quote: Louis Bornwasser

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England: Museum of the Moving Image in London

Not film, but Duxford, a working air museum with planes actually flying. A small piece of WW II preserved mostly as it was. Louis

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MoMI is long closed; must be getting on for ten years ago now. Some of the space was used as offices, but much of it is now part of the 'BFI South Bank' complex, which includes the National Film Theatre. It's close to Waterloo Stetion, and the BFI London IMAX is between the two, but if the weather is good then I'd suggest taking the Underground to Embankment station, which is on the opposite (North) side of the river. Directly outside the station (there are exits on both sides of the station, make sure you take the one on the river side) there is a railway bridge crossing the river, and on either side of this are footbridges, there are great views of London from these bridges, The road bridge to your left (East) is Waterloo Bridge, and the BFI complex is built under the South end of this. It's unlikely that you'd be able to get a projection room visit at the NFT; they don't normally allow people up there. They used to hold 'Technical Open Days' a couple of times a year with a limited number of places which had to be pre-booked, but these seem to have stopped several years ago.

A few minutes walk from Embankment Station in the other direction will take you to Leicester Square where the Odeon and Empire cinemas are. I don't know if either of these would allow a visit to the 'box'. The previous chief at the Odeon did allow visits from time to time, but he retired a couple of years ago; I've not tried at the Empire.

There is actually a Cinema at the Duxford site, the 'Astra'. It used to give public shows as part of the museum, but I think it's in a part of the site which is no longer open to the public; this was the case a few years ago. The Projected Picture Trust has some equipment there, but I've never been as it's difficult to get to. It's a part of the Imperial War Museum. Their main site is in London, not too far from Waterloo, and so could be combined with a visit to the BFI. The Imperial War Museum holds a large film archive, though not on a site open to the public; they do give film shows however.

One of the oldest purpose-built cinemas in Britain (I'm not going to say the oldest, because there are several possible contenders depending on exactly how you define the term) is the Phoenix, East Finchley. It's almost opposite East Finchley Underground station, on the other side of the road. It was built in 1910, modernised, and the auditorium turned round the opposite way and a new projection room provided, in 1938, and various other alterations were made in the '70s and again a few years ago, but the auditorium retains much of its original decoration. You would stand a reasonable chance of getting a projection room visit there; it's equipped for both 16mm and 35mm film, and digital.

If you fancy a journey of about two and a half to three hours from London you can get to Bradford. Take a train from King's Cross station to Leeds, and change there for the local train to either Bradford Interchange, or Bradford Forster Square. Both stations are just a few minutes walk from the National Media Museum, previously the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television. If you can arrange to be there on the first Saturday of the month they run 'This is Cinerama'. There's also the Widescreen Weekend, part of the Bradford International Film Festival, in March each year.
 

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Posted by Jarret Chessell (Member # 5077) on 05-16-2009, 11:48 PM:
 
These are some good suggestions. Thanks Stephen for putting in the directions. I'll be sure to print it off and take it with me. Vintage cinemas I find especially interesting. I wont be able to make it for "This is Cinerama" (Which I always thought was cool, and after picking up the blu-ray of "How the West Was Won" and seeing those special features I've really been interested in seeing a Cinerama presentation.

Also, I'm pretty pumped about Terminator: Salvation... but I'll be in Rhineland on Thursday (is that the release date over there too?). I wonder if it would still be fun to watch in German?
 

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Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 05-17-2009, 11:14 AM:
 
FYI: trains work better in the UK (& the rest of Europe) than they do in the USA.

In Munich there is one English language cinema, near the technical University. The Cinema and the technical conditions are always superb. Louis
 

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Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 05-17-2009, 11:20 AM:
 
Their universal health care system.

Let us know how that's working out.
 

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 05-17-2009, 11:25 AM:
 
Did you ever see Eurotrip?


 

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Posted by Claude S. Ayakawa (Member # 1401) on 05-18-2009, 01:27 PM:
 
On the last day during my trip to London early last year, I took a bus tour to see some famous sites in the city including Westminster Abby, Tower of London, Covent Garden where we had lunch. We also stopped and saw the royal mounted guards preparing for their daily routine as well as driving past St Paul's Cathedral, Buckingham Palace and various place around the city. I sure wish I had more time in London because it was an opportunity of a life time and there was so many other things I wanted to see. I bought a Blu Ray travelogue disc last week on the United Kingdom and it was excellent and featured tour segments on London, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. London and the rest of the UK is very beautiful and God willing, I hope to go back there again for a longer visit.

-Claude
 

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Posted by Caleb Johnstone-Cowan (Member # 3710) on 05-18-2009, 09:13 PM:
 
London is full of things to do, what you do just depends on whether you want to do the history, the modern stuff or both. The best advice is to imagine the city as about 100 different small towns or villages, then you don't get so lost.

Check out the film programme at the Riverside Studios www.riversidestudios.co.uk they are the best rep cinema in London and usually have some interesting films on.

The Prince Charles Cinema is also a good place for second-run www.princecharlescinema.com

As for films in Germany, I believe most larger cinemas on the continent have a dubbed and a subtitled print of American releases. I think the notation in the listings is OV or OmU when it has subtitles.
 

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Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 05-18-2009, 09:30 PM:
 
How about a visit to:

Lionel Fouillen
Expert Film Handler

Posts: 161
From: Liège, Belgium
Registered: Nov 2002

Try the Fries...they're delicious!

quote: Caleb Johnstone-Cowan

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Check out the film programme at the Riverside Studios www.riversidestudios.co.uk they are the best rep cinema in London and usually have some interesting films on.

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I've worked there. They actually run emulsion out on feed and take-up. Maybe one of Brad's early installs?
 

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Posted by Jeremy Jorgenson (Member # 2989) on 05-20-2009, 02:23 PM:
 
I asked a similar question a few years ago ...

Europe: Thoughts and Suggestions

most of my trip was in Eastern Europe - but there's some discussion of getting around London in there. Perhaps you can glean something from it. I also lived in Poland for 18 months, but I guess I don't really have any threads about that.
 

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Posted by Lionel Fouillen (Member # 1475) on 05-22-2009, 07:39 AM:
 
Jarret,

quote: Stephen Furley

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MoMI is long closed - Leicester Square where the Odeon and Empire cinemas are. I don't know if either of these would allow a visit to the 'box'. The previous chief at the Odeon did allow visits from time to time, but he retired a couple of years ago; I've not tried at the Empire.

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quote: Jeremy Jorgenson

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Poland

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quote: John Wilson

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Belgium

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Our fries are indeed delicious, as are our beers, chocolate, and waffles

Have a great trip anyway...
 

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Posted by Julio Roberto (Member # 4976) on 05-22-2009, 10:56 AM:
 
Not in Paris, but not too far by high speed train, in Poitiers, you could go to Futuroscope if you like film-based attractions (Imax 3D, Imax magic carpet, Omnimax/Imax Dome, a variety of digital 3D attractions and simulators, etc).

http://www.futuroscope.com/eng/attraction.php
 

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Posted by Jeremy Jorgenson (Member # 2989) on 05-23-2009, 10:23 PM:
 

quote: Lionel Fouillen

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Kijow cinema where I saw a couple of films, great theater with huge screen and appropriate masking and red curtains

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