Concorde I.II

Lionel on December 20, 2024 at 1:47 am

Concorde 1 was accessed from its back and was located on ground floor. Carpeting, seats and screen curtains were beige/amber. Before entering Concorde 1, a staircase on the right led to Concorde 2 which was located on top of Concorde 1. In Concorde 2, carpeting and seats were blue while the screen had white curtains. The Concorde wasn’t a bad place but had a cold feeling.

Films played at the Concorde were always diverse but focused on author films most of the time. Films I saw at the Concorde 1: Pete’s Dragon, a re-run of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes back in 1983, The Purple Rose of Cairo, a premiere screening of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Cannonball Run II, a one-off screening of A Clockwork Orange, My Father’s Glory and its sequel My Mother’s Castle, and The Player from Altman. At the Concorde 2: a re-run of Jaws, a re-run of 2001 A Space Odyssey and Mississipi Burning.

Sound was improved in the late 1980s by replacing the walls material with something more absorptive to damp sound reverberation and by installing Dolby Stereo when the Group Claeys renovated the Palace at the same time. From its opening in 1973 to its renovation, each screen only had mono sound and a pair of Cinemeccanica projectors with large spools operating in automatic change-over mode. On each projector, a lens turret was equipped to show the 1.66 and scope formats. During the renovation, one of the projector for each screen was removed and Kinoton ST200 platters were installed.

For the sound, a Dolby CP55 processor was installed along with 3 JBL two-channel amplifiers (model 6260) and JBL loudspeakers: 3 full-range speakers (model 4673) behind the screen and 4 surround speakers (model 8330) on each side wall (8 in total). One JBL subwoofer was also visible under the screen. Due to the lack of depth behind the screen, this model (a model usually not used in cinemas) was protruding on the “stage” and prevented the side masking and curtains from being closed, hence no longer used from then on unfortunately.

The senior projectionist was Claude C., a nice chap and a true film fan though a bit unkept, often seen in the foyer chatting with the usherette, wearing charentaises slippers, unshaven and smoking cigars.