Page 9 - RD_2015_12

The success of proprietors Barry
and Anthea Mc Lachlan confirms that
front of house personality and industry
savvy are the essentials to survival on
the small scale.
Barry’s solution to convert the
screen dimensions from letter-box to
Academy ratio is to slide, by hand, a
sheet of black cardboard away from the
top of the screen! In a bio-box worthy
Civic, Invercargill from the upper circle. Shakespeare’s image and words grace the
of Peter Sellars, two Ernemann II
centre of the proscenium. Image: Jim Barrand.
projectors with Ashcraft lamp-houses
performing arts; or on the west coast as and carbon arcs work on. Sound is
post-modern. Some examples: delivered through a 2A3-valve
amplifier.
Metro Cinema, Dunedin
Located in former exit space and Dorothy Browns, Arrowtown and
anterooms of the Dunedin Town Hall, Cinema Paradiso, Wanaka.
the Metro enjoys by default the prestige Worlds apart in appearance, these
exterior of an MGM flagship theatre single screens share an important
from that company's palmy days. characteristic: cinemas with attitude.
Proprietor John Wilson has fitted With shops at street level, DBs takes up
out the 55-seat auditorium with the second floor of a contemporary
comfortable high-back seats in stadium two-storey building clad in corrugated
style. In a city with two multiplexes, iron. The foyer includes a wine bar and
audience loyalty is critical to success. a snug bookshop. The auditorium,
Such loyalty has to be earned, and which seats 42 people in Gold Class
judging by our time with him -which comfort, has walls and cathedral ceiling
included a special evening show - this swathed in pink brocades. In an up-
proprietor has the personal touch and market tourist town, the admission
program judgement to survive. price matched the effect: feminine and
expensive.
Geraldine Cinema, Geraldine
Calum MacLeod, born story- teller
Writing in ‘The Australian’,
from the Aran Isles, with his NZ-born
newspaper, journalist Susan Kurasara
wife, are proprietors of Cinema
made the point that ‘tourist towns need
Paradiso (80 seats). Calum would take
enterprises with high eccentricity value
no offence to read that his enterprise is
and great reputations.’ On this basis she
op-shop retro. A conversion from an
nominated Dorothy Browns and
electrical workshop, the MacLeod
Cinema Paradiso, both in NZ as two
creation is a swipe at much of the
of her favourite cinemas. (See later.)
pretentiousness of show business.
She didn’t mention Geraldine Cinema,
but it fits her criteria.
A former town hall and library, this
cinema seats 290 in a town with a
permanent population of 2,500. It is our
nomination for the Antipodes version of
The Smallest Show On Earth.
Films started here in 1927. With
four rows of balcony seats, a simple Metro, Dunedin. From top: You wish!
proscenium and curtains, the interior The entrance is actually a side door.
looks the part. The cosy auditorium. Images: Mel Elliott. Dorothy Browns

CINEMARECORD 2006 9