A new documentary celebrates the world’s most unstoppable horror host — Count Gore de Vol. Horror hosts were nothing new to the television airwaves of the 1970s. Since the early 1950s, with the likes of Vampira and Zacherley, and into … Continue reading King of the Cardboard Castle
In case you missed it, I wrote about the history of film censorship in Ontario for the Toronto Star last weekend. I was surprised to learn from a few friends who didn’t know we still had censors (nowadays known as the Ontario Film Review Board), but the truth is that Ontario has had constant film censorship, certification, review — whatever you want to call it — for nearly a century. I originally set out to contrast the puritanical outlook on film exhibition from the board’s inception in 1911 to its latter days in the 1980s with today’s “hands-off” approach, but … Continue reading Ontario Film Censorship: Then & Now
Classics From The Vault, our new series aimed at rarely-screened Hollywood fare, returns to the Fox Theatre on Tues, Aug. 24 at 7PM with a look at the musical. Top Hat (1935) Directed by Mark Sandrich Starring Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers Music by Irving Berlin In Top Hat (1935), Jerry (Fred Astaire) falls hopelessly in love with Dale (Ginger Rogers) and pursues her all over London while rehearsing for a new show opening in the west end. Part screwball, part romance, Top Hat features celebrated Irving Berlin tunes like “No Strings,” “Cheek to Cheek,” and “Top Hat, Coat & Tails.” … Continue reading Classics From The Vault presents TOP HAT
Since that gang of upstarts at the Toronto Underground Cinema are showing Death Wish III as part of their Seven Deadly Sins Film Festival tonight, I thought I’d share one of my favourite photos from the Silent Toronto archives. The Rio, no stranger to this site (here and here), in late 1987, three or four years before it flickered out altogether, showing Death Wish IV, The Lost Boys, Robocop and No Man’s Land. Admission, $4. Oh, Yonge St., where art thou? Continue reading Death Wish IV at the Rio, 1987
On Thursday, July 29, 7PM, my new screening series at the Fox Theatre continues with one of my favourite films from Hollywood’s Pre-Code era, Howard Hawks’ Scarface (1932). Considered one of the greatest early gangster films, Paul Muni’s performance in Scarface ranks alongside James Cagney in The Public Enemy and Edward G. Robinson in Little Caesar, and would influence the genre for generations to come, from The Godfather to The Sopranos. Scarface chronicles Tony Camonte’s rise through the grisly, realistic underworld of the ’30s sound film, when the riccochet of bullets, wiseguy banter and tough-talkin’ dames could finally be heard. … Continue reading Classics From The Vault presents Scarface (1932)
Those ’50s biblical epics keep popping up on this site. Last weekend, while rummaging through letters and postcards in a Southern Ontario flea market, I found a pile of ticket stubs, mostly from the 1970s, but among them was a reserved-seating ticket to Cecil B. De Mille’s The Ten Commandments (1956), at Hamilton’s Century Theatre. Interesting timing, really, because the Century was demolished in January, 2010. The Century was originally named the Lyric and opened as a Vaudeville house in 1913. It was purchased by the Keith-Albee circuit the following year and operated as a cinema until 1989. Its final … Continue reading Century Theatre, Hamilton
“Always cool and comfortable,” claims this ad for the Pantages Theatre in July, 1928, and on this ridiculously hot night (it’s a staggering 86F in Toronto), sitting in a cool movie theatre sounds like a great idea. As we recently examined, air conditioning was an early attraction in both movie palaces and neighbourhood theatres, and both its advertising and marquees often capitalized on the public’s desire to chill out. Lady Be Good, based on the musical by George and Ira Gershwin, was directed by Richard Wallace, who spent years directing comedy shorts under Mack Sennett and Hal Roach. Although the … Continue reading Always Cool and Comfortable at the Pantages
by Gerry Flahive I was a teenage usher. I don’t think anyone is going to make a feature film, a la FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, based on my early 1970’s adventures at the somewhat-forgotten, and largely-underrated palace of guilty pleasures, Yonge Street’s Imperial Six. But if they did, it probably would be called USHERETTES GALORE, or EXTREME USHER, or even MATINEE IDLE. And it would be the kind of movie that probably would have played at the Imperial Six. The kind of movie that wouldn’t even get made for the straight-to-video market today. On Friday, June 29, 1973, at … Continue reading Extreme Usher: The Imperial Six
Come out to the Revue Cinema on Roncesvalles on Wednesday night for a glimpse at some of Toronto’s rarely-seen visual heritage with Early Cinema Screenings, presented by the Domitor Association. I’ve been attending the 11th Domitor Conference on the study of early cinema this week, and needless to say, I’ve become a giant sponge, taking in all the information from the lectures delivered by worldwide academics, some whose work I’d admired for a long time, and some whose work I will now follow. The title to this year’s conference is Beyond The Screen: Institutions Networks and Public of Early Cinema. … Continue reading Early Toronto Newsreels at the Revue
Smash, an architectural salvage and curiosities shop in the Junction on Dundas St. W, recently unearthed the containers which once housed several prints of Nicholas Ray’s King of Kings (which I haven’t seen since I was a kid, but holy mackerel — Rip Torn played Judas?). Who knows what happened to the film, but they also have some flashy but heavy 70mm reels — not exactly the easiest thing to find nowadays — which could make a cool wall decoration if you’re into that kinda thing. The card leaning on one of the containers is a visa declaration for an … Continue reading King of Kings at Smash
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