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November 07, 2024, 06:47:18 AM

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Scala!!! (2023)

Started by Mobbd, January 02, 2024, 01:59:07 PM

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Mobbd

QuoteA feature-length big screen documentary telling the riotous inside story of the infamous sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll repertory cinema which inspired a generation during Britain's turbulent Thatcher years.

Adam Buxton mentioned this documentary on his podcast recently (and is in fact in the film). It looks quite good. Anyone seen it yet or planning to see it? It's in cinemas.


https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22179746/

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/dec/29/scala-cinema-kings-cross-documentary-outsider-cult-movie-legacy

checkoutgirl

Was the sex and drugs in the cinema itself or in the films they screened?

steveh

Used to work with someone that had been a member who said it could get busy at the more gay-oriented screenings...

Have the Blu Ray of the doc ordered as it comes with quite a lot of extra features so might have more to add on it in 3 weeks.

Minami Minegishi

Desperately keen to see this - I used to go a lot between '89-'93 and loved the all-nighters. It was indeed a seedy little place with lsd being openly sold, couples giving swift ones in the seats, massive spliffs on the go. But it was also frequented by quite serious cineastes who would get pissed off with the noise. For instance, I saw Nekromantik and Black Narcissus there on one day and the clientele were pretty much the same.

It seemed quite London-normal back then - it's only with the distance of time and gentrification that it appears so counter-cultural and subversive.

I was in the background of an ITV news report back in '91 I think which was filmed because the Scala was showing a controversial film, or perhaps lots of places were and they just did the report at the Scala. Anyway, I would love to see if they used that footage and I am actually in the film!

Mobbd

Quote from: Minami Minegishi on January 02, 2024, 02:47:01 PMIt seemed quite London-normal back then - it's only with the distance of time and gentrification that it appears so counter-cultural and subversive.

I think that's probably right. I think/hope the angle of the contributors will be "grateful for what we had"/"looking back, it was amazing."

I'm really looking forward to it. Think I'll see it at the GFT on the 12th.

Small Man Big Horse

Oddly I never went to the Scala when it was a cinema, even though I started going up to London to see films from 1991 onwards and often went to the Prince Charles and other independent cinemas, and its reputation passed me by as well. I've been a few times to see gigs there (including an all dayer in 1999) but by that point it was your standard small music venue. I'll be interested in watching the documentary to see what it was like, anyhow, so thanks for the heads up.

AliasTheCat

#6
Was too young to have visited myself, but as a teenager a few years after it closed I had a copy of Stefan Jaworzyn's Shock Xpress that had a great article about the history of the Scala that always made me wish I could have been there. I suspect the reality would not have been in the least bit romantic however.

Edit: booked to see it on Friday!

Minami Minegishi

Quote from: AliasTheCat on January 03, 2024, 11:26:28 AMWas too young to have visited myself, but as a teenager a few years after it closed I had a copy of Stefan Jaworzyn's Shock Xpress that had a great article about the history of the Scala that always made me wish I could have been there. I suspect the reality would not have been in the least bit romantic however.

Edit: booked to see it on Friday!

Stefan is in the doc so interested to hear what he had to say a good few years after Shock Xpress. I assume that other Skullflower cunt is NOT in it.

another Mr. Lizard

Made it to the Scala a few times during the late 80s and early 90s (travelling from Derby) and also attended the book launch party there a few years ago. I was there for the Stephen Apostoloff guest appearance (a small pic of the programme cover in the book is taken from my copy), for the Thundercrack! show (where me and a pal got chatting to the star, Marion Eaton, in the lobby afterwards but sadly had to decline her invite to go for a drink as we had to head to St Pancras for our train), a Monty Python/related allnighter (a real life saver, this, as I was stranded in London after seeing Michele Soavi's La Setta at another venue and missed my train home by about a minute), and for Splatterfest in 1990, amongst other occasions. I freelance at QUAD in Derby every so often, and will be introducing a screening of Scala! there later this month, double billed with Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer (the undoubted hit of Splatterfest)

AliasTheCat

Saw this this evening at the BFI, with a decent chunk of former regular attendees of the Scala in the audience, which is probably the best way to see it.
It's light on facts but full of fun individual reminiscences of the glory days from the likes of Adam Buxton, Stewart Lee and Paul Putner amongst many others.
It revived a little of the longing feeling in me that I'd missed out on something I would have very much enjoyed, and it was very nice to hear from people who didn't conform to the norms of sexuality and gender talking about how they felt accepted for who they were there.
A fun watch, but it won't tell anyone familiar with the subject matter much they didn't already know.

Cuntbeaks

Never had the opportunity to attend The Scala, but was fully aware of its existence. The all-nighters sounded incredible and I often wondered, and still do, why can't similar endeavours be replicated in this day and age?

kaprisky

The BFI IMAX are replicating an all-nighter on Sat 27th Jan as part of the season to accompany Scala!!! Consists of An American Werewolf in London, The Creature from the Black Lagoon (3D), Videodrome, The Incredible Shrinking Man and A Nightmare on Elm Street.

Pricing is £26-£22 and runs from 2230 to 0715 the next morning. Sounds great in theory but in practice you would probably sleep through the last two films. Ideal stuff if you miss the last train/bus home.

I suspect the reason they don't do these things nowadays is because staff want to bugger off home after a shift, not babysit the general public all night.

another Mr. Lizard

QUAD in Derby has run several over the years, including the annual Halloween weekend 'Dead & Breakfast' event with five or six horror movies followed by a free breakfast bap and cuppa as you stumble out of the final film.
They also did an 80s action movie allnighter, and an ambitious 'extreme horror' one which was very much in the Scala line but sadly was only attended by a handful of viewers ('Song of Solomon', 'Black Devil Doll from Hell', Ron Bonk's 'She Kills' and two or three others making up the bill)
QUAD's predecessor in Derby, the Metro Cinema (1981-2006) seemed to base much of its programming on the Scala - I wonder if they had some kind of arrangement with Stephen Woolley, Jane Giles and co, as many of the films screened in King's Cross would appear in Derby a few months later. I was never out of the place and it was really something to have a little mini-Scala on my doorstep. Other towns and cities had their arts centres and so on, but I'm not aware that any others copied the Scala programme so faithfully.

Captain Crunch

I saw this on Tuesday with an exciting live in-person Q&A featuring Viz scribbler Davey Jones.  It's fine, pretty fluffy with a couple of glaring turds in the swimming pool.

Obviously

Spoiler alert
James O'Brien
[close]

But more so

Spoiler alert
The death stuff.  I could be wrong but that bit about the customer dying, it felt like it was played for laughs, really ham-fisted.  I might be a bit skewed because I was stuck next to a horrible pissed couple who found it hilarious but it did jar. 

More so the suicide bit was just so tone deaf.  In the Q&A Ali Catterall made a big fuss and was saying how loads of people asked him to cut it and he said no no no and dug his heels in and INSISTED it stay in and blah blah blah.  Hopefully he'll look back in a few years and realize how clunky and insensitive it looks.
[close]

But otherwise a nice diversion. 

Mobbd

Just watched it at the GFT. Pretty decent if you ask me. They did well to get so much archive. And they didn't lean too much on famous faces: most of the people in this were creative filmy people but not household names.

"Did you like that? Well that's my PISS!"

The original Scala staff are still look cool and well.

Danny from Withnail was good.

Paul Putner was brilliant.

I didn't mind the suicide chapter personally. It wasn't treated with levity. It was spoken of respectfully with atmospheric buffers before and after.

A trigger warning for suicide from BBFC might have been nice though: it was rated 18 and we were warned by the certificate of "strong real sex." This must have been the super-brief (like, literally, 1-second) clips from Jarman films and the likes. Not strong. Might have been real but who cares? Weird. But no heads up for suicide.

Sebastian Cobb

Saw this and really enjoyed it.

Don't suppose it's possible to find a list of films mentioned in it. There's a few I tried to make a mental note of but will almost certainly forgret.

Mobbd

Quote from: Sebastian Cobb on January 14, 2024, 11:59:46 PMSaw this and really enjoyed it.

Don't suppose it's possible to find a list of films mentioned in it. There's a few I tried to make a mental note of but will almost certainly forgret.

Yeah, I wanted to watch the rude one. Raw Flesh or something? Memory like a fucked-up sieve.

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: Mobbd on January 15, 2024, 04:45:55 PMYeah, I wanted to watch the rude one. Raw Flesh or something? Memory like a fucked-up sieve.

Still looking for this in the meantime I've found a list of films that would've been in keeping in what it would've shown had it stayed open.
https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/lists/scala-spirit-30-transgressive-films-perfect-raucous-midnight-screening

Captain Crunch

The really rude one was Thundercrack! That clip got them the 18 cert.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thundercrack!

AliasTheCat

We're now the proud owners of an original Scala programme poster from the Tottenham Street days. It wasn't expensive and is very cool. 

Mobbd

Quote from: AliasTheCat on January 19, 2024, 05:49:26 PMWe're now the proud owners of an original Scala programme poster from the Tottenham Street days. It wasn't expensive and is very cool. 

Nice one! I thought about seeking out one of those too. What are some of the films on your one? And do you think it is pre- or post- the designer being on acid?

AliasTheCat

Definitely pre-acid I reckon, though I'll keep my eye out for some of the later ones as they're awesome.
The pink side looks nicer but the blue side (arguably) has better Scala films


Edit: Bah, can't seem to upload the image but will try again later- films include El Topo, Eraserhead, In the Realm of the Senses, Reefer Madness etc etc



Mobbd

Quote from: AliasTheCat on January 19, 2024, 10:39:12 PMDefinitely pre-acid I reckon, though I'll keep my eye out for some of the later ones as they're awesome.
The pink side looks nicer but the blue side (arguably) has better Scala films


Edit: Bah, can't seem to upload the image but will try again later- films include El Topo, Eraserhead, In the Realm of the Senses, Reefer Madness etc etc




Awesome! Did you get it on eBay? Can you link to the original image at the listing?


AliasTheCat

Finally! Sorry they're huge, but that took more attempts than I'm comfortable admitting.

It's quite reserved by the latter design standards, but it's got some great films and is an early one. As I say, they're really not all that expensive, so I'll keep an eye out for some more flamboyant examples. 

mhmhmh

I'm glad that they referenced the Laurel and Hardy films on Sundays, remember going to one or two of them. The poster is great - look at all those double bills. Different every day, they must have had a great job storing all those reels. There used to be a few rep cinemas in London would do that, at least on some days, I miss that. And Continuous Programmes - come in and stay as long as you want. Often, not at the start of the film, back in the day - 'this is where we came in'.

RicoMNKN

Quote from: Mobbd on January 15, 2024, 04:45:55 PMYeah, I wanted to watch the rude one. Raw Flesh or something? Memory like a fucked-up sieve.

I'm guessing you mean Café Flesh.

I found this list after watching the doc, which has led to a lot of things going on my watchlist.
https://letterboxd.com/shortbread/list/scala-cinema-kings-cross-london/

Sebastian Cobb


another Mr. Lizard



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