almost feel people are going to the movies to make fun of them. Comments anyone?
Just one correction to the story. Bill Graham Productions no longer exists. The people who will be working at the Fox are all former BGP employees, but I believe their company is called Another Planet. They plan on announcing a full concert schedule in Feb.
Wow. I have never met an author who doesn’t care if he sells any books.It was the whole linking to the ad for your book thing that threw me off. I am sorry if I offended you, and I look forward to your postings on Cinema Treasures.
Mr Fritscher… Are you planning on doing something nice for the people who run this sight? The reason I ask is that you seem to be using them to try and sell your book under the pretext of posting a picture of the Castro.
Luisv…couldn’t one of the criteria for what makes a theatre a treasure be how people feel about it? I have some wonderful memories of this place. For me this was one of my first experiences with foreign films and as such is important to me. Neighborhood houses deserve to be saved also, if only to provide an alternative to the multiplexes.
They were both 35mm prints.
I went to the Castro twice this week. On Tuesday there was a 70mm showing of West Side Story. Towards the end of the movie, at a peak emotional moment, the film stops. It seems that one of the projectors had stripped a gear. With only one usable projector, they continued the showing, making reel changes on the one projector. A valiant effort by the Castro staff, but the wait between reel changes kind of ruined the showing for me. The manager was kind enough to give me a readmit ticket, which I used last night to see the restored prints of Godfathers 1 and 2. About 30 minutes into Godfather 2, there was a 4.0 earthquake. I have seen a bunch of strange things happen at this theatre. Like the double feature of 2 William Wellman films. Heroes For Sale was great, but they could not open the curtain,for the second feature, and had to cancel the showing of Wild Boys Of The Road. Or the showing of Vertigo where the sound went out halfway through the film. Or when I went to see Journey To The Center of the Earth and they could not get the masking adjusted for the film and had to cancel that showing. The Castro is a theatre with it’s own personality, and sometimes that personality can be a little cranky.
Slight correction to my previous post, the title of the DVD is A View From The Stoop, A Bronx Retrospective.
I just saw a dvd called Back to the Bronx, A View From the Stoop, about the Bronx in the fifties, and sixties. Many still pictres of old Bronx movie theaters are shown, and on the second disc there is a bonus feature on the University Ave.benches. This is basically someone’s old home movies, but you can see PS 82 and the Park Plaza in the background.The discs are available for rental through netflix.
Any one know if the theatre is near a BART station, or any public transit from San Francisco?
There was a showing of The Poseidon Adventure at the Castro a few years back, which was the event I mentioned in the above post. So while it might not have played as first run, it has been there at least once as a revival.
Actually this showing was a special event featuring a Q & A session with Carol Lynley. Ms.Lynley stayed at the hotel where I work and could not have been nicer.
I worked at the Palladium as an usher in the balcony from around 1978 until Delsener closed the place down.As far as the Silkwood show I remember James Taylor was also on the bill. When he sang Mockingbird he bought out the then Mrs Taylor(Carly Simon) to sing with him. Sorry but I’m a little fuzzy on the date. I worked so many shows there, and while I remember the music the dates all run togeher.
If you go the beautful Castro theatre be sure and dress warm. It is freezing. It is not as bad as it was last year, when I attended a showing of In Cold Blood in 4 layers of clothes, but it is still really cold.
here is a link with more info http://www.sfntf.org/images/vogueflyer.pdf
After it closed as a movie theatre, The Grateful Dead used the Potrero as a rehearsal hall. Circa 1968.
This theatre is also featured in an episode fom the 7th season of the TV series “Homicide, Life On The Street” On the show, a patron is found dead in the Senator.The investigation reveals that the murdered man was a regular at the theatre, who liked to yell back at the screen, telling how the movies end. (Rosebud was a sled. he had it when he was a kid) The theatre manager tries to sedate him into being quiet with barbituate flavored popcorn butter. When this doesn’t work, he ups the dosage, and the patron dies. Had this fictional theatre manager been tried by a jury of CT members I am sure he would have been acquitted.
Bryan; that picture is directly across the street from where the Embassy was located. I am not 100% sure, but I believe after it was the Newsreel theatre, it was the Trans-Lux.
Coming soon to a theatre near you….In a world where previews are as bad as the movies they advertise, a world where, if the movie is about women, at some point in the preview they will be shown dancing. One man stood up,and went to the bathroom to avoid all that mindless garbage. And when he returns the movie better be starting, or this time it’s personal.
Ed- this comes from someone who works at the Beacon. As far as the Allman Brothers, They have such a history with the Beacon that they will continue playing there. MSG took over the Beacon as of the first of January.
Now that the people at MSG have taken over the Beacon Theatre, Ron Delsener productions will be producing rock shows here.
Since MSG is taking over, Ron Delsener’s concert productions will be moving uptown to a theatre near the George Washington bridge. Anyone know which theatre?
make that looking at the screen.
Only go the Empire if you are seeing a film in theater #1, the wheelchair accessible theater. At the two upstairs theaters you will be lokking at the screen on an angle