The Day Jet Li Visited The Prince Charles Cinema

17/02/201417/02/2014alxkdd

With our Shaw Brothers Tribute only one week away we’re dedicating this week to posts about classic martial arts film screenings in London, from special guest events, to film festivals and even back to the 1970s for some vintage double-bill screenings.

Today we’re taking a look at a very special event: The Day Jet Li Visited The Prince Charles Cinema – yes Sunday 13^th October 1996 was the day Jet set foot on the stage at the Prince Charles and it’s a day that’s been stuck in my memory ever since, simply because I was lucky enough to be there.

The day was put on by the kings of kung fu screenings at the time: Eastern Heroes. Having lost their spiritual home The Scala a few years before, they’d now moved location to the Prince Charles and it was there that the 3 film event kicked off at the early time of 10.30 with a screening of the then very new Jet actioner Dr Wai. My actual memories of the films aren’t that clear, what I more remember about the day was the incredible atmosphere, whistles were handed out to everyone in the queue, the house was packed and everyone was so up for a good time. The films played great, especially the second film of the day, the absolute classic Fist Of Legend which caused everyone to the cinema to go into fits of wild screaming and whistle blowing.

Then before the third and final film of the day, Black Mask, it was time for Jet to take the stage, the place went wild, he was preceded by a dragon dance, the atmosphere was electric and it felt like the cinema itself was going to explode, people were going wild. But don’t just take my word for it, you can watch the whole thing on YouTube right here:

Now as to why this event was so special to me was what happened next, there was a prize draw to win one of three Jet Li film posters, which you could collect from the stage, meet Jet and he’d sign the poster for you. As you can imagine everyone in the cinema wanted to win, everyone that is except me, not that I didn’t think it was a great idea I just don’t really collect signed items, I was hoping someone who really wanted one would win. So when it came down to the third and final prize draw can you guess who won? Yes it was me! So I managed to fight my way to the stage, met Jet, he misunderstood how to spell my name and had to cross it out on the poster. Now I had an original Golden Harvest theatrical one sheet for Fist Of Legend, signed by Jet, which even I suddenly realised was actually very cool. Everyone else seemed to think so as well, people started offering me money for it right away!

After that Jet left the stage to much applause and then it was time for Black Mask. It was a fantastic day: it you look closely you can see my leg while I’m onstage in the video, I still have the poster, it’s a little bit battered but still in ok shape, though my ticket has long gone.

Tomorrow on the blog we’ll be looking at the guys behind this event: Eastern Heroes, who practically owned martial arts screenings in London through the 1990s!

Your Eyes Vs Plaza Theater, El Paso, Texas

14/02/2014alxkdd

Got your shades on? Yes? Ok well now you can look upon possible the most dazzling, overpowering and downright wild cinema exterior I’ve ever seen. Welcome to the Plaza theatre, El Paso, Texas circa 1962.

Yes once you actually got inside to watch Dr. No you probably wouldn’t have be able to see anything as your eyes would have been overload with all that ballyhoo showmanship outside. Now how about we all go and watch Hitchcock’s The Birds? Shades at the ready?

The Plaza Theatre started life in 1930 and operated as a multi-purpose venue, hosting theatre productions, music concerts and of course film screenings. Over the decades it had it’s up and downs but we’re happy to report that it’s still open and going stronger than ever now, thanks to an extensive refit back in 2006. The best thing? Check out how it looks now, yes it’s still trying to destroy your eyeballs with light!

Plaza Theatre, El Paso, Texas – The Duke salutes you!

Sammy Davis Jr Vs Laserdiscs

06/02/2014alxkdd

Today we’re taking a look at the great Sammy Davis Jr and his love of all things technologically new, specifically where it relates to his lifelong love of watching films. Sam’s second book “Hollywood In A Suitcase” is a great start to understanding the man and his love of movies, for not only did he like appearing in them, but he had a huge love of watching them as well.

A good example is that while appearing live in Las Vegas Sam had 35MM projectors installed in his rooms and the hip place to be every evening after his show was the film screening party he’d throw at the end of the night. A classic film would screen, the drinks would flow and everyone had a good time, so good in fact that Sam would get blamed for hogging all the show girls who’d make a b-line for his pad after their gigs had finished.

Below is a great picture of Sam conducting a business meeting in 1966, he’s sat in front of what would then be the height of technology, an all equipped desk that looks like something out of a Sean Connery Bond film.

Skip forwards 8-years to 1974 and we can see Sam relaxing at home in what looks like a basement, surrounded by very early video tapes and a wall of vinyl albums, as well as some super stylish trousers.

Now we get to the really good stuff, here we can see a much more detailed picture of what looks like the same room, but now it’s 5-years later and once again the technology has been updated, a bigger screen, smaller screens inserted into the walls, various other bits of equipment are also on display, but it’s the Laserdiscs that are really cool. Or should we say DiscoVision as that what Sam is actually holding in the bottom picture, Jaws 2 to be exact. Yes the DiscoVision was an early forerunner to the Laserdisc and helped to pave the way for the digital medium that slowly took hold through the 80s & 90s, then exploded in the 2000’s with DVD. Though if we had our way we’d still be using the name DiscoVision!

Also of note is that you can see more of Sam’s record collection, sections include: Jazz, Garland (Judy), Crosby (Bing), Cole (Nat King), Movies, proving that Sam was a man of great taste in music as well as movies.

So there you go, Sam was one of us, a true movie fan through and through and you can imagine that if his den was updated today you’d see state of the art Blu-ray players, a gigantic projector screen and who know what else in the future!

Sir Run Run Shaw

05/02/2014alxkdd

Last week our host Evrim Ersoy was on Radio 4 talking about Sir Run Run Shaw – you can listen to his brief segment here – near the 26 minute mark.

Listen to Evrim on Last Word here

Sir Run Run Shaw was a legend in more ways than one – not only as he behind the Shaw Brothers studio but he also was an incredible philanthropist, reportedly donating over 5 billion pounds into charities (mainly education) over the course of his lifetime.

His achievements in film are enough to make anyone envious – Shaw Brothers were a powerhouse of a studio – fifteen soundstages with 1500 employees, there were more than capable of matching the film industry of the West and more.

But it was their way of innovating the old Chinese martial arts classics which really cemented their position within the film industry – they took a genre which, by then, was beginning to show its’ age and rejuvenated it: it was during their height that the films started exhibiting some incredible characteristics: from violent anti-hero’s to strong central female characters, these were the wuxia films but not as the audience knew them.

Sir Run Run said it was their duty to take the 5000 year history of China and make it an integral part of their productions – and to this end he kept his word. The stories were all familiar to local audiences – it was the technique and the dedication which elevated the productions; not to mention the quality of acting, production and even style.

Their involvement in Western productions also lead to some incredible films getting made – the best known, perhaps, being ‘Blade Runner’.

The Duke cannot think of a more deserving and worthwhile figure to pay tribute to and on February 24th, for one night only The Phoenix Artist Club will become Hong Kong where the Shaw Brothers studio will live one again.

Further details will follow – until then Gong Hey Fat Choy !