Röda Kvarn

Röda Kvarn (English: Red Mill) was a cinema in Örebro, Sweden, that was established on December 5, 1917 and closed in September 1988. It was originally named “Imperial” but this was changed to “Röda Kvarn” in November 1927 after a major rebuilding. More specifically it used to be called “Nya Röda Kvarn” (New Röda Kvarn) due to another cinema in Örebro already having the name of Röda Kvarn (the one now called Bio Roxy). It was labelled as a cinema-theatre (theatre as referring to live stage performances, Swedish: biografteater) and owned by Svensk Filmindustri (SF, meaning “Swedish Film Industry”), which prior to 1922 was named “Skandinaviska Filmcentralen” (Scandinavian Film Central). It was located on Storgatan 21 in the city centre, in an area of Örebro that is considered nationally important for its cultural value (riksintresse för kulturmiljövården).

During the silent cinema era, the films were shown accompanied by music from a five-person orchestra, and the cinema was generally considered luxurious also due to its artistic interior. In 1929, Röda Kvarn became the first cinema in Örebro to screen a sound film. The 1927 rebuilding was done by architect Joel Lundeqvist in a style that was typical for cinemas of the 1920’s, with paintings made by Knut Mathisen. The rebuilding was inspired by 1920’s classicism with Italian references, like the Italian landscape sceneries in the auditorium that gave the appearance of extending the depth of the room itself, which created a stylistically coherent interior. Details like the ceiling paintings reinforce its connection to 1920’s design style.

Before the rebuilding the cinema had 500 seats, and after it there were 626 seats (446 on the floor in the auditorium and 180 on the balcony above). We can assume that it only had one screen, since multiplex cinemas were rare and newspaper articles emphasised this aspect once they appeared, and Röda Kvarn has never been referred to as a multi-screen cinema in any article or book that we found. However, since they neither referred to it explicitly as a single-screen cinema, there is some uncertainty regarding this.

During the 1960’s specifically, Röda Kvarn screened a variety of different films. Some of these were CinemaScope western films like “Hell Bent For Leather” (George Sherman, 1960) and “A Thunder of Drums” (Joseph Newman, 1961). They showed some Swedish films, including “Life’s Just Great” (Livet är stenkul, Jan Halldoff, 1967) and “Ni ljuger” (Vilgot Sjöman, 1969). Most of the international films in our sample of newspaper advertisements were American films distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, like “North by Northwest” (Alfred Hitchcock, 1959) and as the case with that film they sometimes premiered in Röda Kvarn one or two years after its American premiere. The cinema also occasionally re-screened older films, for example “Bad Day at Black Rock” (John Sturges, 1955). In general, Röda Kvarn had four screenings per week, on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Throughout the 1960’s the schedule stayed the same, with two screenings each of these days at 18:30 and 20:30. They occasionally held matinees on Sundays as well, at 13:15 and 15:00, but not every week.

The cultural identity of Röda Kvarn is not entirely clear. It was a big cinema with a luxurious interior, located in the centre of Örebro and showed mostly mainstream films. Nothing we found in our research indicated that they showed, for example, adult explicit films or art films. Instead, it was mostly Hollywood action and drama (westerns appeared often in our sample of newspaper advertisements) and since they even held matinees on Sundays, the cinema was probably seen as a classy but mainstream place for a variety of audiences. After it closed as a cinema the building has remained practically unchanged, with a private owner, and live theatre shows were still being performed in it for a long time, using the new name Gamla Röda Kvarn (Old Röda Kvarn). During the 1990’s, the building was also used as a restaurant. Ever since October 28, 2003, it has been protected as a listed building in Sweden (byggnadsminne), due to its historical or cultural value. However, at the time of this being written, in April 2024, there are no longer any shows being performed there, and the front of the building that faces Storgatan is inaccessible due to being behind a locked gate used by a nearby apartment building.’

Bibliography:

Bebyggelseregistret. “Örebro kn, KÄLLAN 10 FD RÖDA KVARNBIOGRAFEN, ÖREBRO.” Accessed 04-15, 2024. https://bebyggelseregistret.raa.se/bbr2/anlaggning/visaHelaHistoriken.raa?anlaggnin gId=21300000014529&historikId=21000001938151

Länsstyrelsen. “Före detta biografen Röda Kvarn.” Accessed 04-15, 2024. https://www.lansstyrelsen.se/orebro/besoksmal/kulturmiljoer/fore-detta-biografen-rod a-kvarn.html?sv.target=12.382c024b1800285d5863a8b5&sv.12.382c024b1800285d 5863a8b5.route=/&searchString=&counties=&municipalities=&reserveTypes=&natur eTypes=&accessibility=&facilities=&sort=none.

Nerikes Allehanda, 01-18, 1960.

Nerikes Allehanda, 09-07, 1960.

Nerikes Allehanda, 07-03, 1961.

Nerikes Allehanda, 05-06, 1963.

Nerikes Allehanda, 02-11, 1967.

Nerikes Allehanda, 11-06, 1969.

Nerikes Allehanda, 11-08, 1969.

Rune, Alf. Filmvägen till Biogatan. Örebro: Nerikes Allehanda, 1998.

Rune, Alf. “Kan filmkvarnen räddas undan rivning?” Nerikes Allehanda, 04-21, 1988.

Unknown author. “Röda Kvarn byter återigen skepnad.” Unknown Swedish newspaper, 12-27, 1995.

Research report by Simon Larsson, Karolina Arvo, Hiroko Usami prepared for the course “Film History as a Social and Cultural Phenomenon” at Örebro University, Spring 2024 (Course leader: Kim Khavar Fahlstedt)

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