Ziegfeld Theatre
141 W. 54th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
141 W. 54th Street,
New York,
NY
10019
131 people
favorited this theater
Showing 3,451 - 3,475 of 4,511 comments
Good point Jeff, I seriously doubt Marvin would know what the digital offset delay is or how to adjust it. Of course, it should be done by a tech with proper training, this should have been done when the 70mm reader was installed. Most importantly, it should have been noticed by someone other than the ticket buying public.
DTS, HUMBUG! bring back magnetic :)
The sync sound problem was intermittent. The first scene after intermission (the conversation between Jackson Bentley and Feisal’s servant) started out in perfect sync. In the middle of the next scene, between Feisal and Bentley, the sync went off again. The last reels of the film ran with no problem.
Oh and one more thing, please tell Marvin the “projectionist”, who could not fix the brain wrap, to try and increase the pressure on the film bands in the gate to help with the jitter problem. I would also be sure to match the serial numbers on the gate or film trap to the one on the projector, there are two projectors in the Ziegfeld booth and the gates should not be interchanged, they are machined to each projector. perhaps they installed the wrong gate in the projector they are using with that wonderfull platter.
It was there the entire show. All someone had to do was adjust the digital offset delay. But the projectionist is probably not allowed (or knows how) to do this, that’s for a “tech” to do. Had the film been prescreened, they could have gotten someone in to fix it. I’m sorry, it’s inexcusable to run a film out of sync, and for FOUR hours on a SPECIAL presentation of a 70mm film. I tend to notice these things even if off by a few frames because I project myself. When the general audience notices it, it’s BAD. First impressions are lasting impressions. This was my first time to this theater in 30 years. I’ll remember what I saw and how Clearview doesn’t think any more of this venue than they do of the silly little black box screening rooms they run at their other multiplexes.
Regarding the sync problem with “Lawrence. As most of you know
DTS (Digital Theater Sound), is a motion picture sound system format that stores a digital soundtrack on separate CD-ROM discs,a timecode is read off the print, and the corresponding digital soundtrack info is retrieved off of the CD-ROM, keeping the soundtrack in sync.
Because the computer is constantly analyzing the timecode and matching the audio from the CD to it, the sound is seldom out of sync with the picture. If the problem was intermittent, or reel to reel, I would say there is a possibility of the problem being with the timecode, if all of the reels had the problem, the more likely is a problem with the DTS processor or 70mm reader, too bad it was not addressed and corrected after the first showing.
Bad sound sync and projector jitter put a crimp on my show. Now the film breaks. More passes are issued, for what TWO WEEEKS again? I hadn’t been to the Ziegfeld in years and I had good memories of it. This is what I get presented with, the same old shit presentation problems I expect at the run-of-the-mill multiplex. This was a SPECIAL presentation, in a SPECIAL format. They should have been prepared. While I enjoyed the 70mm presentation in spite of the flaws, there should have been no flaws. To their credit the film was in perfect focus and brightly lit, but the print should have been run in rehersal to check for problems and the sound issue could have been addressed, the jitter could have been looked into. It’s inexcusable. What Bob Furmanek and Pete Appruzzese say are correct, it is bad showmanship, and trust me, both those fellows know what showmanship is.
It sounds like to me that the problem with the film break was a brain wrap, which is a major problem when running platters. The almost loss of a show would not have happened if they would just run reel-to-reel. Sure the film can break running reel-to-reel, but the show can resume in just a few minutes, a brain wrap can take a very long time to untangle and can cause major damage to both the print AND the projection equipment Why on earth do they insist on using a platter in a single screen with such precious cargo as the classics?
I know all about the “Backdraft” disaster and why the platters were installed, but let me tell you, platters are far more troublesome, and are much more likly to ruin a show than the very rare time a projectionist runs the wrong reel.
Maybe “ruined” is too strong a word. How about damaged an expensive reel of film, thereby spoiling the show. The film had been running for days without incident, other than the unforgivable sound sync issue, it is extrememly unlikely that it simply “broke”.
If I were Sony, they’d never get another 70mm print until they demonstrate proper maintenance and training of staff.
It’s a sad commentary on showmanship when an incident like the one described above is called “A great Sunday night at the Ziegfeld.”
A note: The Ziegfeld did not “ruin” anything. The film broke. It’s a story as old as the art of motion picture projection and one I am sure every licensed (and unlicensed) projectionist can tell.
I’m confident Sony Pictures will not go under.
Wow! Wow! Wow! INCREDIBLE STORY—LADIES & GENTLEMEN, WE CAN AND ARE MAKING THIS HAPPEN.
IT IS WRITTEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CONGRATULATIONS ALL!
GARY
I’m sure Sony Pictures will be so very happy to hear that the Ziegfeld ruined a reel of one of their expensive 70mm prints of Lawrence of Arabia and then let an audience member fix the problem. Way to go!
Sounds like one of those guys could have been Vito.
A nice balance: an audience member spoiled the “Zhivago” show on March 11th, and audience members saved the showing of “Lawrence” last night.
A GREAT SUNDAY NIGHT AT THE ZIEGFELD – My parter and I attended the 7:30 screening of Lawrence of Arabia on March 25. Everything was great; sound and presentation, spectacular. Shortly after the beginning of Act II, the film broke and burned. Five minutes later, the manager (sadly, I don’t know her name) came out to inform us that Marvin could not fix the problem and offered us passes to return at a later date. That was good customer service.
Suddenly, a gentleman sitting two seats away from us stood up and announced, “I can help fix it.” With the audience cheering, he and a few other projectionists in attendance went up to the booth and fixed the problem. Ten minutes later, to more cheers, the movie resumed. The gentleman sitting next to us returned to his seat with the piece of film that broke. To top is all off, we were still given passes to come back. That was EXCELLENT customer service.
My partner and I thought it added to our enjoyment that the audience was allowed to get involved. Who were they that got up and saved the show? You guys were amazing!
I had the oppportunity to attend six screenings since the series began. I enjoyed all of them. I was told that the Classics Series will continue during the slow months. I hope that the next time it happens, the Hollywood Classics series will take off and play to sold out houses.
I’ve wanted to see a series like this in New York for as long as I can remember. Thank you, Clearview for putting it together. WELL DONE!
I haven’t made to any of the screenings of LOA yet, but I will be there before the end of the week and I will definitely put my two cents in with Clearview for possible future festivals.
Fabulous presentation of “Lawrence” Saturday night- as the “festival” is drawing to a close, let’s try to keep the momentum going for the future. What was good about this two month delight? What would you want for the future? A Rodgers & Hammerstein week? Oklahoma in Todd-AO? Jaws? River Kwai? Spartacus? Ten Commandments?
Midnight Cowboy? French Connection? Dog Day Afternoon? send to www.clearviewcinemas.com Have some nice things to say about Craig, Monique, Nikki, Marvin, everybody else. This is your Ziegfeld and we can make it happen!!!
Respectfully submitted,
and thanks for the fun, Ed, Pablo, Bill, Irv-EVERYBODY-AWESOME
GARY
I was at the Zeigfeld last night with Bill. I found the sound problems to be most disturbing, and the image instability to be very annoying. However, like Bill said, the 70mm presentation was awesome. I can’t remember when I’ve seen an image this sharp with that much clarity. The print quality was excellent with great color/contrast and onyy minor lines on the base side. Taking the good with the bad, I would have preferred the sound were in sync, and I do find the theater at fault for that because there are ways to correct for that. The instability was probably print related as a projector with problems like this tends to do it all the time. The manager gave me a pair of passes for future shows as an apology for the faults, but I then found out they were only good for 2 weeks.
Problems with “Lawrence” last night: the DTS soundtrack was about a half-second out of sync during many scenes. There was also some jiggling of the image during the first half of the film. BUT … these problems were most likely the fault of the print itself, and not the Ziegfeld. Once the commercials and “The Clearview” promotional reel were over with, the presentation was absolutely perfect, in best early ‘60’s roadshow style. Full intermission, overture, exit music, curtains, etc. Even with those technical flaws taken into account, there is simply nothing else like seeing “Lawrence of Arabia” in 70mm. I can’t wait to see it again on Wednesday.
Just checked with the box office and, indeed, there is a special screening of something instead of a 2:30 showing of “Lawrence”,which will be shown Saturday only at night (I’ll be there) and twice on Sunday. She did apologize and own up to the fact that it was advertised wrong in the original flyer distributed at the theater.
Gary
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Ziegfeld is closed to the public on Saturday afternoon for a screening of “Ice Age 2.” Not unheard of for studios to hold special preview screenings for family oriented films during the daytime (to attract celebrities with their kids).
you’re right! I don’t see a 2:30 pm show for Saturday, but one for Sunday. This doesn’t make any sense, but something may have changed. I’ll call the theatre later for clarification. Thanks for the heads-up.
Gary
When I saw Independance day the ticket holders line went ¾ of the way around the block! There really is no place to put the crowd waiting for the next show other than outside.
Will there or will there not be a 2:30 p.m. showing this weekend of “Lawrence”? There’s no 2:30 show scheduled on the theater’s website. Thanks, Gary!
Stan:
Go to customer comments on www.clearviewcinemas.com and tell them of your nice visit and Ziegfeld experience, it will go a long way towards ensuring that the festival will be a continuing event. By the way, I’ve been to Atlanta twice. No complaints-people very nice to me.
Thanks,
Gary
35 years after deciding that it would be an entertaining thing to do, I can finally check “seeing a movie at the Ziegfeld” off of life’s to do list. Specifically, the 1 PM showing of CE3K yesterday. I was not disappointed. The experience was just what I expected after reading all of the posts here. Namely, a friendly, professional staff which greeted each person individually, a clean facility, big screen, booming sound, lax effort from the projection booth, and a professional manager (Nicki, I believe she said her name was) who did not mind taking a few moments to talk with an out of owner.
While never one of my all time favorites, CE3K is a big, class, production. Yesterday took me back to a time you could go to a movie and even if the movie was not exceptional, enjoy a theatre with some class and individuality, a big screen, and a good presentation (well, can’t have everything). In short going to a movie was “an event.” Appearance wise, the auditorium looked just as it does in the fine two page layout devoted to it in the Cinema Treasures book. I see what people are talking about when the size of the screen is the subject. To their credit, most megaplexes built today do try to pack as large a screen as possible into their small auditoriums, but projection wise, you do not get the same look as you do when using a screen that is large in its own right, and not just in relation to its auditorium size. While in relation to the house the Ziegfeld screen may look small, especially on a flat movie, but I am sure it beats anything in a multiplex. I sat on row “O” and enjoyed the nearly forgotten experience of having to track the action back and forth across the screen. This is something I can not do in a megaplex because when I sit close enough to do that the focus is way off.
Another thing that I noticed was the small size of the lobby. Back in the old days of exclusive runs and roadshows and sellouts, I do not know what they did with the crowd waiting for the next show. I assume that they used the plaza between the theatre and the back of the building facing 6th Avenue, but it was cold and windy yesterday, and this is Spring. I would hate to be the manager who had to tell hundreds of patrons for Cabaret or Barry Lyndon, or Star Is Born, that they would have to wait outside in the New York winter. Layout wise, the lobby and auditorium are almost an exact copy of the old Rialto here in Atlanta, although the seating area is larger and the lobby smaller. I did enjoy seeing the seating chart with the Ziegfeld logo at the bottom posted on the wall leading to the auditorium. Specifically, the very distinctive and in my opinion, attractive trademark Walter Reade Organization logo script.
Although not technically part of this site, I would also like to say what a great place New York is to visit. From the four MTA bus drivers, to the Ziegfeld staff, the Times Square Visitor Center staff, the NYPD officers, and the floor staff of the AMC Empire, everyone I met was not only helpful, but polite and friendly while being so. Even the concierge at the condos now occupying part of the old Taft Hotel building was more than happy to spare me a few minutes to talk about the old hotel and Roxy Theatre. The Delta employees at LGA were good natured, even when dealing with some grumpy passengers when our flight back to Atlanta was cancelled. I have visited New York about a dozen times since my first visit in 1984, and have always thought that it did not deserve its “in your face” reputation especially when putting up with tourists. Since Rudy’s quality of life campaign took hold, I have never had even the slightest unpleasant experience in the Big Apple, and I always use the MTA to get around which means I have at least casual contact with many people.
In fact, the only unpleasant experience of the day was dealing with the usual panhandling on the train from the Atlanta airport back home. I guess the reason New York, or at least the Manhattan part of it, is so nice is that all of the undesirables have been shipped to Atlanta where they inhabit the transit system and downtown, and are a protected species.
As for Clearview, I wish you good business at the Ziegfeld, but should you hit another bump in the booking road I hope you will consider putting something like this festival on the schedule again.