A reel experience

> Cinemas nowadays are a far cry of those of yesteryears where all they offered were wooden seats and unpleasant smells

Three Musketeers, Spartacus, The Magnificent Seven, or The One-Eyed Cyclops kept me glued to the screen.

The movie projector, which was also in the same hall, would ‘swallow’ the reels of film as it projected the moving pictures on the screen.

More often than not, the reel would run out of film at a cliffhanger, and groans of disappointment would follow!

The projectionist would quickly mount the next reel, until all the reels of film had run through the projector.

I used to hold the projectionist in awe, as he could single-handedly keep more than 200 people seated on the floor for almost two hours!

The occasional movie at the school hall cost me 30 sen.

But I eventually found a way to watch movies for free, when a recreational club for civil servants opposite my house in Penang started screening movies almost identical to the ones at the school hall, right out in the open every Friday.

Even though it meant having to watch the films standing, while club members sat on wooden benches, I often prayed for good weather on Friday nights!

I also followed my parents to watch Chinese movies at cinemas with only wooden seats and ceiling fans, like King Wah (where the City Bayview Hotel now stands), Sun (Lebuh Campbell), Star (Jalan Dato Keramat), and Majestic (Jalan Phee Choon).

Back then, we experienced misery if we were seated next to an inconsiderate cigarette smoker, or noisy ‘kuaci’ (watermelon seed) munchers!

But it was worse when patrons brought in rojak buah mixed with pungent prawn paste, chilli and sweet sauces.

The more inconsiderate ones would even dump their rojak buah wrappers under their seats! That really raised a stink in the days until rojak buah was banned.

These days, you still get distractions in the form of people rustling their bags or drink cups to announced that they’re ‘fully equipped’ with cinema snack essentials of popcorn and fizzy sodas.

I still get irked by cinemagoers who constantly cross or shake their legs, and knock into the back of one’s chair.

To avoid all this discomfort, I always choose seats in the last row, or else I will give the movie a miss, no matter how good the review, or the cinema hall itself.

Today’s cinema halls are certainly a far cry from those of half a century ago. We now have 3D halls, which I don’t relish because of the 3D effect on me.

I hear there are even 4D cinemas, with vibrating seats. It must be like watching a movie on an express bus!

Of late, I’ve stumbled into cinema halls touting bigger screens, or halls just for kids.

But I’ve avoided the ones

with bean bag seats because I shudder to think how I would have to pull my huge bulk up after the movie. I may need a minicrane!

Cinemagoers these days can also be pampered in luxury, in seats like those in the business or first class section of fullservice airlines, with names like Premium, Gold, or even Platinum.

There are even blankets, pillows, and on-call food and beverage services, just like on board an aircraft. Except that you can’t order rojak buah or kuaci.

Jeff Yong, after making his mark in the twisty maze of mainstream journalism, has finally decided to enjoy what he does best – observing the unusual and recounting the gleeful. He can be contacted at lifestyle.borak@gmail.com.