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I can't really answer your question fully but we had at least one Classic in Liverpool in the 70's as well so it was a national chain. It was just known as The Classic but later became an Odeon.
I have two questions:
1. In the 1950's there was a chain of movie theatres in London, whose name included the word "classic", such as "Classic Movie Theatres". What in fact was the name of the chain?
2. During that period I saw a version of the movie "Sissi" in German, with English subtitles, which I believe was shown in one of those theatres. There are a lot of differences between that version, and the one that is now available on DVD. For example, in that version Sissi and Franz Joseph meet several times over a number of days before the ball (in contrast the meetings in the �current� version occur within a single day). Is there anyone out there who happened to see the first version and can confirm its existence?
I would be grateful for any information about either of these questions.
Fledermaus
I can't really answer your question fully but we had at least one Classic in Liverpool in the 70's as well so it was a national chain. It was just known as The Classic but later became an Odeon.
Classic Cinemas Limited ran several Classic cinemas in London. I frequented the ones in Chelsea and Kilburn in the early 60s. I believe they began in the 30's.
D.
Many wonderful memories of The Classic Hendon. The beauty of The Classics was that the films they used to show were generally not being shown at your local Gaumont, Odeon etc that week. Early memories include a wonderful double bill of The Quatermass Xperiment and X the Unknown. They also used to show "Fernandel" films quite regularly. Cant tell you any more about the history of the chain although i have a friend who may be able to help when I can get in touch with him.
Classic Chelsea here in the early 1960's. Very swinging photograph!Originally Posted by dylan
ClassicChelsea1.jpg
The Sissi films aren't very well known here - I doubt there was a huge market for German language films in Britain the 1950s. I can't find any reviews of them from the 1950s though no doubt some of our cinema listings experts can help. There was a compilation of the three shown here in c1962 (which wasn't terribly well reviewed) but it was dubbed I think.
The BFI website BFI | Film & TV Database | SISSI (1955) lists Sissi as running 116 minutes but IMDb has it at 102 minutes. Perhaps over here we got an extra 14 minutes of Romy Schneider? Never a bad thing...
You do know she was only sixteen
Yes, she probably wasn't a really first class actress until a few years laterYou do know she was only sixteen
Thanks Marioki, Dylan, Cassidy, Rick C., Dremble Wedge, and Captain Waggett for your interesting replies. I certainly agree that the Classic Cinemas were a valuable resource. Any help from the cinema listing experts that Captain Waggett refers to would be appreciated. As I recall, all the movies showing in London were listed in "What's On in London". Is there anyway to obtain access to ancient copies of this magazine? The period of interest is 1956-1961. Were there other publications that also listed the London movies?
The version of "Sissi" that I saw in London covered the same period, but was not identical to what is now referred to as Sissi 1. I mentioned one of the differences in the initial posting. Here are a few others: (a) Early in the (London) movie, Sissi is made out to be something of a tomboy, e.g. willing, at need, to climb up a tree! (b) Courtiers at the ball express concern as to whether Franz Joseph will get to the ball in time, as he has been scouring the countryside searching for the young woman that Sissi had pretended to be. (c) At the ball the Arch-Duchess Sophie makes it clear that, while close relatives and friends can advise and argue with Franz Joseph, when he speaks as emperor, they (including herself) must obey. (d) The engagement between Sissi and Franz Joseph is announced at the ball (without the flower scene of the current version). The camera then focuses on Sissi, revealing her utter amazement.
Last edited by Fledermaus; 04-07-11 at 11:47 AM.
Ah the "What's on in London". That used to be my bible every weekend as I carted all over London finding Sunday one night only specials. It certainly had the best list of cinema choices.It also pointed me in the direction of "The Gaisford" Kentish Town where I first saw "Grip of the Strangler" with Boris Karloff. In those days the London evening papers also used to give you a pretty full guide to the cinemas all over London, but What's on in London went into more detail as I remember. Thanks for the memory.
Last edited by Steve Crook; 04-07-11 at 11:26 PM.
The 'Whats On in London" was ideal for the independent/discerning chain of cinemas, having block advertisements as well as lineage for each one
WhatsOn1.jpg WhatsOn2.jpg
This became coupled for a few years in the 1970's with an A5 handbook called 'Films in London' which (I understand) was to run alongside the then 'Films Illustrated' but just in the London area. Unfortunately I only have a handful of these from the 1970's. But a new thread "Anyone Collect Whats On in London?" might get some results.
Alternatively 'Films and Filming' was the other journal with comprehensive listings but (due to advertising expense) the listings were nearly always only done by film title or category such as 'late night'.
I have/have access to (almost) every copy of 'Films and Filming' going back to its inception in the early 1950's but due to extensive rebuilding work at my local University where my collections are stored (with the exception of certain project issues) they are going to be locked away for about three months.
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