Comments from pierre27

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pierre27
pierre27 commented about Tai Po Theatre on Feb 2, 2016 at 9:48 pm

re ‘It re-opened after the war, and showed selected films until its closure in 1957 or 1958.’ This is not the case. The Tai Po couldn’t have closed in 1957, or even 1958 for that matter. I can remember going to watch movies in both the Golden Palace and Tai Po Cinemas on the same day. Since the Golden Palace was only opened in 1957, the Tai Po Cinema couldn’t have closed in 1957, or even 1958. Some days I remember seeing 4 different movies in one day (maybe during my school holidays). I remember one cinema had a different morning movie (早場), and the other cinema had an ‘after work movie’ (工餘場), which was different to the main feature. The other fact I know is that the Tai Po cinema was only knocked down around 1963 or 64 to make way for a block of flats called the Moon House. This is because the property developer was a family relation of ours.

pierre27
pierre27 commented about Golden Palace Theatre on Jan 20, 2014 at 12:44 pm

The location of this cinema was on the intersection of KwongFuk Road and On Fu Road. The picture link from Google maps seems to show Wan Tau Street which is about 300 yards further to the south.

pierre27
pierre27 commented about Ritz Theatre on May 29, 2011 at 11:25 am

Ritz was on the junction of Nathan Road and Shantung Street (山東街)

pierre27
pierre27 commented about Broadway Theatre on Feb 24, 2010 at 11:54 am

Picture of the Broadway showing The Magnificent Seven (1960)
http://gwulo.com/node/1310

pierre27
pierre27 commented about Star Theatre on Sep 11, 2009 at 5:36 pm

Does anyone know the theatre’s name in Cantonese?
I remember seeing Trapeze there (Burt Lancaster/Tony Curtis/Gina Lollobrigida)
Picture of the Star theatre:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/old-hk/3007315707/

pierre27
pierre27 commented about Tai Po Theatre on Sep 9, 2009 at 5:28 pm

The larger building on the bottom left was the Tai Po Cinema, seen from the side and back.
View link

pierre27
pierre27 commented about Tai Po Theatre on Sep 9, 2009 at 4:00 pm

Yes I do. The site of the theatre was at the corner of Sui On Street and Hey Yuen Street (Hey Yuen = Cantonese for theatre)
The site is now a block of apartments named Moon House. The property developers were actually family relations and I remember it was built around 1964. The year when I left Hong Kong.
Google maps: <http://maps.google.es/maps?hl=es&ie=UTF8&ll=22.448597,114.163755&spn=0.002231,0.004801&t=h&z=18>

I can also remember something extremely unusual about this theatre.
In front of the screen on the right corner, not far from the front row, was a well!! This could be the only theatre in the whole world with a watering hole inside it. When we were kids we used to wander inside when the cinema was empty during the day and look around or play about. There were no gates or locked doors to stop people going in. One day we lifted the concrete lid and found that it was a well. I think we only found that out when we dropped a small stone into it and heard the sound of water (it was quite dark inside the cinema even during the day). Talk about health and safety! But then we are talking about a small market town in 1950’s rural area of Hong Kong, the New Territories.

pierre27
pierre27 commented about Majestic Theatre on Aug 27, 2009 at 10:42 pm

There is a photo of the Majestic in Flickr:
View link

pierre27
pierre27 commented about Royal Theatre on Aug 26, 2009 at 7:33 pm

Photo of the Royal:
View link

pierre27
pierre27 commented about Princess Theatre on Aug 26, 2009 at 6:28 pm

The theatre from a different angle:
View link

pierre27
pierre27 commented about Liberty Theatre on Aug 26, 2009 at 6:23 pm

Photo of the Liberty theatre in Flickr:
View link

pierre27
pierre27 commented about Great World Theatre on Aug 26, 2009 at 5:46 pm

There is a photo of the theatre in Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/old-hk/3807952536/

pierre27
pierre27 commented about Princess Theatre on Aug 26, 2009 at 4:11 pm

I remember going there to see Hitchcock’s Psycho. The hype then was that nobody would be admitted into the theatre after the film starts.
Didn’t know what the fuss was all about, and a bit disappointed to see a black and white film when 99% of the new releases were in colour.
There is an old picture of the theatre in Flickr:
View link

pierre27
pierre27 commented about Tai Po Theatre on Aug 26, 2009 at 2:10 pm

Now I remember how my youth was spent. There were no television in the early to mid-fifties. I was seeing up to 4 different English speaking talkies a day (2 cinemas in Taipo with 2 main feature films and also each with an “afternoon leisure film show”. The earliest subtitles (interpreted from English) were hand written and projected by slides onto a small space on the side of the main screen! So you had to flip from one to the other just to get a gist of what was happening with the plot! I remember seeing Disney’s Pinocchio there.

pierre27
pierre27 commented about Gaumont Norwich on Aug 26, 2009 at 1:15 pm

I was working in an office nearby and I remember getting free tickets to see Vanishing Point (Barry Newman). How prophetic it turned out!

pierre27
pierre27 commented about Alhambra Theatre on Aug 26, 2009 at 10:57 am

There is an old photo of the theatre in Flickr:
View link

pierre27
pierre27 commented about Ritz Theatre on Aug 25, 2009 at 5:45 pm

There is an old photo of the Ritz theatre in Gwulo Hong Kong (meaning antiquated Hong Kong) web site:
http://gwulo.com/node/1219

pierre27
pierre27 commented about Golden Palace Theatre on Aug 24, 2009 at 8:42 am

The first film shown on the opening day was “Alexander the Great” (MGM 1956) starring Richard Burton and Claire Bloom.