It is the song of angry men

[austin_dern]

bunny_hugger and I felt like seeing a movie, so we went to the Sun Theater, a classic old-style downtown movie theater in a nearby suburb, for what we thought was their evening showing of The Hobbit. We missed. They were actually showing Les Miserables, so we got there late and to see the wrong picture. But it's a lovely old theater with your classic neon signs out front, which they turned off while we looked for parking because apparently they don't bother keeping the lights on after showtime. I understand. They need to save up for the conversion to digital projection equipment; this is certainly among the last films we're going to see with the rattle of projector noise, hair getting caught on the lens, or those coffee mug stains in the corner at reel changes.

The film, drawn from the musical, was also harrowing. Not because it isn't good; it's quite well-done, very effective. I don't know how it compares to the stage version --- while there were advertisements for it relentlessly in the New York City media markets through the 80s we never went --- but I was satisfied. But it's harrowing in that, apart from the comic relief characters of the Innkeeper and his crowd, and the personality void that is designated love interest reward Cosette, all the characters are, as bunny_hugger put it, so freaking noble. There's a lot of selflessness or dedication to higher causes or to duty in all the major folks and so there's the curious effect of feeling embarrassed that you're not living up to these better standards. At least there were for us.

Since we'd got to the theater late we missed the first fifteen minutes or so. But bunny_hugger remembered them surprisingly well from seeing the musical decades ago, and I'd seen the first twenty minutes or so of a black-and-white non-musical adaptation on Turner Classic Movies back in December, so that all turned out fine too.

Trivia: In February 1865 Julius Reuter restructured his news business as the Reuter's Telegram Company, with a nominal capital of £250,000 (10,000 shares worth £25 each; £80,000 of the capital was paid up). Source: The Power Of News: The History Of Reuters, Donald Read.

Currently Reading: Mathematics: From The Birth Of Numbers, Jan Gullberg.

Comments

[bunny-hugger.livejournal.com]

As Austin knows, but his readers may not, they're converting to digital projection only under duress: within the next year or two, film prints will no longer be offered by the major distributors. They need $80,000 to fund this conversion and have managed to earn 3/4 of it through donations so far, including from me. But I do want to try at least once or twice more to see a showing before they convert, because I found it so delightful to remember "what it used to be like" as I heard that projector rattling in the booth.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

It's surprisingly delightful to have the rattling projector and the coffee-cup stains warning of the reel change.

I do expect they'll raise the money they need --- at this point, if they were to fall (say) $15,000 short, I can't imagine a sensible bank refusing them a reasonable loan after all --- but it does look to be one of the last outposts of the actual film print era.

[moxie_man]

Several of the independent theaters around here are doing likewise-scrambling with fundraising. One of the local theaters that shows basically indy films had some semi-anon benefactors step forward to pay for the upgrade to all three of their screens. Of course, said theater is the center point of the state's largest indie film festival every summer, so obviously, some well-to-do folks didn't want to see it go away. For that festival they also use the city's opera house, which they plan to keep 35mm equipment in for older films that don't get digitized.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I'm glad the theaters are going to be able to stay in business, and I'm glad they're keeping a 35 mm projector. There is something nostalgically sweet about the rattling of the machinery, plus it gives Buster Keaton something to hop into.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, the 'New York Times' mentioned Les Miserables in their Civil War blog yesterday. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/09/in-camp-reading-les-miserables/

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I heard about that from one of the alternate history newsgroups, it happens. I have to grant that by strict deductive logic, the original writer had a point: we can't make any compelling inferences once we assume a counterfactual. But there's clearly something which is conveyed by the idea of considering an alternate history, and it's not satisfied by saying that anything goes once the initial departure is granted.