MovieChat Forums > Funny Girl (1968) Discussion > Intermission

Intermission

posted 18 years ago by yozzer1966
7 replies | jump to latest

Myself and some friends have a cinema club on Saturdays. Today we watched Funny Girl. I last saw it about twenty years ago one afternoon on television and enjoyed but have to admit I was a bit wary today when I saw the running time was two and half hours. But it didn't seem like it at all - it flew by - and I have to say I heartily recommend this film.

Am sure enough has been written about it so just thought I'd share this with you. The dvd has an intermission on it! It comes on about an hour and half into the film and lasts for about five minutes. Couldn't believe it. Does anyone know if this is the way it was originally presented in the cinema? Also, the whole overture plays at the beginning on a black screen. I was panicking that the projector wasn't working!

Cheers

Steve

[–] DryToast 18 years ago

Many long movies of the 1950s and 1960s were shown in theaters with intermissions and many of the DVD releases generally try to preserve this, especially the special edition DVD releases of films considered prestigious.

There was an interesting thread on the Classic Film board searching for the earliest film that was originally presented in a theatre with an overture (as you describe, before the film, with no visuals, usually with the screen's curtains closed). I believe the earliest titles went back to the 1930s and the list did not include only musicals. (Many DVDs do try to supply a visual along with the overture to reassure you that nothing's wrong with your equipment.)

E quell'arco. Lo vedete. Non ho dovuto mai dormire sotto quell'arco!
Bene, forse una volta... due volte.

[–] sdgresham 18 years ago

(Many DVDs do try to supply a visual along with the overture to reassure you that nothing's wrong with your equipment.)

Which is why the original VHS release of Funny Girl cut off the real Overture and starts with the opening credits (which have their own sort of Overture).

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S.D.G.
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[–] Harold_Robbins 18 years ago

These were known as "Roadshow Presentations" which more or less duplicated the experience of live theater intermissions. Even in the 1960s prestigious productions such as FUNNY GIRL opened in limited release for the first several months - for instance, in New York the film played at the Criterion Theater on a reserved-seat basis for a year before it went into general release to neighborhood theaters at lower prices.

"I don't use a pen: I write with a goose quill dipped in venom!"---W. Lydecker

[–] 18 years ago

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[–] gittes98 12 years ago

The few minutes of blank screen after the intermission title card is known as an entre acte (Between acts). In the original roadshow engagements, there would be a 10 to 15 minute intermission in the theatre. The entre acte served much the same purpose as the overture, in this case to get audiences back to their seats and prepare for the movies second act. This was a fairly common practise for big movies during the 50s and 60s. It was special kind of presntation or showmanship that is severely lacking in todays movie-going. (In the old days, a movie like Les Mis. would have been presented this way with an intermission, as it was on stage, following One Day More.)

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] 12 years ago

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