Thanks for the information about "LAGAAN". Since the movie is now available on home video, I think I will rent the DVD instead of seeing it at a Wallace Theatre where it is now playing here in Honolulu. As I had mentioned on another thread, Their theatres sucks big time with poor sound and projection. Not to mention their very drab decor.

By the way, "GONE WITH THE WIND" has always had an intermission ever since it was premiered in Atlanta in 1939. The break comes right after Scarlet says something like this", As God is my witness, I shall never be hungry again"

-Claude

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John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Entertainment Imaging
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7525A
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: +1 585 477 5325 Cell: +1 585 781 4036 Fax: +1 585 722 7243
e-mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
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I don't believe in intermissions because I've worked hard as a filmmaker to capture an audience's hearts and minds. I don't want to let them leave the dramatic space I've created for ten minutes so they can get more popcorn or go to the restroom. If they need a break, let them pick their own time to run to the lobby. If I do my job as a storyteller then no one will want to take a break, even after three hours. I told people "There will be an intermission in this movie over my dead body."

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FIrst of all, the moviemakers do not have any compulsion to entertain anyone. Do they ?

When they do not, why then talk of any such thing like relief at all ? Where is the need to bore people first and then to let them out ? Particularly in movies such as SIGNS where the director might have wanted to hold the audience's attention at a particular time, how inappropriate it would be to break then and let off the people out. I have done some research in my theatre and I have learnt that people mostly forget about the movie during the intervals.

People at my theatre have agreed that MOVIES are enjoyable only if their continuity is preserved.

That theatres in INDIA are really huge and in my own theatre, a sold out show holds 1156 people, the reality of the movie is thrown apart during the interval when people meet other people face to face. And, once it happens, there is nothing that can be done to get the movie look real to people.

Lets look at the whole process this way - You set down to lunch. Everything is offered on the table at once. Half way through, you get out of the dining room and spend some 10 minutes away. When you come back, how preserved is your appetite ? Movies too work similarly.

Did LORD OF THE RINGS which ran for nearly 3 hours play with intervals at US theates ?

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A KIWI eats,roots & Leaves.