My old movie theatre in San Francisco had a grand re-opening today. The Vogue on Sacramento street, which was built in 1910 (not 1919 as previously reported), just four years after the Great Earthquake and Fire. It was originally a Biograph theatre, a source of visual news for the neighborhood.

The place is certainly venerable: I remember looking at the rafters above the projection booth at the building’s framework: huge, rough-sawn beams of old-growth redwood trees a thousand years old when they were cut, deep ruby red, naturally fire- and rot-resistant. Lumber like that is literally not available anymore.

The Vogue was cut loose by Regal (or whoever Regal became) and is now being operated by a non-profit organization dedicated to the continued operation old movie houses.

This is commendable. It’s also strange.

Motion picture exhibition is definitely commerce: Your movie ticket and tub of popcorn pay for the movie-going experience entirely. The industry and the public made the collective decision to go with multiplexes and let single-screens go the way of Vaudeville. There are too many reasons this had to happen, but most of all it just made too much financial sense for all three economic entities involved in the movie biz: Distributors, Exhibitors and Moviegoers.

Cue the wailing film purist, who bemoans the loss of the grand movie palaces and the total aesthetic experience of the old days. Ya know what? It wasn’t that great.

If I had a choice to see a classic film, say 2001: A Space Odyssey, in a big old movie palace or a multiplex, I would probably prefer the multiplex. The sound, acoustics, and visual presentation are going to be excellent and modern, for starters. Most big old theaters were built in the days of Academy format (4:3) movies and mono sound, and all the plaster gewgaws on the walls echo and reverb. Multiplex seats are going to be wider and more comfortable, and the seating is going to be steeply raked for good sightlines. Most old theatres were built on a legit-theater plan, with a big, gently sloped floor and and aisle down the middle.

I’ll throw in an exception to this: if this re-release of 2001 was going to be shown in 70mm, seeing it in a multiplex in this format would would be unlikely. Wide-film projectors in multiplexes are rare. Except IMAX, which is a different beast entirely.

The Vogues is a subsidized movie house, the only way it could survive the economic realities of the present. And some subsidization of movie venues is to be expected: The Cinematheque in Hollywood, and various art-center run screening rooms, do not depend on ticket sales. But I hope this is not a trend that continues: If the studios get wind they might have a tax-subsidized way to put films on screens it’s all over.

So yes, part of me is going to miss the splendor and architectural beauty the old movie houses provided as a complement to the feature. But I won’t miss the bad sightlines, echo-chamber audio and funky seats. That curtained box with the drink holder armrests and stadium seating you’re used to will provide a generally and reliably superior moviegoing experience. Now about those popcorn prices…

–Skot C.

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 25th, 2007 at 9:04 am and is filed under Ancilliaries, General, Motion Pictures, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.