8mm Forum: Old Double Bills in UK

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Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on 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.

Posted by Maurice Leakey (Member # 916) on 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

Posted by David Skillern (Member # 607) on 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

Posted by Jonathan Trevithick (Member # 3066) on 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.

Posted by David Skillern (Member # 607) on 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

Posted by Robert Crewdson (Member # 3790) on 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.

Posted by Jonathan Trevithick (Member # 3066) on 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

Posted by Steve Carter (Member # 4821) on June 02, 2015, 06:48 AM:

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

Posted by Brian Fretwell (Member # 4302) on 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)

Posted by Jonathan Trevithick (Member # 3066) on 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.

Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on 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.

Posted by Barry Attwood (Member # 100) on 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.

Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on 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?

Posted by Ken Finch (Member # 2768) on 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.

Posted by Steve Carter (Member # 4821) on 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'

Posted by Dave Groves (Member # 4685) on 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)

Posted by Lee Mannering (Member # 728) on 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...

Posted by Dave Groves (Member # 4685) on 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

Posted by Steve Carter (Member # 4821) on 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?...

Posted by David Ollerearnshaw (Member # 3296) on 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.

Posted by Melvin England (Member # 5270) on 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?)

Posted by Clyde Miles (Member # 4032) on 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

Posted by Tom Spielman (Member # 5352) on 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.

Posted by Brian Fretwell (Member # 4302) on July 27, 2016, 03:12 AM:

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

Posted by George Seaton (Member # 5402) on 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.

Posted by David Hardy (Member # 4628) on July 30, 2016, 06:00 PM:

You should only take the information in "Odeon Cinemas Vol 2" as general guide.
The double bills could vary from region to region.
I know this because I am an ex Odeon ( Rank ) Cinema Projectionist.
Some of our B features were different to those in England and Wales.

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 1183) on August 01, 2016, 11:58 AM:

Here in the US.of.A, most double features were put together at the theatre level. At one time, a first run theatre could book a second (non first run) feature from any studio, flat rate, very cheaply.

With the exception of the James Bond films, which had distributor issued double features with 2 or more Bond films in the bill, the strangest official double feature I ever came across was Rosemary's Baby / The Odd Couple. They actually made special trailers and posters for this. What were they thinking.

Posted by David Hardy (Member # 4628) on August 04, 2016, 05:13 PM:

The thing was about Double-Bills you got real value for money and a great night out at the Cinema.
Unlike today where you get about a half hour of adverts and trailers and only one feature film.

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