8mm Forum: When is a film better on the small screen?

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Topic: When is a film better on the small screen?

Mike Peckham
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1461
From: West Sussex, UK.
Registered: Jun 2003

posted September 20, 2006 05:02 AM

I was listening to the film Programme on BBC Radio 4 on the way home from work on Friday,and the presenter talked for a while about the film adaptation of Helene Hampffs book, 84 Charing Cross Rd.

He made the comment that this was one of the few films that due to its “exquisitely intimate nature” was better viewed on the small screen.

It made me wonder whether there are indeed films whose true impact is lost on the big screen. Can this be possible?

Mike

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Auntie Em must have stopped wondering where I am by now...

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Steve Klare
Film Guy

Posts: 7016
From: Long Island, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted September 20, 2006 06:41 AM

Oddly enough, when MGM first released the Wizard of Oz into the theaters, it was almost a flop. What made it the cultural phenomenon it is today is its release to television, so that people could think about there "being no place like home", while they were actually there.

PS We went to see it in the theater when it was re-released a few years ago. What an odd sensation to sit in a theater and see a movie you've seen maybe a hundred times before!

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All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...

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David Park
Master Film Handler

Posts: 346
From: UK
Registered: Nov 2003

posted September 20, 2006 07:07 AM

Well I can remember queing with my mother outside the Ritz cinema, Keithley, UK for what seemed hours to get into see the "Wizard of Oz" during WW2.
Think it might have been my visit to a cinema, anyway the first one I remember.

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Regards,
David

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Graham Sinden
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1131
From: Kent, UK
Registered: Aug 2005

posted September 20, 2006 07:12 AM

I have read that Tony Hancock's film "The Punch and Judy Man" worked better on television than on the big screen. He certaintly should have made it in colour like his previous film "The Rebel".

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Paul Spinks
Master Film Handler

Posts: 453
From: Barking, Essex, UK
Registered: Mar 2006

posted September 20, 2006 08:16 AM

I thought "The Blair Witch Project" was better on the small screen. It obviously suited the medium, but watching it at home on the tv made it seem more realistic and scarier.

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Dalida Jalink
Junior
Posts: 13
From: Tilburg, The Netherlands
Registered: Aug 2006

posted September 20, 2006 08:35 AM

Videodrome by Cronenberg. I saw it on TV and in the theatre and it had a bigger impact on me when I saw it on tv due to the story and the medium.

The Ring (Ringu) especially when you see it on a crappy videotape [Big Grin]

And seeing Poltergeist on tv and afterwards having snow on tv - due to zapping to a wrong channel- gave me a sleepless night [Embarrassed]

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Graham Ritchie
Film God

Posts: 4001
From: New Zealand
Registered: Feb 2006

posted September 21, 2006 01:17 AM

Cant think of any films [Roll Eyes]

that could loose there impact on the big screen some films do suit Widescreen, some Cinemascope, such as Dances With Wolves, [Smile]

etc but all films should be viewed on a large screen, you loose all the impact on TV. I remember seeing "Jaws" when it first came out what an impact that had [Eek!]

.

Graham. [Smile]

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Yanis Tzortzis
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 531
From: Greece
Registered: Aug 2005

posted September 21, 2006 04:53 AM

Let's not forget one 'detail':with the new technologies applied, 'small' TV screens are getting bigger and bigger-and in some cases become really 'big'.
Is it perhaps that some people want to enjoy the benefits of a 'big'screen without a cine projector [Wink]

?

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Yannis

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Steve Klare
Film Guy

Posts: 7016
From: Long Island, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted September 21, 2006 05:53 AM

-and in many cases old single screen movie houses are becoming divided into multiplexes and the "Big Screens" are becoming smaller.

The theater near where I grew up became a twin and then a quad. I swear any one auditorium isn't even 20 seats wide any more!

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All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...

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Andrew Wilson
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 784
From: dundonald,belfast,co.antrim,northern ireland.
Registered: Jan 2006

posted September 22, 2006 10:55 AM

Don't forget Frank Capara's IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE with the late
James stewart and Donna Reid.It bombed at the cinema;but now thanks to t.v it's classic status is assured.Andy.

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Dan Lail
Film God

Posts: 2110
From: Loganville, Georgia, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted September 22, 2006 05:48 PM

When you're been tied up in a chair and can't get to the projector and happen to be in front of a TV with the remote in your hand. [Big Grin]

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Steve Klare
Film Guy

Posts: 7016
From: Long Island, NY, USA
Registered: Jun 2003

posted September 22, 2006 09:41 PM

Same thing (and season) for Jean Shepherd's "A Christmas Story". It passed its time in the cinema almost unnoticed, but two decades of cable TV have made it a classic.

"You'll shoot your eye out, kid!"

Our video on demand times have changed the way we appreciate movies too. When I was a little kid, "The Wizard of Oz" was something that was on once a year, right around Thanksgiving, and seeing it was an event. I remember several families gathering at a house with a big COLOR (oh, wow!)TV down in the basement so all the kids could watch.

My son on the other hand has WofOz on DVD and has seen it approximately 30,000 times. It's not exactly an "event" anymore.

For those of us that show movies, this is a factor that we have to fight at times as well. It's tough to convince somebody with 150 DVDs that you really have something special to offer them.

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All I ask is a wide screen and a projector to light her by...

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Mike Peckham
Phenomenal Film Handler

Posts: 1461
From: West Sussex, UK.
Registered: Jun 2003

posted September 24, 2006 05:54 AM

Steve

That's an interesting point you make about "video on demand", I remember as a child films such as "The Sound of Music", "The Good the Bad and the Ugly" and the Disney Classics like "cinderella" and "Pinochio" making return trips to the cinema every few years. That was really the only chance there was to see them and they held a certain resonance that the cinema really doesn't have any more.

I remember "The Towering Inferno" making its TV debut in the UK one Christmas around 1980? It was such a big occasion that everyone crowded in to the sitting room to watch it and silence was maintained through out!

I wouldn't want to turn back time, I enjoy the convenience of "view on Demand" but there's no harm in being a bit nostalgic for the days when films held a certain magic.

Mike [Smile]

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Auntie Em must have stopped wondering where I am by now...

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