Everyman Esher
High Street,
Esher,
KT10 9RT
High Street,
Esher,
KT10 9RT
2 people
favorited this theater
Showing 7 comments
A slight correction, the opening film in 1937 was ‘Wings of the Morning’ staring Anabella, Henry Fonda and Leslie Banks.
The Embassy cinema was part of my childhood, as we lived in Oxshott. I saw my first film there in 1950 – I was 6, the film was Ivanhoe. During the next 7 or 8 years we went at least once a month by bus and saw so many great films – big musicals (Oklahoma, Carousel, 7 Brides for 7 Brothers,High Society, Gigi) Danny Kaye (Hans Andersen, The Court Jester)Richard Todd (Robin Hood – we had to queue for that one,in 1952- Yangtse Incident, The Dam Busters)– English classics (Pickwick Papers, Julius Caesar, Hobson’s Choice, A Tale of Two Cities) – gritty dramas (The Colditz Story, Dunkirk, Carve Her Name with Pride, Bridge on the River Kwai,Reach for the Sky, Ice Cold in Alex, The Nun’s Story) and many more. My idols were Richard Todd, Kenneth More and Dirk Bogarde. There were always two full-length feature films, the second being in black and white, usually a Western or thriller, plus a Pathe newsreel, also black and white, and lots of trailers for forthcoming films. Our bus times usually meant we arrived halfway through the second feature, but the programme ran continuously so we just sat there until we got to the bit where we came in! Don’t let anyone tell you that we were starved of entertainment in the 1950s – it’s not true.
Very nice it looks too! Even red screen tabs to complement the lovely decor and seating. Everyman did the people of Esher a great favour by rescuing this theatre from Odeon………..
New pictures showing the refurbished Screen 1 now uploaded!
My schoolfriend and I, both 15, spent a sunny afternoon at Esher cinema in summer 1993 watching Cliffhanger. It was in screen 1 (prior to its division) and my friend and I were the only two in the huge auditorium!
Oh it really was rather wonderful. I remember the staircases and foyer adorned with gorgeous framed tinted pictures of Troy Donahue, Annette Funicello and our very own Hayley Mills. And there was a Boots lending library right opposite which survived long into the era of the free public ones.
The Embassy closed for a few days in the mid 1970’s to enable ‘Sensurround Sound’ to be installed. It re-opened with ‘Earthquake’, which I was lucky enough to see on opening day. This also represented an early instance of ‘separate performances’ in an out-of-town venue. Following all the hype, I well remember queueing outside, as well as feeling the rumble through all the closed doors, with a certain amount of trepidation. Don’t forget that, at this time, sound quality often wasn’t great, and the employment of subwoofers in local cinemas was unheard of.
The extreme LF content of the soundtrack was certainly impressive as a part of THIS movie’s experience, as it was for ‘Battle of Midway’ – for obvious reasons. ‘Rollercoaster’ also employed a sensurround track, but this wasn’t so effective. Also, by the time that movie was released, ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Close Encounters’ were on the scene, and audio quality in local screens was improving rapidly.