Welcome to FWRA
FWRA Chief Blogger
I’ve always loved the movies, with a particular interest seeded when I saw The Marx Bros A Night At The Opera in a high school gymnasium around 1970. Within a couple of years, I became a regular patron of some of Toronto’s repertory / art movie houses like The Roxy on the Danforth and The Revue on Ronscevalles — and a few others that have closed (in fact, sadly, they’ve all closed now). Lots of highlights: Casablanca on the big screen; Vonya i mir (aka War and Peace) in the Russian original where they served authentic borscht at intermissions; and 2001: A Space Odyssey at the Glendale, in its original run, in all its glorious 70mm 6 track sound (the theatre, torn down, is now a car dealership … revenge sometimes comes slowly …).
Then there were movies on TV. Like many Toronto locals, TVO Channel 19 was weekly “must see TV” when Saturday Night at the Movies was hosted by the always effusive, and ever informed, Elwy Yost. (Yost retired in 1999 and lives in West Vancouver; he’ll celebrate his 85th birthday in 2009.) This is likely the first place I saw Laura, and other gems from the golden age. TVO, of course, was commercial free — not even breaks for fund-raising telethons!
Although I acquired a handful of films on VHS (and recorded TVO on Beta before that), it wasn’t until a few years ago that I renewed my interest in film as “serious” art vs. occasional entertainment. Particularly in the past few years, studios have become diligent about releasing their catalogues in genuinely good prints, with additional materials, and an eye to remastering everything in HD (even if not releasing that way yet). And of course, TCM (Turner Classic Movies) provides an oasis for all film buffs where one can gorge on 100s of movies a month without commercials, plus enjoy back-to-back snippets of interviews and lots of full-length documentaries.
The happy situation today is access to movies in the home, of very high quality and relatively affordable widescreen large screen viewing. Granted, it’s a different experience watching a movie at home alone, or with a few others vs. a darkened theatre with hundreds of others, and the smell of hot buttered popcorn wafting about; but the trade-offs in being able to explore so much cinema more than balances out. Virtually everything in this blog will have been viewed in this way — back-lit LCD electrons instead of projected light through film. Some may complain; but it doesn’t make an Ingrid Bergman performance any less magical for me.
You are welcome to share your own impressions; please feel free to use the comments!
Alexander Inglis
Toronto, Canada
3 May 2009