A news cinema or newsreel theatre is a cinema specialising in short films, shown in a continuous manner. However, despite its name, a news cinema does not necessarily show only cinematographical news. [1]
A news cinema or newsreel theatre is a cinema specialising in short films, shown in a continuous manner. However, despite its name, a news cinema does not necessarily show only cinematographical news. [1]
The first official news cinema, The Daily Bioscope, opened in London on 23 May 1909. [2] In the United States, however, the apparition of a dedicated news cinema came much later, the first being the Embassy Theatre on Broadway, New York City, which opened in 1925 as a first-run theater before Loew's Inc. converted it into a news theater on 2 November 1929. [3] However, because of competition with television news, it reverted into a first-run theater in 1949. [4] [3]
In England in 1951, however, when Seebohm Rowntree published his study on English Life and Leisure, he counted "approximately 20 news cinemas in London", and "very few [...] in the provinces, probably not more than a dozen in all". According to Rowntree, a population of at least 300,000 was needed in a town for a news cinema to be sustainable. [1] London Victoria Station had a news cinema (later a cartoon cinema) that would show a continuous programme for travellers. The cinema was designed by Alister MacDonald, son of Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald and was in operation from 1933 until being demolished in 1981.
The original programmes of news cinemas featured mainly of newsreels, possibly with a short subject or travelogue. Afterward, newsreels came to occupy a shorter length of the programme, replaced by other, more entertaining elements. Programs typically lasted one hour, and were shown continuously, without any interval between performances. [1] [5]
Actor Peter O'Toole, who grew up in Leeds in the 1930s, reported in an interview with Roger Ebert that his father often took him to a nearby news cinema. When he was six, in 1938, he saw in that news cinema a program including the Three Stooges, Donald Duck, the Ritz Brothers, and news footage, including footage of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler. [5]
Seebohm Rowntree, in 1951, similarly reports that "the news films occupy only a comparatively small part of the programme, largely because public interest in news films has declined". According to him, they have been replaced with cartoons, travelogues, or films on such general subjects as sports, fashion, or domestic economy. [1]
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American live-action/animated comedy mystery film directed by Robert Zemeckis, produced by Frank Marshall and Robert Watts, and loosely adapted by Jeffrey Price and Peter S. Seaman from Gary K. Wolf's 1981 novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?. The film stars Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd, Charles Fleischer, Stubby Kaye, and Joanna Cassidy. Set in a 1947 version of Hollywood where cartoon characters and people co-exist, the film follows Eddie Valiant, a private investigator who must exonerate Roger Rabbit, a toon who has been framed for the murder of the Acme Corporation's owner.
A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a cinema, newsreels were a source of current affairs, information, and entertainment for millions of moviegoers. Newsreels were typically exhibited preceding a feature film, but there were also dedicated newsreel theaters in many major cities in the 1930s and ’40s, and some large city cinemas also included a smaller theaterette where newsreels were screened continuously throughout the day.
Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree, CH was an English sociological researcher, social reformer and industrialist. He is known in particular for his three York studies of poverty conducted in 1899, 1935, and 1951.
Smell-O-Vision was a system that released odor during the projection of a film so that the viewer could "smell" what was happening in the movie. The technique was created by Hans Laube and made its only appearance in the 1960 film Scent of Mystery, produced by Mike Todd Jr., son of film producer Mike Todd. The process injected 30 odors into a movie theater's seats when triggered by the film's soundtrack.
The double feature was a motion picture industry phenomenon in which theatres would exhibit two films for the price of one, supplanting an earlier format in which one feature film and various short subject reels would be shown.
She Was an Acrobat's Daughter is an animated short in the Merrie Melodies series, produced by Vitaphone Productions and released by Warner Bros. Pictures, Inc. on April 10, 1937. This animated short was directed by I. Freleng and produced by Leon Schlesinger.
Fighting Norway is a 10-minute 1943 Canadian documentary, part of the Canada Carries On series of short films produced by the National Film Board of Canada. The film was directed by Sydney Newman, one of a number of shorts that were intended for theatrical release.
This is a complete list of the 164 shorts in the Tom and Jerry series produced and released between 1940 and 2014. Of these, 162 are theatrical shorts, one is a made-for-TV short, and one is a 2-minute sketch shown as part of a telethon.
Pathé News was a producer of newsreels and documentaries from 1910 to 1970 in the United Kingdom. Its founder, Charles Pathé, was a pioneer of moving pictures in the silent era. The Pathé News archive is known today as British Pathé. Its collection of news film and movies is fully digitised and available online.
Look at Life was a regular British series of short documentary films of which over 500 were produced between 1959 and 1969 by the Special Features Division of the Rank Organisation for screening in their Odeon and Gaumont cinemas. The films always preceded the main feature film that was being shown in the cinema that week. It replaced the circuit's newsreel, Universal News, which had become increasingly irrelevant in the face of more immediate news media, particularly on television with the launch of ITN on the Independent Television service, which began broadcasting in parts of the United Kingdom in 1955.
A travel documentary is a documentary film, television program, or online series that describes travel in general or tourist attractions without recommending particular package deals or tour operators. A travelogue film is an early type of travel documentary, serving as an exploratory ethnographic film. Ethnographic films have been made for the spectators to see the other half to relate with the world in relative relations. These films are a spectacle to see beyond the cultural differences as explained by the Allison Griffith in her journal. Before 1930s, it was difficult to see the importance of documentary films in Hollywood cinema but 1930s brought about a change in the history of these films with the popularity of independent filmmakers.
The Grafton Cinema was a film theatre on Grafton Street in Dublin, Ireland which operated for over sixty years.
Britain at Bay is a 1940 British propaganda film produced by the General Post Office GPO Film Unit of the Ministry of Information The film was written and narrated by noted author and political commentator J. B. Priestley.
Train Busters is a 13-minute 1943 Canadian documentary film, directed by Sydney Newman. The film was made by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) Overseas Film Unit and the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) as part of the NFB's Canada Carries On series. Train Busters depicts the Allied night bombing campaign over German-occupied Europe that was complemented by close air support missions flown by the RCAF targeting enemy trains.
Letter from Aldershot is a nine-minute 1940 Canadian documentary film, made by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) as part of the wartime Canada Carries On series. The film was directed by John Taylor and produced by Stuart Legg. Letter from Aldershot describes the observations in 1940 of a soldier from the First Division of the Canadian Active Service Force, stationed at Aldershot Garrison, England. The film's French version title was Une lettre d'Aldershot.
Food - Weapon of Conquest is a 22-minute 1941 Canadian documentary film, made by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) as part of the wartime Canada Carries On series. The film was directed and produced by Stuart Legg. Food - Weapon of Conquest shows the food shortage in Nazi-occupied countries in the Second World War, contrasted with the Allied response to the global food crisis. The film's French version title is Une armée marche sur son estomac.
Bombing the Nazis is a 10-minute 1943 Canadian documentary film, made by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) as part of the World War II newsreels shown at theatres in Canada and abroad. The film describes the Allied air war over Europe during the Second World War, concentrating on attacks in 1942 and 1943 on an automobile factory in Vichy France.
When Asia Speaks is a 19-minute film produced in 1944 by Stuart Legg and directed by Gordon Weisenborn for the National Film Board of Canada series The World in Action. The film is narrated by broadcaster Lorne Greene. When Asia Speaks describes the disparity between the riches of Asia and the poverty of the masses during the Second World War that have led to nationalist movements in Asia. The film's French version title is Le Réveil de l'Asie.
Leslie Lesser Landau was a British director, film producer, screenwriter, screenplay editor and playwright. He also served as the newsreel editor of British Movietone News from 1929 to 1935 at a time the power of newsreel from a political perspective was first used. He was honoured for landmark film journalism.
The Embassy Theatre, also known as the Embassy 1 Theatre, is a former movie theater at 1560 Broadway, along Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Designed by Thomas W. Lamb, the theater opened in 1925 at the ground floor of 1560 Broadway, the headquarters of the Actors' Equity Association. While no longer in use as a theater, the space is preserved as a New York City designated landmark, and it continues to operate as a store.