The Bear says:A couple of weeks ago, I overheard a couple of my co-workers discussing what seemed to be a double-feature of zombie movies playing on the big screen sometime soon. On further enquiry, I learned that the venue was to be the Globe Theatre – no, not that one, this one right here in Brisbane. More precisely, it's in Fortitude Valley, just a couple of doors up from the train station in what used to be the Valley Twin cinema a long time ago (I seem to recall Dad taking me to see Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan here in 1982...) Since then, I think it's been a Chinatown cinema, an arthouse cinema (briefly) and even a cinema for the "raincoat brigade". Now it's a live music venue and about once a week shows a mid-week double-feature of classic, cult films.
Apparently, they've been doing this since 2005, so I was amazed that I hadn't heard of it until now. Perusing their list of coming attractions, I started kicking myself when I saw what I'd missed in 2008, but was happy to see a few upcoming features of interest. The first of these was this Beatles double feature. I was especially keen, because Let It Be was on the programme, easily the most obscure of the Beatles' films, and the only one I haven't seen multiple times. In fact, it would be easily 15 years since I've seen it, and even then on a very fuzzy VHS copy. And I've loved Help! ever since I saw it as part of a Beatles marathon at Annerley's old Boomerang Cinema. So, off to the Globe it was!
On arriving at the venue, we had to sign in (since they have a bar) and then waited in a lounge area until the cinema itself opened. It felt like stepping back in time. The lounge was outfitted with disco lights, armchairs, and black lights, and Beatles music was playing loudly to set the scene.
The cinema itself looks very much like little refurbishment has taken place since its days as the Valley Twin, and I tried not to think too much about the previous clientele of dirty old men.
When Help! started, I was very surprised at the quality of what I took to be the "print" . I had been expecting a faded, scratched copy of the film, but this was bright and razor-sharp. It was so good, in fact, that it was quickly apparent that this had to be a DVD copy played through a digital projector. That's good and bad. I mean, it's nice to see a clean, crisp image, but I think it lacks something in the atmosphere that seeing an old classic demands. I just think it adds something to the nostalgia of the event, like at a screening of Raiders of the Lost Ark at the Village Twin a few years ago where the first and third reels had taken on a strange, magenta tone...
Still, this is quibbling! Actually, I'm delighted that someone, anyone in Brisbane is putting these movies up where they belong – on the big screen.
I'm not going to comment on either film, except to say that Help! was as much fun as always, and multiple viewings haven't diminished that for me, and that Let It Be is what it is – a slice-of-life as the Beatles ceased to function as a creative entity.
For $13, well worth a trip back in time.
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