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Its Intermission time folks! from cinema to home cinema

post #1 of 31
1/30/07 at 3:51pm
Thread Starter 

Reading though the 2001 A Space Odyssey thread something caught my attention, intermissions well I haven't seen an intermission projected here in the UK since 1995's 70mm presentation of My Fair Lady at Bournemouth's ABC screen #1, which ran for 2 hours 51 minutes.

Since then 1989's Born on the Fourth of July which ran for 2 hours 23 minutes.

Lawrence of Arabia re-realise 1988, 3 hours 43 minutes The Towering Inferno 2 hours 49 minutes.

With the introduction of laserdisc and DVD over the years some of the above titles I have seen in the cinema with intermission was kinder like whoa what's happening? You're dad says it's called the intermission now ran along and get some ice cream, chop, chop now.

Over the years I've slowly picked up a few likable classics with intermission re-introduced back into the films program for nostalgic reasons I guess.

Films on laserdisc and region 2 DVD with intermissions.

The King and I region 2 DVD
Ben-Her region 2 DVD
The Sound of Music region 2 DVD
South Pacific region 2 DVD
Doctor Zhivago region 2 DVD
Ice Station Zebra region 2 DVD
West Side Story laserdisc, region 2 DVD
Spartacus region 2 DVD
Lawrence of Arabia region 2 DVD
My Fair Lady region 2 DVD
2001: A Space Odyssey laserdisc, DVD

I can't figure why Born on the Fourth of July and The Towering Inferno on laserdisc and the later editions of DVD doesn't include the intermission?

Films on laserdisc and DVD with the missing intermission?

The Towering Inferno
Born on the Fourth of July

Intermission time YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3N_ELRw7ZI

I was looking at this above Intermission and remember seeing parts of this being played in the background of the drive-in in the film Grease 1977.


So how many films have you've seen with the intermission?
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post #2 of 31
1/30/07 at 4:03pm
In the theater- none, that I remember, apart from 2001. Does anyone know if they had the intermission during the big re-release 6 years ago? Didn't Branagh's 4 hour Hamlet run with an intermission relatively recently??
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post #3 of 31
1/30/07 at 4:46pm
I saw Lars Von Trier's The Kingdom at a theater a few years back and there was an intermission for that.

You could also talk about movies with overtures here... and in that case the last one I saw at a theater was Dancer in the Dark.

Grand Prix could be added to your list for DVDs.
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post #4 of 31
1/30/07 at 5:35pm
Gone With the Wind also had an overture.

Gandhi had an intermission when it was first released.
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post #5 of 31
1/30/07 at 6:03pm
Gandhi... that rings a bell. I seem to remember reading that it was the last film released to theaters with an intermission, which would make what I said about Hamlet wrong. Time to Google!!
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post #6 of 31
1/30/07 at 6:37pm
Thread Starter 
That's strange Born on the Fourth of July had an intermission not sure if this was included for the US run?

Gandhi 1982.
Born on the Fourth of July 1989
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post #7 of 31
1/30/07 at 6:43pm
Didn't monty python holy grail have one as a joke?
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post #8 of 31
1/30/07 at 6:53pm
I remember seeing the movie GETTYSBURG in the the theater, and that had an intermission between changing the movie reels because BOY was that long. Way too long IMHO.

I believe this was around 1994-1995.
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post #9 of 31
1/30/07 at 7:00pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by STEELERSRULE View Post

I remember seeing the movie GETTYSBURG in the the theater, and that had an intermission between changing the movie reels because BOY was that long. Way too long IMHO.

I believe this was around 1994-1995.

I have that on region 2, thou it's a dual layer double sided disc I don't remember seeing an intermission included for the DVD. I'm guess during the side break is where the intermission would have been placed.

Gettysburg 1993
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post #10 of 31
1/30/07 at 7:14pm
I'm having a lot of trouble- well, basically, I can't find a list of films with intermissions anywhere! Which is weird, because I feel like I've seen one somewhere. I did read that Gettysburg was definitely shown theatrically with an intermission, which makes it a strong contender for the most recent film to have one.
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post #11 of 31
1/30/07 at 7:38pm
Thread Starter 
FredProgGH

I guess you can Google this with multiple combinations of keywords to find the definitive laserdisc DVD list of films that contain the intermission.

So far I've come up empty handed.
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post #12 of 31
1/30/07 at 8:28pm
Yeah, I'm getting nowhere. Most of the big roadshow movies did- the David Lean epics, Ben Hur, big musicals like My Fair Lady- but I can't find any definitive list. We might have to make it ourselves!
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post #13 of 31
1/30/07 at 8:55pm
Thread Starter 
FredProgGH

Well you've come up with a win answer there, looks like we'll have to gather all the information that is about.

I started an edited version of this thread on the digital bits as well, apparently (Kingdom of Heaven) directors cut, includes an intermission on the DVD.
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post #14 of 31
1/31/07 at 3:36am
I think you'll find the LDs of OLIVER! and FUNNY GIRL had intermissions. HOW THE WEST WAS WON, too.

HELP! with the Beatles had one that lasted about 1 second.
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post #15 of 31
1/31/07 at 5:56am
Gods & Generals also had an intermission during the theatrical release (at least the showing I went to with my father). I cannot think of any movie since then, but this is also why I love watching movies at home -- I can put an intermission in the middle of a 90 minute movie if I wanted
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post #16 of 31
1/31/07 at 6:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by FredProgGH View Post

Gandhi... that rings a bell. I seem to remember reading that it was the last film released to theaters with an intermission, which would make what I said about Hamlet wrong. Time to Google!!

I was just a teen then and the only reason I remember this is because a lot of the adults went out into the lobby to have a smoke. Funny how so different things are today.
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post #17 of 31
2/1/07 at 12:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by homerx View Post

Didn't monty python holy grail have one as a joke?


Strange Brew did too.
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post #18 of 31
2/1/07 at 5:11pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by mboomgaarden View Post

Strange Brew did too.

Someone already mentioned it, but I'm pretty sure The Beatles' HELP! invented the joke intermission. Of course, probably not; someone probably did it back in 1926 or something But that's the first I remember.
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post #19 of 31
2/2/07 at 6:15am
I seem to remember the Sound of Music in it's original release having an intermission. I have a vague recollection of Hello, Dolly! having an intermission as well. And an overture. Back in the 60s when they were doing these big budget musicals, they tried to make it more like going to the theater, so you got the overture, and the intersmission. I even rememeber that when we wernt ot The Sound of Music, my Dad bought the tickets ahead of time, just like going to the theater.

Speaking of overtures, I have a VHS Box set (OK, no laughing) of the first 5 Start Trek movies and at least the first one has an overture.

Here's a "not really supposed to be" an intermission story. We went to see Gangs of New York in a relatively new theater in a small town (OK, MAYBE it qualifies as a city) about 75 miles north of Green Bay, Wisc. This was during it's first run. About halfway through, the film, in mid-sentence, just slows down and stops and an intermision slide pops up. After 5 minutes, the film started right back up from where it stopped. And then about 30 seconds later, the scene ended. They couldn't have at least waited 30 seconds? No, it was 9:55 and the snack bar closed at 10:00. Gotta have that full five minutes to get to the snack bar! It was about the hokey-est thing I've ever seen!

Tom
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post #20 of 31
2/2/07 at 9:20am
The "The Great Race" has an intermission too.
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post #21 of 31
2/14/07 at 12:03pm
Just picked up the Collectors Edition re-release of South Pacific, part of a new set of essentially all the R&H musicals. I learned something I had not realized. There was a "road show" version of the film with about 15 minutes of additional material, as well as an intermission and "entre acte" music lead-in to "Act II", kind of like the music-only pre-show section before "Act I".

Anyway, the new DVD has BOTH versions. The more familiar version with no intermission is on disc 1 and has been beautifully restored and remastered (with a "5.0" soundtrack...guess in 1958 they didn't have any idea about separate LFE!). The road show version is on disc 2, but the supplemental material has NOT been restored, so the jump from pristine video to somewhat faded and jumpy scenes and back is a bit jarring. They state that the original elements for the supplemental material (maybe an early interpositive?) was not available to work from. It was very interesting to see scenes that I never recall seeing before, including a few that change the plot flow a bit.

BTW the extras include a B/W segement from an early live TV show where Mary Martin and Ezio Pinza reprise their roles from the B'way production in "Some Enchanted Evening" and "A Wonderful Guy", an interview with James Mitchner (1983, 60 minutes, Diane Sawyer), Mitzi Gaynor's original screen test for the film, etc. Nice package of historical info in addition to the film.

Mike
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post #22 of 31
2/14/07 at 2:14pm
I believe "Its a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" had an intermission.

This was one of the funniest movies ever, and had the greatest collection of current comedians ever in one movie. A true classic, and also there were a ton of great car chases too, and big music. This movie had it all.
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post #23 of 31
8/14/07 at 10:59am
Does anyone know if any of these old intermission and introduction animations used at old theaters and drive-ins are available on any sort of modern format like a DVD or something? I see tons of them all over Youtube and the like but I would love to have cleaner, higher resolutions versions to play with (even if the audio is scratchy and the transfers are dirty, heck that adds to the nostalgia somewhat I'm just not into the giant pixels).

Thanks in advance!
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post #24 of 31
8/14/07 at 11:09am
Quote:
Originally Posted by khyron View Post

Does anyone know if any of these old intermission and introduction animations used at old theaters and drive-ins are available on any sort of modern format like a DVD or something? I see tons of them all over Youtube and the like but I would love to have cleaner, higher resolutions versions to play with (even if the audio is scratchy and the transfers are dirty, heck that adds to the nostalgia somewhat I'm just not into the giant pixels).

Thanks in advance!

Yes there are two discs called Drive in Disc vol 1 an2 which have these. This includes the dancing hot dogs 10 minute count down etc. They are anamorphic and 16 x9 and look great.

Art
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post #25 of 31
8/14/07 at 11:41am
The movie GODS AND GENERALS had an intermission, too. I remember that because the reviewers who were getting their panties in a knot because the movie talked about God and showed the Confederates as being some kind of Christians complained about the interminable bladder-straining length of the movie - and seemed to deliberately ignore the fact that there was an intermission. In fact, some reviews on the Internet still say it had no intermission. I don't think our theater showing was a fluke, because other reviews clearly remark that there was an intermission.
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post #26 of 31
8/14/07 at 12:18pm
There was a thread about a year ago on this same subject. But good luck finding it with the crappy search engine.
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post #27 of 31
8/14/07 at 12:26pm
When I saw Scarface in the theater it had an intermission. That's the last movie I remember seeing in the theater that had one.
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post #28 of 31
8/14/07 at 12:32pm
Here they are: I really think that these will have plenty of things that will meet ones needs for intermission material.Skip the movies the extras are what you want.

http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Discs-Vo...68604-1103349?

http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Discs-Vo...7119446&sr=1-2

http://www.amazon.com/Drive-Discs-Vo...7119446&sr=1-5





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post #29 of 31
8/14/07 at 1:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mac The Knife View Post

There was a thread about a year ago on this same subject. But good luck finding it with the crappy search engine.

Archiving happens about every 6 months. Any archived thread won't show up in current forum search engine, you have to go to the archive forums.

I guess the drive in DVDs have the "count downs", e.g. Mother is busy as a bee hive. You have left but minutes 5.

larry
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post #30 of 31
8/16/07 at 7:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by JBLsound4645 View Post

That’s strange Born on the Fourth of July had an intermission not sure if this was included for the US run?

Gandhi 1982.
Born on the Fourth of July 1989


saw both in the theater - I remember BoFJ very well - moving movie, loved it. NO intermission in the theater I saw it in.

Ganhi I think yes - but it was a longer time ago and I was 15/16, so not totally sure.
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