Rivoli Theatre
1620 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10019
1620 Broadway,
New York,
NY
10019
50 people
favorited this theater
Showing 201 - 225 of 1,004 comments
Saw “Judgment” at the Pantages in Hollywood in December 61’. It was a roadshow print with built in overture, intermission, enter act 2 and exit music.
Hello-
thanks to everyone for replying to my post about roadshow films and their tweaking whether in their original roadshow or their general release. now I knew the currently available dvds of The Alamo, Hawaii and The Greatest Story Ever Told were the general release cut. but I was unaware that the Blu-ray disc of Judgement at Nurenburg was not the roadshow cut. how much was cut out?
According to Variety, the German branch of 20th Century-Fox deleted all the songs. They felt that nuns singing non-religious songs would be badly received and that the film was too long anyway. When Hollywood found out, they were restored, but it was too late to revive the flop. The shortened film also ended after the wedding even after the songs were restored.
“Cabaret” was actually produced in Munich, Germany, so I don’t think that the subject matter was ever a problem.
Wonder how Cabaret did in Germany considering its subject matter.
I don’t believe that “The Sound of Music” was released in Germany with all the songs cut. But the movie did prove unpopular in both Germany and neighboring Austria, as reported in this article
Al, looks like Cinema70 took his ball and went home…
While “tweaked” may not have been industry jargon, nor might it have been apropos to the practice of trimming road show prints for additional daily screenings and/or general release, I can think of one hard ticket film where the term did apply – 2001: A Space Odyssey. Kubrick made those trims after the premiere to do exactly that… tweak the film to enhance pacing and make clearer the connection between the monolith and the evolutionary leap made by the hominids in the opening Dawn Of Man sequence.
Same goes for THE ALAMO. MGM won’t spend the money to restore the film to it’s original running time of 202 minutes. GREATEST STORY, MAD WORD, HAWAII, JUDGEMENT AT NURENBURG are just a few of the roadshow films that are no longer in their original cut.
Hello-
I thank Cinema70 for a detailed reply. maybe the term tweaked was not used in the 60s and 70s when roadshow films were shortened but its certainly a term I would use today. the edit of Cleopatra that played neighborhood theaters in NYC was the 3hr. 15mins.. but the original cut of the film which opened at this theater June of 1963 was 4 hrs. so I’m thankful that Fox kept the excised 45mins. but apparently United Artist didn’t think it was necessary to keep the trims from The Greatest Ever Told or Its A Mad Mad Mad Mad. the currently available Blu-ray disc of TGSET is 3hrs. 19mins. being a fan of the film it would be nice to see what the original roadshow cut of 3hrs. 45mins. contained. likewise when UA trimmed IAMMMMW from its roadshow cut of 3hrs, 12 mins. to 2hrs. 42mins. for the general release they apparently felt no needs to save the trims. in other words some studios were just better at keeping the trims from the original roadshow prints than others.
It was a musical, for Pete sake.
In Germany, all the songs were cut. The film, of course, failed.
to Al A.–
as always thank you for your many informative replies who’ve posted to my many queries. another thought or two about roadshows and tweaking.
*I still find it bizarre that films were tweaked while still in their roadshow runs. hey show biz is strange. but at least Fox keep the trims from the original 4hr. New York premiere cut. on Blu-ray Cleopatra defines !!!WOW!!!. on the other side United Artists didn’t have the archival feelings Fox did since the trims from the initial roadshow rubs of IAMMMMW and The Greatest Story Ever Told are probably lost forever.
*also in a previous note I mentioned after their roadshow runs films would play a 1st run theater in Manhattan on a continuous performance with say 4 shows a day by cutting the overture, the intermission, the entr'acte and the exit music. then depending on the film’s length the film itself would be tweaked before it played neighborhood theaters around NYC. this is where my question comes in- am I correct in my info that in the 3 level release pattern described The Sound Of Music was one of the very few roadshow films that was never tweaked?
Sorry I didn’t respond as I should have. Lawrence and 2001 were tweaked shortly after the films opened and were already reviewed at least by the New York press. David Lean recalls talking with David Selznick in NY after Lawrence had just opened at the Criterion and Selznick told him not to cut it. But I guess Lean got scared and did it anyway.
Not a roadshow but I saw At Long Last Love when it first opened at Radio City. I went a few weeks later and it had been cut. I have no idea why. The film had already been reviewed and word of mouth was already out. It was shorter but not better. I was disappointed as I remember at least one good song being cut.
Parade in Funny Girl is a pretty famous example of an adaption of a stand and sing Broadway song to exciting cinematic tour de force. Never heard anybody before complain about its length. It builds really well climaxing with that amazing helicopter shot.
Mike that number just went on forever.
I’d rather think of Barbra Steisand and Don’t Rain on my Parade…
Many of the Broadway to film transfers also as they were able to “expand” them. Often ran longer than the Broadway which had applause and a 15 minute intermission. Think Barbara Streisand and Don’t let it rain on my parade.
Usually due to bad reviews, bigjoe. “THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD” and “CLEOPATRA” were cases where almost all critics and test audiences said the films were unnecessarily over long.
Hello-
I thank my fellow moviegoers for their replies but my question wasn’t quite answered. I am well aware that many roadshow films depending on how long they were got tweaked before they hit neighborhood theaters in NYC. but I never understood why some roadshow films were tweaked when they were still in their 2 performance a day roadshow engagements.
There were dramatic cases like “SCENT OF MYSTERY” and “STAR!” where the roadshow run was so badly received, the edited versions even had a name change. “HOLIDAY IN SPAIN” and “THOSE WERE THE HAPPY TIMES”, in the case of these two.
The biggest hit films in the US were not tweaked and only released wide after their road show run. Perhaps they were still road show in other markets. I believe this happened with SOM. They were just shown in 35mm in continuous performances. So instead of two a day you got 3 or 4 a day. Although occasionally there were roadshow films that at holiday times were practically continuous performances with a morning, afternoon, sometimes late afternoon and an evening performance.
Also at a few theaters some roadshow movies after a while would switch at the same theater to continuous popular price performances, even switching the print to 35mm. Not often but it happened.
Hi bigjoe59, my guess would be the opportunity to advertise “Now At Popular Prices”. Here in Australia I can’t recall any “Roadshow” film hitting the suburbs (what you call neighborhood theatres) while still in its premiere release. To the best of my knowledge, no film was tweaked here for suburban release, the major difference being a 35mm print as opposed to 70mm. Indeed, the term “as originally presented” was a popular appendix to “now at popular prices”. The one exception was the drive-in circuit which dropped overtures, intermissions, ent'racte and playout for obvious reasons. The typical drive-in patron expected a double feature no matter how late.
Hello-
i’m dating myself but i fondly remember the heyday of reserved seat engagements. to which a question- depending on how long the film was after it had exhausted its first run in Manhattan it would be tweaked before playing in neighborhood theaters around NYC. but what was the point of tweaking a film when it was still in its 2 show a day roadshow engagement?
Great SOM ad posted by NYer. I was so disappointed that when SOM was brought back it was shown at the National and not the Rivoli. It would have been so great to see it there. But maybe 20th Century Fox saw that the Rivoli had booked La Mancha figuring it would play through Easter and did not want to miss a major midtown opening.
Only a few months and LaMancha was gone with plenty of time to bring in Music. It was a crazy idea to make the film hard ticket in any case. Even if it had been good(and though I’ve never seen it it’s supposed to be better than its reputation) it was not going to be in any circumstances another FOTR.
I never saw a non 70mm film either genuine or blow up at the Rivoli. When showing a Panavision 35mm print like Jaws did they fill the curved Todd AO screen with the image or was it projected with borders making the screen smaller?