1 hour ago, jerrymahoney said:

my favorite during my years living on west 57th street midtown Manhattan

https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/6011

I worked there. They also owned The Bleecker Street Cinema downtown. So it was Virdiana uptown and Putney Swope downtown.

 

They ran it like a film studio with the hits underwriting the losers- the hits being, in order (circa '76):

 

Story of O/Emmanuelle

2001

It's A Wonderful Life (at Christmas time).

 

Meanwhile, Jules and Jim/The 400 Blows might draw 20 tickets on a rainy Wednesday night.

 

And: Let us look back to a wonderful time when you could take your straight arrow, pre-feminist girlfriend out on a Saturday night to sit through Story of O. Those days are gone for good.

 

 

They also had a big Wurlitzer theater organ for silent movies the one I remember was von Stroheim's Greed.

 

Carnegie Hall Cinema (c.1959-1997)
► II/5 "Style 150" Wurlitzer, Op. 2095 (1931)

On 8/12/2023 at 6:36 PM, LaosLover said:

Everything you mention is something I envy people watching for the first time.

 

Do-Des Ka -Dan, Kurosawa's first color film, should also be on the list. The 5 1/2 hour 7 Samurai -have you endured it? I'm going to call that an 8 pee-break film.

 

And for the super-patient: Tokyo Story.

 

On Youtube for free:

 

-Will def watch. It's been years since I saw a 5* Asian movie.

 

Also patience-testing (but in vibrant color and a collection of short stories:

 

 

 

I didn't care for Dodesukaden and it was a critical failure in Japan. I have the DVD in a box somewhere. I might dig it out again. 

 

Dreams was o.k. in parts.

 

To Live is a masterpiece imo.

 

Tokyo Story is on many critics top five list and rightly so. Yasujiro Ozu is my favourite Japanese director. Ozu, Naruse and Mizoguchi are the acknowledged big three.

 

There isn't a 5 1/2 hour version of Seven Samurai as far as I am aware. The Criterion Collection version at 207 minutes is the longest I know of.  I thought The Magnificent Seven was a decent western remake for once.

 

Enjoy your viewing.