I surfed past this movie today, and came across the entr'acte. Struck me as kinda quaint for this genre.
So my question is: what was the last major Hollywood motion picture to feature an entr'acte? This was 1968, and I can't imagine there were any much later than this.
Well it is a pretty long movie, so I that explains the entr'acte (as well as the overture and exit music). As for others, I know Barry Lyndon had them and that was in 1975. Actually, the director's cut of Kingdom Of Heaven (2005), has them (though they were cut from the Blu-Ray).
Drop it like it's legal precedent!
intermission or "between acts" came to an end in 1982, with the showing of Gandhi.
I agree it is/was kind of a quaint term. In the 50's and 60's some movies were kind of a big deal. A few had assigned seating, kind of like a play, today. The music before, in between and after also seemed to be more of an integral part of the film.
Part of a golden era in which movies and tv were trying to determine each others place. The idea, I guess (for movies) being lets not compete with tv, ours can be grander more upscale, emphasize the huge screen and theatrical experience instead of a 14 or 18 inch tv set.
If anyone knows of a formal intermission, after 1982 please post it.
Dr Smith
There was one during The Right Stuff, back in 1983.
shareBoth "Gettysburg" (1993) and "Gods and Generals" (2003) had one, as well.
shareThere was one during The Right Stuff, back in 1983.
I remember seeing most big films in the 50-60s at movies with assigned seats. Ben-Hur, can-can, and many others. That was when only one movie house would be playing a "roadshow" big film per city. Today with big movies opening in 4,000 theaters it is not necessary.
share"A few had assigned seating, kind of like a play, today."
Assigned seating has made a comeback, at least in Australia. Hoyts cinemas now uses it, and has for the past few years.
The full length version of Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996) had an intermission.
"If you're waiting for a woman to make up her mind, you may have a long wait." Preacher
Growing up in the 60's, I went to many roadshow films that featured overtures, entractes and even exit music.. You could also buy souvenir programs with many films. I still have the programs of HAWAII, CAMELOT and BATTLE OF THE BULGE.
"We're fighting for this woman's honor, which is more than she ever did."
This thread is puzzling to me because I just watched a 35mm print of this film at the AFI Theatre and there was no entr'acte.
There was a moment shortly after they surfaced near the station that there was a strange fade-out of the sub poking through the ice. Then it immediately faded back in on an identical shot, and the men start filing out of the door on the side.
Is that where the entr'acte should be?
Yes, the intermission comes just there.
Interesting that films of this length are now routinely shown without intermissions, while modern viewers are often accused of having short attention spans...
"Duck, I says..."
I don't believe it's a matter of attention span. There are other factors at work. Theaters want to maximize the number of showings today, so a 15-minute break is money out the window for them. With multiplexes rather than the single screen theaters of yesteryear, it's more difficult to check ticket stubs for re-entry. Smoking is less prevalent today so there's no real need for smoke breaks, not to mention it's banned indoors so smokers have to go pretty far. And of course, theaters today don't really care if you miss any part of the movie. If you miss something important because you had to answer the call of nature thanks to the 64 ounce soda, they'd be happy to sell you a second ticket at full price for another showing. In the past, it was about the movie experience. Today, it's all about the profits.
shareAgreed, all about the money, today!
shareI remember going to movies in the early 70s, back when we still had double features -- and there was no clearing of the theatre between shows. If you wanted to sit through both movies two or three times nobody cared (until your mother came in to take you home).
"It's Time for DODGER Baseball!"
It was mostly for bathroom breaks and concessions. Seems really strange now, but you could smoke while watching the movie back then in many theaters. Besides smoking on airplanes and buses, it wasn't uncommon to see people smoking in grocery stores and banks - doctors would even smoke while examining you.
For all the acceptance for smoking back then, one difference today is the acceptance of smoking by minors. Back then minors smoking in public would eventually be confronted by an adult. Now they can smoke in public with impunity, as long as they follow the social rules of where to smoke. People might say something, but they don't force accountability like they did then.
Interesting that films of this length are now routinely shown without intermissions, while modern viewers are often accused of having short attention spans... - kducklin2
It is amd8404. And for some reason when they show it as they did last night on TCM, they show the overture, entr'acte and exit music. Makes no sense on TV.
shareWith TCM, it's not just about "making sense." They are dedicated to the art of film and to showing movies in their entirety, often as they were originally presented in theaters.
shareWith TCM, it's not just about "making sense." They are dedicated to the art of film and to showing movies in their entirety, often as they were originally presented in theaters. - ricoliv
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ice station zebra alert
sharenow showing on TCM with intr'acte
shareIn regards to an earlier comment about The Right Stuff. Yes, it did have an intermission in some theaters although there was no specific point in the movie since it had originally been intended to play straight through. I saw it first without then later at a different theater with a break and while audiences may have welcomed the break, in this case it broke the flow of the movie.
Also Godfather Part II played in theaters with both an intermission or not. But in that case, there is a natural break around the two hour-six minute point. But there was no entracte
The last roadshow to play with a full overture, intermission, entr acte and exit music was Young Winston in 1972.
A Bridge Too Far (1977) had an entr'acte.
shareReally, where was that? I saw it first-run and there was no intermission even though, if memory serves, there is a place for one.
shareNot sure, but I remember the school took us to see a special screening of 'A Bridge Too Far' when we were kids, and there was an intermission somewhere.
For us at that age, it was all about the ice cream lady coming in so we could buy some in the middle of the movie :).
Exactly, that's what I remember an intermission being for - where I went, they were inserted into all films to sell ice-creams for us kids. As late as 1991, Terminator II: Judgement Day and Robin hood, Prince of Thieves had "intermissions" for sure - maybe even Wayne's World the following year :D
Though, the cinema I went to as a kid looked like this :
http://www.lincolnshirelife.co.uk/images/uploads/gallery-images-general/LIAD20120109B-083_C.jpg
The image is from 1995 (a clue with Goldeneye showing), and the neons had just been put back up for the first time since World War II (they had to keep them off then for obvious reasons). But (back to the point), other reasons they probably continued adding intermissions (regardless of whether they were actually in the movie) would be for traditional reasons - it was cinema harking bark to an earlier era.
So this is planet Houston
I don't like or understand intermissions in movies, especially on a film this short. I'd say 3 hours is the minimum length to warrant an intermission. The length of this film is 2 hours 31 minutes on my player. They could've shaved of about 5 minutes by cutting the overture, intermission and exit music bits.
What bothered me even more was that at the end of part one we have Intermission and at the beginning of part two we have Entr'Acte. Why the change in language?