One of the
delights of 60s cinemagoing was the double feature, a thing of the dim and distant
past in these days when even the least remarkable streamer runs for more than
two hours. The double feature took full advantage of the continuous
performances I mentioned earlier and, done properly, ran like clockwork.
Let’s
assume that your average film runs for 90 minutes. This means you can have five
screenings a day, including three evening screenings. Although it was often
hard to tell which, one of the films had higher status than the other; this was
the ‘A’ picture and usually featured in the prime left-hand position in the
posters and advertising. The other film was the ‘B’ picture. The day’s
screenings could be organized A/B/A/B/A which means audiences could come and go
as they pleased up until about 8.30 and still be sure of seeing ‘the big
picture’.
All of this
depended on one person, the projectionist – usually referred to as ‘the
operator’ in the UK. This man was busier than the proverbial one-armed paper
hanger. He had to start up the machine, ignite the carbon rod which provided
the light source, thread the heavy reel through the projector, and get the reel
ready to go from the appropriate point. Once that reel is screening, he has to
get the next one ready – the machines worked in parallel – preparing for the
crucial change of reels. At the end and beginning of each reel were a series of
cues which show up as white dots on the screen. Once the last white cue dot on
reel syncs with the first dot on reel two the machine can start smoothly and
the change of reels should be seamless for the audience. There’s no time to
feel pleased with himself because the process has to be repeated for the next
reel and the next one and so on until the end of the film, all the while
changing the rod as and when necessary.
By custom
and practice the operators were the best paid of the cinema staff and,
coincidentally, the most highly unionized. Still, it was a dark and noisy and
sweaty job, less Cinema Paradiso and more boiler room on the Titanic.
Programming
these double bills for the ABC would have been done centrally, or at least,
regionally, but whoever did it they provided me with some of the best
entertainment of my childhood. I still vividly remember some of these line-ups.
Memorably there was Jason and the Argonauts paired with Siege of the
Saxons, The Three Worlds of Gulliver with The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad
was a perennial family favourite as was Tom Thumb and The Wizard of
Oz. For me the pick of the bunch was the 1962 combination of The Pirates
of Blood River and Mysterious Island which was among the first films
I saw at The Princes. I watched them both again quite recently and they held up
well.
It occurs
to me that these double bills were my first encounter with movie genre, the
pairing of like with like. No wonder I went on to teach it for 20 years. I
mention double bills because there is an absolute belter kicking off the month
of March (Mar 7) with The Face of Fu Manchu (U) and City
Under the Sea (U), featuring fantasy icons Christopher Lee and Vincent
Price.
There was
no danger of us missing these. Dad was too exhausted to do much but sleep after
being up at five for the first of his two mail deliveries, but his reading
tastes did run to adventures by the likes of Rafael Sabatini, H.Rider Haggard
and G.A.Henty. He had read a lot of Sax Rohmer’s stories featuring evil
mastermind Fu Manchu and his nemesis Nayland Smith, and he was also fond of Poe
on whose work City Under the Sea was based.
Hammer made
five Fu Manchu movies and we saw them all. Face was the first of the
series and I confess to confusion that it started with his execution – I thought
we’d got the times wrong and come in at the end. Still, it all worked out, and
I enjoyed it though not so much as the Vincent Price film, even now I have an
inexplicable fondness for this Gothic melodrama about ageless smugglers living
in a secret undersea kingdom. Basically they are zombie pirates – what’s not to
like.
The
following week (March 14) saw Sands of the Kalahari (A), an
African adventure about air crash survivors trapped on a rocky plateau and
besieged by a troop of baboons. Even that short synopsis presents a compelling
argument for missing it, especially since support came from a 30-minute quota quickie,
The Material Witness (U).
The next
week (March 21) brought The Nanny (X) which was off limits for
certificate reasons. I’ve seen it since and it’s not bad. Bette Davis is the
titular governess whose 10-year-old client is either a murderer or the killer’s
next victim. Walls of Hell (A), a Filipino war movie starring Jock
(Tarzan) Mahoney provided support.
The month ended with another double bill from March 28. Jerry Lewis starred in The Family Jewels (U) while Dana Andrews headlined Town Tamer (U). I haven’t seen either of them but I’m not losing sleep over it.
