Over-long films? Give us a break!
AS A retired cinema proprietor, I read with interest the article comparing the long running times of feature films today — the latest James Bond movie No Time To Die is two hours and 43 minutes — with those of the past (Mail). As the Mail’s film critic Brian Viner points out, many cinema classics, such as High Noon (one hour and 25 minutes) are concise. In the 1950s and the 1960s, long films such as Cleopatra (three hours and 53 minutes), Ben-Hur (three hours and 42 minutes), The Sound Of Music (two hours and 54 minutes), South Pacific (two hours and 52 minutes) and The Bridge On The River Kwai (two hours and 42 minutes) were given the ‘theatre’ treatment with an interval and an orchestral ‘play in’ to the second half, which made the performances special. This also helped the cinema maximise its revenue through the intermission kiosk sales. In the late 1980s and into the 1990s, films started getting longer, but without an interval. As an exhibitor, this could cause me problems. A lot of projection equipment could not run for longer than 120 minutes without having to stop. So cinema managers inserted their own intermission at what they considered a suitable point. These intervals would not only see good sales at the kiosk, but queues at the toilets. I often had to delay the start of the second half when there were patrons waiting to use the facilities. However, now cinema is all digital, there is no longer a technical reason to have an intermission. I’d suggest this probably leads to a lot of crossed legs! I fear film-makers don’t consider the audience enough and lengthy films can mar the cinema-going experience. I attended the Royal Film Performance of Titanic (three hours and 14 minutes) when the facilities were closed ten minutes before royalty arrived and remained shut until they left. I did not enjoy the last 40 minutes of the film. When my cinemas screened it, we put in an intermission. I shall not be attending marathon screenings of the latest films and will wait to watch them on TV with the remote pause button close at hand!
BRIAN J. F. BULL, Cardiff. LET’S hope the latest Bond film is never shown on a commercial TV channel. With the addition of commercial breaks, you’ll need a spare four hours to watch it.
PETE WILLIAMS, Hayes, Middlesex. FED up with the offerings on TV, my wife and I have started watching films from the 1950s and 1960s. How refreshing that the plots have a beginning, middle and end. There is little gratuitous violence and Cary Grant doesn’t emerge from the lavatory to warn Deborah Kerr: ‘Darling, I wouldn’t go in there for the next five minutes if I were you!’