Cinema Odeon
2-20 Rua dos Condes,
Lisbon
1150
2-20 Rua dos Condes,
Lisbon
1150
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Cinema Odeon (1927) was closed and put to sale some years ago. Its opening exibition: “The Merry Widow” by Erich von Stroheim. The Odeon is Lisbon’s last movie theatre from that glorious period. It has marvelous details: stage sculptures, Brazilian wood ceiling, balconies (two, and a suspending one), metallic facade, opening ceiling, ceiling lamp, etc.
During almost 70 years people went there to watch pictures from Capra, Browning, Lang, Hitchcock, Eisenstein, Boetticher, Ford, Whale, Leone, etc. There is the possibility of demolition, in spite of the existence of a group of people fighting for his preservation, as declared in the site above mentioned. We all hope that Lisbon’s mayor will stand for it!
Contributed by
Paulo Ferrero
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Recent comments (view all 8 comments)
Any news of the Tivoli, Cineart and other long lost Lisbon theatres? My mother who was born there tells me stories of the old Lisbon Theatres. Any books on the subject?
There is a book by the Cinemateca Portugesa I believe, as someone told me. I was in Lisbon last week, and I there was a man behind a desk on the phone in the back of the Tivoli. The poster frames were empty but websites show that it still shows movies every once in a while.
The Odeon is also still there, behind the Condes theatre (now a Hard Rock Café), across from the Olympia Theatre. You can still take a peek into the box office which hasn’t been used for years.
While some old Cinema’s are now used for live theatre, others are just sitting there. The Eden has been converted into a hotel for a while, but the original lobby and entrance is unused and gathering dust, as many other theaters I saw in Lisbon and Porto.
There is a well illustrated book (with Portugese text) “Cinemas De Portugal” by Jose Manuel Fernandes. Published in 1995 by Edicoes Inapa ISBN 972-9019-78-9
Hello, there. Sorry for the delay. Replying to Orlando’s question let me say that Tivoli is still there, but only perfoming as a theatre stage … mainly with plays from Brazilian actors and so. Cinearte is also a theatre, now with 2 halls in stead of 1, and is homing a theatre company named “A Barraca” (http://abarraca.planetaclix.pt/). Condes is now a Hard Rock Cafe, completely destroyed as its interior is concerning. As well as Eden, perhaps our “former-best”. Monumental, our biggest, was destroyed and is now a building. Império is now a church (?), homing “IURD” (www.igrejauniversal.org.br). São Jorge, once Lisbon’s high-class movie theatre, is stil there, but with 3 rooms, in stead of 1, and whithout organ intermission. Politeama is now performing just music-hall. Paris, is closed and falling a pieces, waiting for some project from the Mayor. And the rest is silence. In what concerns Odeon, my project (Novo Odéon) is shot down, due to I’m waiting for 3 years, for a reply from the Mayor’s office, and to be menace by Odéon’s owners for judicial losts and damnages prossecution. Odéon is quite a piece but I’m almost alone in this, so…
To KenRoe… thank you for the information on “Cinemas De Portugal”. I have a copy on order (it’s coming from Portugal). However, in the meantime, I asked my library to see if there was a copy in the area. After three weeks, I was giving up on it when the library called to tell me it had arrived from the Library Of Congress in Washington, D.C. (apparently the only copy in the country). It was wonderful to see and sad at the same time. Every country has its' faded movie palace story. The book is in Portuguese and I was unhampered by that since I speak and read it well.
To Pauliano… Thank you for your insights, I plan a trip to Portugal some time next year, my first since 1958 when I was two. My efforts here in the states to save a local 1949 moviehouse are also very stressing at times but its' doom is impending. When I get Portugal, I would be good to have someone who is familiar with the structures to guide me around. My mother, now 80 is unable to make an overseas trip anymore and show me around. A trip planned for this past May had to be cancelled due to illness.
Hope to hear from the both of you…..Orlando
Orlando, sorry for the delay, but I’ve been away again. I will be very glad to help you getting around here, in Lisbon, helping you in anything at all. In case you need some assistance, don’t hesitate to contact me to my e-mail address:
An exterior view of the closed Cinema Odeon here:
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July 2008 views here:
exterior – in very poor rusting condition with shards of broken glass hanging out of the frames
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close up of the crumbling facade
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ghostly abandonded lobby
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corner with rusting neon signage
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in close up
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