Come and join us tonight for a very experimental evening!
Author: alxkdd
City Limits – 1981 First Issue Cinema Special!
Recently I got hold of the first issue of the long running London listings magazine City Limits, this premiere issue was launched in October 1981 with the magazine being put together by a collective of staff that had previously worked at Time Out. What I want to look at here is the amazing cinema section, which did a great job of covering the huge amount of screenings that were happening at that time in our city. So let’s start with the very striking and bold first issue cover:
New releases this week included: Three Brothers, Lightning Over Water, Mel Brooks’ History Of The World: Part 1 and the William Hurt and Sigourney Weaver thriller The Janitor.
Recent releases and still playing include a fantastic selection of titles that have gone on the stand the test of time, including Duke favourite Babylon, John Carpenter’s Escape From New York and The Fog, The Long Good Friday and Raiders Of The Lost Ark:
There’s a huge selection of rep screenings, George Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead even gets its own image:
Of course it wouldn’t be a London cinema article without a mention of the beloved Scala Cinema, so here’s a look at what was playing that week:
The Ritzy cinema in Brixton were having a tribute season the great Peter Sellers, who had died the previous year:
Proof that free screenings have been going on for decades there was a great offer of free tickets to see Jonathan Demme’s great slice of Americana – Citizens Band.
One thing that really stands out is the sheer amount of Late Night Screenings, there’s an entire page dedicated to these and they’re not just at weekends, you could watch late night films seven days a week back then. What happened to all these late screenings, did video and TV kill them off? Were people more adventurous back then and wanted to stay out late? Here’s a look what was playing late night that week:
And here’s a final set of late night double bills that I think we could have all got behind:
So that was the state of London cinema back in October 1981, fascinating to see how things have changed and so great to compare the differences to now, I don’t think any era is better of worse, they both have their ups and downs. I do love the thought that in 35-years time someone might get hold of a vintage issue of Time Out and wonder just what the hell The Duke Mitchell Film Club was all about. We’ll see you in the front row film friends…
Heroes Three (1988) – All the strange parts
Just finshed watching the 1988 USA/Hong Kong produced action film Heroes Three, which is a fun cultural mix up, the main story is alright and it’s a good watch with plenty of fight action, but it’s all the strange stuff that pops up through the film that really caught my eye. Here’s a breakdown of some of the odder parts, starting with the very striking video art work:
Then the weirdness starts, our two heroes are on shoreleave from the Navy in Hong Kong when they confronted out of nowhere by a finger clicking mask wearing violent gang!
Next up they’re saved by the third man character, a local private investigator by the name of Hoartio Lim, one of the many things interesting about Horatio is that his office is packed with high tech futuristic hardware, including his very own Berzerk arcade cabinet!
Even the sign outside his office uses a futuristic font.
Later on the video game theme continues as they head to the Play City arcade to play Tempest.
Axes also play a big part in the film, even a frogman assassin carries an axe underwater.
While mostly being in English language there’s a few scenes here and there that feature subtitles, but not just any subtitles, these have to be the biggest subtitles I’ve ever seen.
So that’s a brief guide to the weirder parts of Heroes Three, it’s a fun watch it you can track it down, but it’s all the strange asides that make it really interesting.
Take A Chance With The Duke – Tuesday 26 May
Please note this month we’re on a TUESDAY night – Tuesday 26 May.
It’s that time of the year again – yes, May – when we celebrate our very own Evrim’s birthday by handing him the reins of the night for the evening. But in true Duke fashion we’ve decided to give it a twist this year: a surprise, RARE feature that we’ll all watch for the first time as a treat.
On the night we’ll be screening the super obscure 1982 film: The Neighbourhood. Why are we watching this? Well firstly we’d never heard of it before, or even seen the sleeve on our travels but it looks and sounds so good. Secondly there’s not one second of this film available to watch online, it’s not on YouTube and you won’t find it anywhere else. Thirdly and probably most fun, the only reviews of the film that we can find online are two entries on iMDB, both of which are written by students of the film’s director Bob Jones, who now teaches film and seems to screen The Neighbourhood as part of his course.
And remember, who haven’t watched this film so we’ll be going into the evening as blind as you’ll be, so come along and take a chance with us, it could be amazing!
But that’s not all: there will be trailer trash designed to blow your eyeballs, Evrim will be bringing one of his favourite shorts of the year as a present for the audience, our quiz will feature more amazing gifts and much, much more. There might even be some news about DukeFest 2015…
The Duke Mitchell Film Club 