Comments from Lionel

Showing 26 - 50 of 151 comments

Lionel
Lionel commented about Gaumont Ambassade on Aug 28, 2022 at 8:23 am

An extensive illustrated article in French on the Ambassade can be found here :

Gaumont Champs Elysées Ambassade

Lionel
Lionel commented about Arlequin on Aug 18, 2022 at 2:10 pm

@Xavier Delamarre You wrote that the Arlequin is now the only remaining cinema in Paris to be equipped for 70mm. What about the Grand Action? Do you know when they got rid of their 70mm equipment? My latest inof about it is the Silverscreens.com article from the late 90’s. Thanks

Lionel
Lionel commented about Press add for Indiana Jones 70mm re-run at the OMA on Aug 7, 2022 at 8:47 am

I was lucky to be in London when it happened, and went to see again The Temple of Doom. It was impressive to see it in 70mm and six-track Dolby Stereo in that theatre. It was also the first time I went to the Odeon Marble Arch.

Lionel
Lionel commented about Odeon Luxe London Haymarket on Aug 6, 2022 at 3:42 am

Short YouTube video showing the ABC Panton Street in 1998 (street view then projection booth): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh6OI0Slxd8

Lionel
Lionel commented about Odeon Luxe London Leicester Square on Jun 13, 2022 at 9:27 am

Thank you Howard for posting the pictures of the London cinemas you visited last month. No curtain used at the OLS? What an amateurish performance…

Lionel
Lionel commented about AMC Lincoln Square 13 on Apr 26, 2022 at 4:20 am

Hello. I would like to know the seats distribution across all auditoria at the opening. The big one had 876, how many did the others have? I don’t think it is mentioned in the comments but there are already 68 pages and I’ve only read the few latest and the few earliest. Thanks.

Lionel
Lionel commented about Cineworld Cinema - Leicester Square on Feb 10, 2022 at 11:56 am

Filmed in 1986 and posted today on YouTube:

Demonstrating screen masking for 35mm and 70mm aspect ratios at the Empire

This was the installation from 1962 on to when they slightly enlarged the screen in the early 2000’s.

Lionel
Lionel commented about Odeon Luxe London Leicester Square on Dec 28, 2021 at 11:37 am

I’m a latecomer for Christmas but I wish you all fellow Cinema Treasurers the best for the coming year. I hope all of you are safe, vaxxed or not.

Lionel
Lionel commented about Royal Palast and Europa Studio on Dec 4, 2021 at 3:01 pm

A 45-minute-long report made in the late 90’s was just posted on YouTube on this cinema: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RDkWuPUTQs

Lionel
Lionel commented about Empire Cinemas - London Haymarket on Nov 4, 2021 at 3:02 am

I too recognized the architecture of the Carlton/Haymarket around the Thunderball marquee when I watched the trailer but I have no other information. Howard, was the film good? I’m always eager to see a film set in London.

Lionel
Lionel commented about Odeon Luxe London Leicester Square on Sep 19, 2021 at 12:46 pm

@CF100 - Glad to hear that your ankle is alright. COVID safety rules indeed complicate everything. A pity especially for those who got the jab twice. I hoped that, this year, the pandemic would be over and we would be able to travel normally again, and I could have seen Kenneth Branagh’s Death on the Nile in 70mm or 4K at the OLS (or the new James Bond episode).

Lionel
Lionel commented about Empire Leicester Square on Sep 19, 2021 at 9:45 am

Not taken in 2008. Taken by me in February 1993, but CP200 aka Andy Summers picks pictures and posts them wherever he wants, even copyrighted ones, without thinking.

Lionel
Lionel commented about Cinematheque Francaise on Sep 13, 2021 at 11:15 am

“Le fantôme d'Henri Langlois” (The ghost of Henri Langlois) is a 2004 French documentary film about Langlois, founder of the Cinémathèque française, here on YouTube.

Lionel
Lionel commented about Odeon Marble Arch on Sep 9, 2021 at 1:24 pm

18-minute-long footage from 1989 exploring the Odeon Marble Arch: street, foyer, projection booth, stalls and circle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCKDStXcP1U

Lionel
Lionel commented about Odeon Marble Arch on Sep 8, 2021 at 10:42 am

The new building shape is similar to that of the former Regal…

Lionel
Lionel commented about Curzon Richmond on Aug 8, 2021 at 7:44 am

Short film from 1997 showing the auditorium and projection booth of the then-called Richmond Filmhouse in a detailed manner.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihEfNT9Ny40

Lionel
Lionel commented about Odeon Whiteleys & The Lounge on May 17, 2021 at 2:17 pm

@rivest266 Thanks for posting this ad. It’s interesting to see what was playing when a multiplex opened.

Lionel
Lionel commented about Cinema City Bonarka on May 3, 2021 at 12:11 am

It was the “Special Edition” from 1997 with effects added or improved, except for some shots lacking contrast and sharpness probably due to originally using higher-sensitivity film stock for lower light environments, which could have been better restored by taking the most out of the negative. I noticed scenes in the other two episodes back then in 1997 which deserved restoration but, for some reasons, they were left in their original condition of 1977/80/83.

I prefer the Cinema City Kazimierz because it’s more central and more convenient for me, and located in more pleasant surroundings.

Lionel
Lionel commented about Odeon Luxe London Leicester Square on Apr 16, 2021 at 11:56 am

My interest in cinema architecture and equipment faded a bit too. I had started 2020 by retyping on a computer my dissertation written in 1993 about the Empire when I completed my studies, rescanned pictures from books, retouched the colours of the slides I had taken back then. First in my native language, then with an English translation in mind. Then gave up out of exhaustion after Easter (yes, in 2020). I should get at it again and finish the damn thing. I’ll share it on Cinema Treasures when it’s done. I still anticipate our gathering at the Montagu Pyke. Do they have Old Speckled Hen? I love it but can’t find it here on the continent.

Lionel
Lionel commented about Odeon Luxe London Leicester Square on Dec 31, 2020 at 1:24 pm

Despite the situation with COVID and its gloomy consequences (and I personally suffered from it professionally, although I can’t complain when I see other people’s situation), I would like to wish the best in 2021 for all my fellow cinema treasurers, hoping that you all managed to remain safe so far.

I’m not British but I believe in this great quote: “Keep calm and carry on”. The perspective of meeting at the Montagu Pyke pub one day is one of the little things that keeps us rooted in normality. What would the world be if we started to believe that proper screen masking is less important than a pandemic?

Lionel
Lionel commented about Prince Charles Cinema on Nov 4, 2020 at 11:45 am

A photo montage of the Prince Charles cinema when still a single-screen. Showing the projection booth with close-up shots of the DP75 projectors, and the auditorium from the back of the circle.

Lionel
Lionel commented about Odeon Marble Arch on Oct 5, 2020 at 1:12 pm

Yet other pictures of the OMA when it opened. It’s the first time I see the auditorium photographed under that angle, and how the foyer was back then.

Side view of the stalls

Refreshment kiosk on the first floor

Lionel
Lionel commented about Odeon Luxe London Haymarket on Oct 4, 2020 at 9:32 am

I recently bought a copy of Philip Turner’s book “Cinecenta Cinemas” (see it here . It’s an excellent book. Very rich of informations and illustrations despite its small size (A5 format, 30 pages). Copies are still available on various online shops including Amazon.

Lionel
Lionel commented about Cineworld Cinema - Leicester Square on Oct 4, 2020 at 9:27 am

Today’s article in the Telegraph mentioning it in a wider economical and political context :

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/10/04/cineworld-just-latest-scalp-claimed-short-termist-politics/

Lionel
Lionel commented about Odeon Luxe London Leicester Square on Oct 4, 2020 at 12:06 am

I wish you a good recovery. I’ve read the article for which you posted a link on the Empire’s page. Dark clouds are looming indeed, and not just in the cinema sector.

I had promised my Dad to come with him to London last April for his 80th birthday and it was cancelled because of lockdown. Now we don’t know where this is all going. He wanted to visit his English friends in Cambridgeshire as well (same age) and is a bit depressed as he starts to wonder if he will ever have the opportunity to see them again.