Author: Eric Veillette

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Classics From The Vault presents Joan Crawford in “Rain”

Eric Veillette

by Eric Veillette In its continuing efforts to offer specialty programming, Toronto’s Revue Cinema, NOW Magazine’s favourite rep cinema, presents Classics From The Vault, a new series featuring little-seen classics from the 1930s and 1940s. Screening Wednesday, Nov. 18 (7 p.m.) is director Lewis Milestone’s Rain (1932). Set in the South Pacific, it features rising star Joan Crawford as Sadie Thompson, a tough-talking, hard-drinking prostitute who spells certain destruction for a missionary (Walter Huston) seeking to redeem her soul. This was the second film adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham’s short story, the first being Sadie Thompson (1928), a silent starring … Continue reading Classics From The Vault presents Joan Crawford in “Rain”

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Creepy Classics presents The Bride of Frankenstein

Eric Veillette

The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) Directed by James Whale Written by William Hurlbut from Mary Shelley’s novel Starring Boris Karloff, Elsa Lanchester, Colin Clive, Ernest Thesiger PG | 35mm | 75min. Autumn signals the arrival of chilly weather, falling leaves, early sunsets and the best holiday of them all: Halloween. Deep in its secret laboratory underneath the streets of Roncesvalles Ave., The Revue has concocted a lineup of spine-tingling films to celebrate the Halloween season. On October 29, Creepy Classics, which launched last year at Cine-Cycle, moves to its new home at the Revue Cinema. By celebrating the spirit of showmanship, admission grants you access to much more than a … Continue reading Creepy Classics presents The Bride of Frankenstein

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Murders in the Rue Morgue

Eric Veillette

by Eric Veillette Since tomorrow is the first day of the Rue Morgue Festival of Fear, I thought it’d be fitting to share this ad featuring the premiere of Universal’s Murders in the Rue Morgue, starring Bela Lugosi. The film opened on Friday, March 18, 1932 at the Tivoli, which was then owned by Famous Players Canada. It was also host to many early Universal horror films, beginning with Dracula in April, 1931, followed by Frankenstein, The Mummy and The Invisible Man . A real bevy of classic films were playing in Toronto that week. At the Oakwood, you could … Continue reading Murders in the Rue Morgue

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Elvis invades Toronto!

Eric Veillette

Elvis Aaron Presley died thirty-two years ago today. Since this site bears his name-sake, it’s about time I pay a proper tribute to the King. More often than not, I have to explain how this site has nothing to do with Elvis Presley. The title is a carry-over from an old ‘zine I used to print about a decade ago which catered to my obssessions with ’50s Rock’n’Roll and classic Universal and Hammer horror films.  I saw it as the bastard child of Mojo and Famous Monsters of Filmland. The title came to me after reading a biography on David … Continue reading Elvis invades Toronto!

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The Danforth Music Hall Turns 90!

Eric Veillette

by Eric Veillette In today’s Saturday Star, I write about the Danforth Music Hall’s upcoming 90th anniversary. On Tuesday, August 18, Heritage Toronto and the Riverdale Historical Society will be celebrating this milestone by unveiling a plaque in its honour. By recreating the events from nearly a century ago, the evening will also feature a silent film, Dollars and Sense, with live accompaniment. The Music Hall, originally known as Allen’s Danforth, remains one of the best examples of this former theatre empire. Other Toronto Allen survivors are the Bloor and Parkdale. The former – a popular midtown cinema until the … Continue reading The Danforth Music Hall Turns 90!

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Lecture on Toronto Theatres at the Revue Cinema

Eric Veillette

Above image from January 1929 shows Yonge St. facing north from Queen St. On the bill at the Loews Yonge St. is a Buster Keaton film, probably Steamboat Bill. Source: Toronto Transit Commission. Ten-cent admission, newsreels, adventure serials and slapstick. That’s what you would find if you could return to the early days of movie-going. As this site, dedicated to preserving the stories of our varied theatres, nears its first anniversary, I am partnering with Toronto’s Revue Cinema on a new lecture series chronicling the history of local movie theatres. On August 22, the first lecture, “Toronto Movie Theatres: Palaces … Continue reading Lecture on Toronto Theatres at the Revue Cinema

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Dracula Triple-Bill at the Elgin!

Eric Veillette

I present a fang-tastic ad for a Hammer Dracula triple-bill. Back before you could see Cats or some other Broadway schmaltz at the Elgin, some lucky film-goers spent an afternoon in September of 1978 watching Taste the Blood of Dracula, Dracula Has Risen From the Grave and Dracula A.D. 1972. If Hammer wasn’t your thing (really?), there were plenty of other sights and sounds to take in that weekend:  Nazi zombie flick Shock Waves opened at the Imperial Six: kids could see The Cat from Outer Space at the Bayview Village Cinema (“Children $1.50 Anytime,” says the ad): Omen II … Continue reading Dracula Triple-Bill at the Elgin!

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Mae West at the Cinematheque Ontario

Eric Veillette

“This picture will not amuse or interest children,” reads a March 10, 1933 ad for She Done Him Wrong. The Toronto Star‘s disclaimer was rather tame compared to the cries of indecency coming from various Catholic groups around the U.S. It’s often been said this film led to the formation of the Catholic Legion of Decency and the subsquent enforcement of the Production Code, whereby Hollywood would endure three decades of censorship. Tonight, the Cinematheque Ontario is showing She Done Him Wrong as part of “Under the Spell: Surrealism and the Cinema”. Rather than being eight screenings of Un Chien … Continue reading Mae West at the Cinematheque Ontario

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Talkies the Talk of Toronto!

Eric Veillette

by Eric Veillette Eighty years ago, on Dec. 28, 1928, the talkies came to Toronto. Despite the freezing weather that winter evening, over a thousand movie-goers ventured out to the Tivoli, located at the intersection of Richmond  and Victoria Sts. to see a midnight preview of The Terror, a haunted-house whodunit. This was more than a year after a New York City audience watched and listened as Al Jolson got down on one knee and sang “My Mammy” during The Jazz Singer premiere on Oct. 6, 1927 at the Warner Bros. Theatre.  Contrary to popular belief, that wildly successful “photo-dramatic … Continue reading Talkies the Talk of Toronto!