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Topic: Old Double Bills in UK

David Ollerearnshaw
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1373
From: Penistone Sheffield UK
Registered: Oct 2012

posted June 01, 2015 01:20 PM

Anyone still got info on the double bills shown at cinemas in the 70's. One that I recall was Confession Of A Window Cleaner & The Take.

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Maurice Leakey
Film God

Posts: 5895
From: Bristol. United Kingdom
Registered: Oct 2007

posted June 02, 2015 02:27 AM

David
Get "Odeon Cinemas 2 - From J.Arthur Rank to the Multiplex", this has the Odeon circuit release schedule 1942 - 1979.
This also includes B features which supported the main film.
I started work as an trainee at an Odeon in 1952, and here is a sample from that release year
"Where The River Bends" supported by "Here Come The Nelsons".
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Odeon-Cinemas-Arthur-Rank-Multiplex/dp/1844570487/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1433229424&sr=1-2&keywords=odeon+cinemas

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Maurice

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David Skillern
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 582
From: South Wales
Registered: Apr 2006

posted June 02, 2015 05:40 AM

Hi,
Very interesting topic.
I remember the independent 3 screen cinema in Cwmbran in Gwent called "Scene" - they used to put on interesting double bills - I do remember going to see plenty of Sean Connery James Bond double bills and a couple of odd ones like Cheech and Chongs " Up in Smoke" followed by Eddie Murphy and Nick Nolte in "48 hrs" also Mel Gibson in "Mad Max" followed by the original " Friday the 13th" , " When a Stranger Calls" and Doug McClure in "Monster" but the oddest double bill I can remember was the sex comedy "The Amorous Milkman" and a real oddity called " Psycho Sex Killer" - very strange !!!

David

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Jonathan Trevithick
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 569
From: Gold Coast Australia
Registered: May 2012

posted June 02, 2015 06:03 AM

David, that is spooky. I worked part time at Scene in Cwmbran in the 90s and was editing together some old footage of it earlier this evening!
Back on track, the first double bill I saw was 'Blazing Saddles/Holy Grail' at ABC Cardiff.

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David Skillern
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 582
From: South Wales
Registered: Apr 2006

posted June 02, 2015 06:20 AM

Hi Jonathan,
I remember winning a competition back in the early 1980's to check out the projection room of "Scene" - I was amazed to see all the film running across the ceiling from each projector and I had never seen the periscope system before. The whole place is closed down a boarded up now, but while it was open - I saw some great films there - each screen was quite intimate - probably no more than 150 seats in each screen and I remember the cinema screens being mounted away from the wall and they were rounded at the edges.

Good times,
David

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Robert Crewdson
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1031
From: UK
Registered: Jun 2013

posted June 02, 2015 06:30 AM

I remember 'Jason and the Argonauts', and the 2nd film was 'Siege of the Saxons'; in 1973 I saw 'Live and Let Die' the second feature was the spin off of the TV series 'Nearest and Dearest' with Hylda Baker.

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Jonathan Trevithick
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 569
From: Gold Coast Australia
Registered: May 2012

posted June 02, 2015 06:35 AM

Yes David, I think it was the last periscope system running in the UK. It was great fun being a part time projectionist, running 3 films with no automation.I last visited in 2010 and it was still ticking along then - just!
My nearest cinema growing up as a kid was RAF St Athan and they nearly always showed double features.
Double bills I recall seeing were;
Airplane/Foul Play
Life of Brian/Airplane
Tootsie/Educating Rita
Star Wars/Empire Strikes Back

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Steve Carter
Master Film Handler

Posts: 282
From: Bristol, UK
Registered: Apr 2015

posted June 02, 2015 06:48 AM

'Confessions Of A Window Cleaner' & 'Blazing Saddles', studio 1-4 All Saints Street, Bristol around 1975,laugh festival...

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Brian Fretwell
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1785
From: London, UK
Registered: Jun 2014

posted June 02, 2015 02:39 PM

I remember in Margate Monty Python & the Holy Grail and The Ladykillers oin the High St cinema. Airplane and Cry Wolf (an English B&W Werewolf spoof) also The Sweeney with Home before Midnight (Elephant & Castle ABC 2)

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Jonathan Trevithick
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 569
From: Gold Coast Australia
Registered: May 2012

posted June 02, 2015 04:23 PM

Another cinema I visited regularly in my childhood. This is a flyer I kept, advertising a few double bills.

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David Ollerearnshaw
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1373
From: Penistone Sheffield UK
Registered: Oct 2012

posted June 03, 2015 02:00 PM

At the time the cinema was run by the local council (parish) every month they issued the programme almost were all double bills. I also recall now that alot of rereleases were also about. I wonder if anyone kept the listings. I might even have a couple in the loft.

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I love the smell of film in the morning.

http://www.thereelimage.co.uk/

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Barry Attwood
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Posts: 1411
From: Enfield, U.K.
Registered: Aug 2003

posted June 04, 2015 04:47 AM

I started going regularly to the cinema in the late 1970's, this was the heyday of the double bill, and I remember seeing some great double bills, I remember seeing "The Big Boss - Way of the Dragon" (Bruce Lee at his best) - "Blazing Saddles - Monty Python and the Holy Grail" - "Superman 1 & 2" - "Star Trek 1 & 2", I even managed to see the triple bill of "Star Wars - The Empire Strikes Back & Return of the Jedi" at the Odeon Muswell Hill, now that was fun.

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David Ollerearnshaw
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1373
From: Penistone Sheffield UK
Registered: Oct 2012

posted June 18, 2015 02:53 AM

Cry Wolf. Now that would have made a great release on super 8. Filmed on the Isle of Dogs, with some locations filmed in Barking. Was the leading man named Jack Russel?

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I love the smell of film in the morning.

http://www.thereelimage.co.uk/

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Ken Finch
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 543
From: Herne Bay, Kent. U.K.
Registered: Oct 2011

posted June 23, 2015 12:41 PM

I think that the last double bill I saw was sometime in the 1980s when I took my sons to see the first 2 Star Wars epics at the Granada/cannon/ MGM at Maidstone. Cannot remember which company was running it at the time. How many of you remember going to the cinema in the days of the continuous performance. All the programmes were double bill plus newsreel, trailers, adverts and a cartoon or other short film. Remember the phrase "This is where we came in" This is the type of show I try to put on in my "Retro Roxy" not easy with modern films as they nearly all run for more than 2 hours. In the old days the first feature seldom ran for longer than 90mins. Films like "gone With the Wind" were an axception rather than the norm. I remeber first seeing that at a midnight matinee at the Roxy Blackheath around 1947/8. Ken Finch.

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Steve Carter
Master Film Handler

Posts: 282
From: Bristol, UK
Registered: Apr 2015

posted June 23, 2015 01:52 PM

Oh yes, the days when you could stay in the cinema all day and see it around again, or as you say Ken,and as my Mum used to say 'This is where we came in'...
One of my favorite double's as a kid was 'The Pirates of Blood River' & 'The Scarlet Blade'

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Dave Groves
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 508
From: Southend on Sea, Essex, UK
Registered: Feb 2015

posted June 23, 2015 04:54 PM

I expected a three hour programme and was hardly ever disappointed. If the main feature was rubbish one could hope for something from the support, and Sundays gave opportunity to see again re-issues (often abridged)

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Dave

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Lee Mannering
Film God

Posts: 3216
From: The Projection Box
Registered: Nov 2006

posted June 24, 2015 04:19 AM

Happy days David.

Had been filming that day so missed the first original film. Watched II first then sat through both films again...

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Dave Groves
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 508
From: Southend on Sea, Essex, UK
Registered: Feb 2015

posted June 24, 2015 09:34 AM

wasn't it great that you could do that? Now, if you're lucky, you get 120 mins and go home grateful

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Dave

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Steve Carter
Master Film Handler

Posts: 282
From: Bristol, UK
Registered: Apr 2015

posted July 16, 2015 07:41 AM

I am certain that the Studio's 1-4 All Saints Street, Bristol, operated with 16mm, the actual 'cinema studio's' were so small if I remember correctly, not un-like a 'through lounge'(British thing of the 70's, knocking one room into another) could some-one with knowledge of these confirm my recall please?...

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David Ollerearnshaw
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1373
From: Penistone Sheffield UK
Registered: Oct 2012

posted July 17, 2015 10:42 AM

16mm reminds me of the time I went to see Star Wars about 1980. Think they cinema was called Cineplex Three Screen Cinema, but full house went to see Bloodline instead the support films were Castle Films.

--------------------
I love the smell of film in the morning.

http://www.thereelimage.co.uk/

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Melvin England
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 707
From: Hull, East Yorkshire, UK
Registered: Feb 2016

posted July 26, 2016 03:09 PM

A couple of double bills I remember quite clearly are.....

The French Lieutenants Woman and The Jazz Singer. I had specifically gone to see Meryl Streep and was disappointed when the Neil Diamond film came on first. By the end of the programme I came away with a totally different view from my expectations. The Jazz Singer.... great on the big screen... and loud music! TFLW.... aarrrghh!

The second double bill was the first time I managed to get into see a p**n presentation when I was....... 16 !
"Candido Erotico" and "My Nights with Sandra,Olga,Susan and Julie!" Does anyone remember THAT combination? (or would own up to it?)

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Clyde Miles
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 205
From: Bromsgrove, UK
Registered: Nov 2013

posted July 26, 2016 05:53 PM

anyone remember a short support feature about a volkswagon car by a lake, real spooky, maybe lasted about half an hour

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Tom Spielman
Master Film Handler

Posts: 339
From: Minneapolis, MN, USA
Registered: Apr 2016

posted July 26, 2016 06:16 PM

I went to a drive-in for the first time in about 20 years last weekend. You get to see three movies for the price of one. This time of year the first movie doesn't start until 9:30 pm. My daughter and I left at 1:30 am before the start of the last movie.

On weekends you have to get there early because it fills up so fast. Gates open at 7:30. We got there at 7:35 and if we had been 10 minutes later would not have made it. Probably spent 30 minutes just in line and the next hour barbecuing and eating our dinner so the time before the movie goes quickly. Lots of people kicking soccer (footballs) around and throwing frisbees beforehand.

It started raining before the 1st movie ended so we had to pack up our lawn chairs and watch from inside the car. The lightning only added to the ambiance.

It was the most fun I've had a movie in a long time. Pretty inexpensive too. My 12 year old daughter's ticket was $1.

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Brian Fretwell
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1785
From: London, UK
Registered: Jun 2014

posted July 27, 2016 03:12 AM

With that weather I would have wanted "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" on the bill.

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George Seaton
Junior
Posts: 29
From: Liverpool, UK
Registered: May 2016

posted July 27, 2016 06:56 AM

Themed re-issue double bills (007, Hammer, Carry On etc) were easy money for Distributors and Cinemas in the days before before home video. I remember an independent cinema in my home town would regularly screen 'another chance to see' double bills and enjoyed many of them.

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George

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