Page 15 - CinemaRecord #11R.pdf

For reasons of economy the theatre often closed on a Sunday but the feature would run at the Russell only to
return on Monday morning. The first half was collected by the assistant and the feature was sent the two blocks
by courier. On one Monday morning with a few hundred admissions in, the feature did Aot arrive back in time.
It was inadvertantly sent to a film lab in Elsternwick. After one of the longest intermissions in history, they finally
got their feature.
Two Melbourne Film Festivals were conducted at the Forum and the place was lit up like it seldom was. The
jewel lights in the crowns a top the towers were even illuminated. The Forums' screen was flown six feet to
enable patrons to read sub-titles. Pot plants were in abundance also. At the conclusion of the 1986 Festival the
Forum I & II closed. Ironically the movie that ran prior to this was the longest run the Forum ever had, "Back To
The Future", for almost a year. If itwas science fiction and in 70mm it ran at the Forum; E.T., Star Trek II & Ill,
2001 , The Right Stuff etc. I 've worked in over 40 theatres and this was my favorite by a mile.

With the Forums' closure in June 1986 (a final night was held a few weeks later to premiere 'Top Gun"), the
revolution was complete. The six screen Russell complex was G.U.'s sole Melbourne house.

RUSSELL
At 131 Russell Street on 23rd November, 1978 the Russell Cinemas were born. Due to long delays in completion
the original product held for opening was already in distribution i.e. "Grease". So a group of somewhat lack
lustre films heralded the opening including, "Death On The Nile", "Sergeant Peppers Lonely HeartsCiub Band"
- Bee Gees version not the Beatles, "Pretty Baby" and "International Velvet".

Never before had so many projection staff worked in one building. Ten projectionists and assistants per shift,
that's twenty per day. Each bio had two projectors per screen- at that time it was the largest projector installation
in Australia. Hoyts Entertainment Centre in Sydney only had one projector per screen for its' seven auditoriums.
Cinema 6 and 1 were 70mm equipped and the many blockbusters in the early years ensured top business.
These included "Raiders of the Lost Arc", "Beverly Hills Cop", 'The Black Hole", "Gremlins", "Star Trek" and
"Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom".

Sound quality in Cinema 6 was excellent especially on 6-track magnetic. Hugh Hudson, producer of "Chariots
Of Fire" and "Greystoke", commented it was the best he'd heard in the world. If only he knew that because of
static charges from the carpet in the bio box the nest pre selected sound format would be activated just before
the projectionist selected it with his finger i.e. the 'zap' would switch the sound.