Rivoli Theatre

1620 Broadway,
New York, NY 10019

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vindanpar
vindanpar on April 22, 2019 at 7:33 am

I got the quotes from Bluray.com on a thread of people discussing the restoration. As I said myself I was surprised as I saw the film twice during the week when it was shown for its anniversary and I was pretty wowed as well.

I do though envy Haas seeing a new movie print struck by Fox and not a digital projection which I think is mostly what you get these days. I must admit though for a strict purist like myself I don’t hate some of the digital projections I’ve seen. Brief Encounter at FF was pretty wonderful.

bigjoe59
bigjoe59 on April 21, 2019 at 4:15 pm

Hello-

to Al A.– thanks for the correction as to the length of

      Half A Sixpence's roadshow run at the Criterion 
                      which was 11 weeks not 6. but even at 11 weeks 
                      doesn't that make it the shortest roadshow run 
                      in the seven houses I listed?
                

to vindanpar- the currently available Blu-ray disc of

           Cleopatra in terms of richness of the colors
                           and the crispness, clarity and sharpness of 
                           both the picture and the multi-channel 
                           tracks is he very definition of !WOW! when 
                           Taylor descends from the Sphinx her outfit
                           is bright shiny gold with a capital G. so
                           I have no idea what the quote you quoted
                           is talking about. 
                
vindanpar
vindanpar on April 20, 2019 at 7:23 pm

Do Cheyenne Autumn, Hallelujah Trail and even Fall of the Roman Empire exist any longer in 70mm or are their negatives gone for good?

HowardBHaas
HowardBHaas on April 20, 2019 at 3:57 pm

Cleopatra’s original 1963 visual quality is what I enjoyed in 70mm in August 2018 at the Museum of Moving Image via the new print struck in 2006 by Fox. Real film, not digital pixels.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on April 20, 2019 at 3:37 pm

There were some other missteps in that range such as “CHEYENNE AUTUMN” and “THE HALLELUJAH TRAIL”.

vindanpar
vindanpar on April 20, 2019 at 2:55 pm

Is that a record for shortest roadshow run in NY? Poor Half a Sixpence. It’s a stunningly designed Edwardian musical. Visually gorgeous with some sensational Gillian Lynne numbers who went on to gain fame as the choreographer of Cats and Phantom. I guess Tommy Steele on film was a bit much but it does have the wonderful Julia Foster straight from Alfie.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on April 20, 2019 at 1:50 pm

“HALF A SIXPENCE” ran for 11 weeks as a Road Show at the Criterion.

vindanpar
vindanpar on April 20, 2019 at 12:52 pm

By the way I have not seen the bluray of Cleo but I assume it is from the 50th anniversary restoration I saw which I thought magnificent as stated above. However there are those on threads on bluray.com who think it is a botched job with some of the colors poorly judged and a lost opportunity claiming the film will never be seen again in it’s original visual glory. This was very surprising to me.

One quote ‘Yup, totally agree. In the documentary they’re all set to film Cleopatra’s entrance into Rome when director of photography Leon Shamroy called a halt, the light wasn’t quite right, & what did they end up with on the Blu-ray? A scene that could have been shot on Scotland in the winter. The whole film is too cool, & the colours have been mucked about with, all the yellow has been taken out, all the gold bling the Cleopatra wears now looks like silver. I still have the Blu-ray, I don’t know why, I’ll never watch it again.’‘ I agree with what others have said, this needs to be re-color timed, but first it needs an 8K scan. I’ll be very surprised if any of that comes to be.’

As concerns Half a Sixpence the run might have been longer as it played at the Criterion for Easter so probably had at least a two month run as Easter was in mid April and the film opened in NY in mid February. If it closed before Easter that’s quite a disaster. I guess one has to look at Variety and the ads in the NY Times. I also believe Paramount was lying to Variety and inflating boxoffice figures at least 10k a week. Variety was not happy.

The film had a respectable road show run at the Astoria in London and was nowhere near the disaster there as it was here.

bigjoe59
bigjoe59 on April 19, 2019 at 2:58 pm

Hello-

again thanks to Al A. for your font of knowledge about the roadshow policy. of the seven houses the studios used for their roadshow engagements during the 1952-1972 period (Criterion, Loews State, RKO Palace, Demille, Warner,Rivoli Loews Capitol) the shortest roadshow run I can remember was Half A Sixpence at the Criterion which ran a grand total of 6 weeks. either Paramount or the management of the Criterion or both decided to pull the film. my point being simple- apparently if a roadshow run wasn’t doing business it would/could be pulled rather quickly. therefore I assuming that TGSET’s box office at the Warner was in fact sufficient enough to keep it there 44 weeks otherwise as HAS demonstrates the theater and or studio would have no trouble pulling it.

another thought. the blu-rays discs of Hello Dolly and Cleopatra make those two films truly come alive. anyone watching these two films for the first time on blu-ray disc will certainly wonder why they’re considered flops duds, etc… the answer is simple- they’re considered flops, duds etc…. because they cost too damn much for the dollar value of their day(June ‘63 and Dec. 69) there was no way they could possibly break even.

vindanpar
vindanpar on April 19, 2019 at 8:51 am

The history of the Rivoli as a roadshow house is a very confusing one in terms of screen size and reserved seat runs turning into continuous runs.

Dolly is probably another one that eventually showed a profit. Even Jerry Herman who did not like it when it opened came around to it. Streisand claims a lot of people tell her how much they like it at which she is incredulous. Why is she so surprised? She’s at her vocal best in terms of a movie musical. Cleopatra which I saw twice at its 50th anniversary restoration is wonderful. The flop status it was accorded at the time is totally unjust. If only the 6 hour director cut had survived. Those 4 hours flew by for me.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on April 19, 2019 at 6:07 am

My mistake on “FORUM”. Did not Road Show, at least not in NY. There in an issue between not recouping costs and “disappointing” runs. Some films like “CLEOPATRA” were labeled flops although they eventually showed a profit.

MSC77
MSC77 on April 18, 2019 at 8:19 pm

Al and Bigjoe… This is the page you might be thinking of.

vindanpar
vindanpar on April 18, 2019 at 7:55 pm

How the West Was Won ran under 44 weeks? That seems pretty surprising to me. I stand corrected. Where did Funny Thing roadshow? And to be honest I thought Mutiny was considered a major disappointment.

I guess Can Can was some sort of hit though I don’t believe there’s anyone who’s going to claim it among their favorite movie musicals. Outside of HTWWW Lion in Winter is surprising.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on April 18, 2019 at 6:13 pm

“The Lion In Winter”, “A Funny Thing Happened…”, “Can-Can”, “How the West Was Won”, and “Mutiny on the Bounty” all ran under 44 weeks first run on Road Show. Define “successes”.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on April 18, 2019 at 4:15 pm

And this series.

http://cinematreasures.org/blog/2008/9/9/remembering-cinerama

vindanpar
vindanpar on April 18, 2019 at 4:07 pm

What roadshow runs were considered successes that didn’t run at least 44 weeks?

I think the only successful film that I know of was Patton which AAlvarez explained was Fox wanting to get into general release as soon as possible because of its publicity and controversy managing somehow in this socially confusing period to appeal to both the youth market and the aging conservative population.

It seems that all the films that bombed as a roadshow were not successful in general release either.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on April 18, 2019 at 4:06 pm

bigjoe, I think the Broadway run was supported by church groups traveling to town from all over the country.

I think the site you are looking for is based on Michael Coate’s excellent research.

https://www.in70mm.com/news/2018/story/index.htm

bigjoe59
bigjoe59 on April 18, 2019 at 3:42 pm

Hello-

to Al A. as always thanks for your font of knowledge when ‘ it comers to the roadshow policy. another question. I hope to find it again but a few years I came across a site that listed Manhattan’s roadshow engagements listed by length of run with the theater listed. now I saw The Greatest Story Ever Told twice during its roadshow run “in Cinerama” at the Warner. I enjoyed it regardless of the reputation the film has. now the list stated TGSET roadshow run at the Warner lasted 44 weeks. at the time the film was a big loss for UA since it cost to damn much for the dollar value of the day to turn a profit. but if it was a disappointment for UA why in God’s name did the Warner keep it for 44 weeks? some roadshow runs that were considered successes didn’t run 44 weeks.

vindanpar
vindanpar on April 17, 2019 at 9:01 pm

I don’t remember where I read it(maybe here years ago) but I didn’t realize it until it was pointed out- the general release print of Dolly was the same length as the roadshow release, as far as I can remember nothing was cut. But strangely enough, and why this was done God only knows, two different cuts of Streisand running towards the camera in Before the Parade Passes By are used. In the roadshow release everything is fine. Nothing goes wrong. However in the general release version when she starts running she must have felt the hat coming off because she reaches up with her hand to hold the hat on her head. It is really effective and did some editor say ‘hey this is terrific, let’s replace the original hard ticket choice with this better one’?

Anybody know of other instances of roadshow versus general release where two different shots of the exact same scene were used? In fact I think this is the only instance I know of no matter the exhibition format.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on April 16, 2019 at 2:39 pm

It sounds like they didn’t have a house nut guarantee and simply broke the contract and waited to be sued. Under Walter Reade, when the Ziegfeld couldn’t get an extended house nut deal or a new film, they also closed. Most first run film contracts included a minimum number of showings per week.

bigjoe59
bigjoe59 on April 16, 2019 at 2:14 pm

Hello-

to Al A.– as always thanks for the info as you have been
kind enough to do since I discovered this wonderful a few years ago. a follow up question. a friend of mine in San Francisco told me an interesting story. UA was able to hook the Golden Gate into a lengthy enough contract for Man of La Mancha based on the previous years success with Fiddler on the Roof. unfortunately for the Golden Gate lighting didn’t strike twice. so he said week after week when the theater was playing to smaller and smaller audiences rather than lose more money they simply closed the theater. so I was wondering what ways there were for a theater to get out of a long term contract.

Al Alvarez
Al Alvarez on April 15, 2019 at 3:17 pm

bigjoe, there was usually an advance payment made by the theatre with a promise for a minimum run of x weeks. If the box office dropped below a certain point, the distributor guaranteed to keep paying the pre-agreed overhead costs (“house nut”) to stay on screen or the theatre could pull the film if the distributor did not want to keep paying. In Manhattan, even non-roadshow films were often handled this way. Many long runs at the Ziegfeld were subsidized by the distributor just to stay on screen long after they were profitable.

bigjoe59
bigjoe59 on April 15, 2019 at 2:03 pm

Hello-

a questions for anyone knowledgeable about the roadshow exhibition policy. when a theater made a deal with a company to host the roadshow engagement did they do so for an agreed period of time and if the film was popular enough to hold past the original period it was great for the theater. but what if the film didn’t exactly ignite the box office was there a way for the theater to get out of its contract?

bigjoe59
bigjoe59 on April 1, 2019 at 4:23 pm

Hello-

one of my most pleasant experiences of seeing a film at this theater was the opening day 1st performance of A Bridge Too Far. aside from from enjoying the film and getting a nice free brochure guess who was outside the theater shaking hands and greeting people as they entered? none other than Joseph E. Levine himself.

PeterApruzzese
PeterApruzzese on March 5, 2019 at 11:26 am

The Twilight Time Blu-ray of Judgment at Nuremberg is uncut and contains the roadshow elements. The Kino re-release is the same uncut version, but missing the Roadshow elements.