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Films with longest runs in Sheffield


Guest Old Canny Street Kid

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Guest Old Canny Street Kid

I have just noticed that a film called "The Robe", which I think was the first film ever made in Cinemascope, ran for eight weeks at the Palace Theatre, Union Street, from February 15th to April 10th 1954, and this may have been some sort of record.

Does anyone have info on other films with long runs in Sheffield?

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Guest Old Canny Street Kid

I seem to remember "The Sound of Music" was on for what felt like ages, but can't be specific

"South Pacific" has also been mentioned. What we need are a few dates. These may turn up in time!

The films that had a long run in the 50s and early 60s were, I think, mainly those that were considered very different for technical reasons. That was certainly the case with "The Robe" and, I thin, "The Sound of Music". It is difficult today to imagine how big these films were in terms of public appeal.

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The Towering Inferno ran for about 30 years during 1974 :blink:

Disappointingly not very Historical though ...

Try some Chaplins, or Ben Hur (or indeed chaplin as Ben Hur !) no idea where to find the data mind you

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'The Sound Of Music' opened at the Odeon (Flat Street) on Sunday 3rd October 1965 and ran until early February 1967.'South Pacific' ran at the Odeon for 6 months in 1958/59. The 70mm re-issue of 'Gone With The Wind' ran at ABC for 13 weeks opening on Sunday 22nd December 1968.

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Guest Dinno_Paul

Star Wars ran for an age in Sheffield and although i don't know how long the initial run was it holds the record for the most re-releases and re-re-leases etc.

I read an interesting article a while ago regarding all these supposed latest blockbusters.

It seems any latest 'Epic' creates record takings due to the value of the Poundage but adjusted for inflation,the film that stands head and shoulders and will surely never be beaten is...........'Gone With the Wind' released in 1939 so to read that it still showed in Sheffield in '68 is quite something :o

Star Wars was second in the list B)

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Star Wars ran for an age in Sheffield and although i don't know how long the initial run was it holds the record for the most re-releases and re-re-leases etc.

I read an interesting article a while ago regarding all these supposed latest blockbusters.

It seems any latest 'Epic' creates record takings due to the value of the Poundage but adjusted for inflation,the film that stands head and shoulders and will surely never be beaten is...........'Gone With the Wind' released in 1939 so to read that it still showed in Sheffield in '68 is quite something :o

Star Wars was second in the list B)

A bit like the biggest selling record of all time is it Micheal Jackson or The Eagles Greatest Hits ? White Christmas is conveniently excluded from the counting due to its age/format. Possibly outsold the rest of the top ten ten-fold.

Mungo Jerry however have a poor showing he he .

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Guest Dinno_Paul

A bit like the biggest selling record of all time is it Micheal Jackson or The Eagles Greatest Hits ? White Christmas is conveniently excluded from the counting due to its age/format. Possibly outsold the rest of the top ten ten-fold.

Mungo Jerry however have a poor showing he he .

lol

I'm not surprised on their poor showing,i'm wondering how many people bought the 'Pushbike Song' by mistake instead of 'In the Summertime' ? ;-)

Sorry to all you younger listeners :rolleyes:

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I only found this great site a few weeks ago and , as i've always had a great interest in movies, I thought I would add my contribution to this thread, as my first posting. So, here goes.......

As I have gotten older, I have often thought back to the cinema going days of my youth with great affection, and wondered - "Just how long did such-and-such a film run for?" .... the Epic movies that seemed to run for ever at the Odeon and ABC , etc back then.

So, when I retired, I decided to satisfy my curiosity, and took myself off to the City Library where I spent many, subsequent Wednesday afternoons ploughing through back copies of The Star (on microfilm).

Initially, I had intended just to look up all the movies that ran at the Odeon (my favourite cinema) in it's short, 15 year life. But, as I got into the project, I decided to extend it to cover the whole of my cinemagoing life - starting in 1948 (the year I was born) and going up to the year (more,or less) when everything changed -1971, and movies became more violent and foul mouthed.....and my visits became more and more infrequent.

I now have a database of what ran at the main City Centre cinemas - Odeon, Gaumont, ABC, Palace Union St, Hippodrome, Cinema House, Classic - plus, the two locals we frequented most back then - The Adelphi (Atercliffe) and The Lyric (Darnall) - between May, 1948, up to the end of 1971.

It's a very useful thing to have when the old nostagia memory banks need a nudge.

Some people on here have speculated on which movies had the longest run .....Sound of Music, Ben-Hur, Star Wars,etc. So, here is a list of the top 50 longest running movies in Sheffield, between 1948 and 1971. Oh!...I checked on "Star Wars" (1978), and that comes in at joint 6th !

Most of these listed refer to the film's original run. In the case of the "Epics", these were shown in what were called Road Show Presentations.....where thay would be shown on a "two a day", theatrical basis. With the film having an Overture, Intermission and Exit music....and there was usually a souvenir brochure/programme on sale in the theatre.

I don't know what subsequent longer runs took place after this time (maybe someone else would like to bring it up to date one day ?), but here we go....... You may find quite a few surprises in the list, with several big movies you might think should be there - not !

For starters - there is no doubt about the all time Champ - that is "The Sound of Music", which ran at the Odeon, in it's original Todd-AO Road Show presentation for 71 weeks, or, to put it another way - 1 year, 4 months and 3 weeks. An incredible run, which will never be surpassed.

Here is the list :

1) THE SOUND OF MUSIC - 71 weeks (ODEON - 3rd October, 1965 to 11th February, 1967 )

2) SOUTH PACIFIC - 21 weeks (ODEON - 26th December, 1958 to 23rd May, 1959 )

3) HELLO,DOLLY ! - 15 weeks (GAUMONT 1 - 28th December, 1969 to 11th April, 1970 )

4) STAR! - 14 weeks (ODEON - 21st July, 1968 to 26th October, 1968 )

" ) SONG OF NORWAY - 14 weeks (GAUMONT 1- 20th December, 1970 to 27th March, 1971 )

6) BEN-HUR - 13 weeks (ABC - 10th September, 1961 to 9th December, 1961 )

" ) STAR WARS - 13 weeks (GAUMONT 2 - 29th January, 1978 to March 18th -Then transferred to GAUMONT 1 on March 19th to April 29th, 1978)

" ) RYAN'S DAUGHTER - 13 weeks (ABC - 30th January, 1978 to 29th April, 1978 )

9) MY FAIR LADY - 12 weeks (ABC - 10th October, 1965 to 1st January, 1966 )

10) THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE - 11 weeks (ODEON - 17th December, 1967 to 9th March, 1968 )

" ) OLIVER ! - 11 weeks (ODEON - 22nd December, 1968 to 8th March, 1969 )

" ) DOCTOR ZHIVAGO - 11 weeks (ABC - 25th September 1966 to 10th December, 1966 )

" ) KELLY'S HEROES - 11 weeks (ABC - 14th February, 1971 to 1st April, 1971 )

" ) LOVE STORY - 11 weeks (ABC - 6th September, 1971 to 20th November, 1971 )

" ) THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN - 11 weeks (GAUMONT 2 - 23rd September, 1969 to 6th December, 1969 )

" ) CROMWELL - 11 weeks (GAUMONT 1 - 26th July, 1970 to 10th October, 1970 )

17) SPARTACUS - 10 weeks (ODEON - 29th October, 1961 to 6th January, 1962 )

" ) CLEOPATRA - 10 weeks (ODEON - 16th February, 1964 to 25th April, 1964 )

" ) THOSE MAGNIFICENT MEN IN THEIR FLYING MACHINES - 10 weeks (ODEON - 25th July, 1965 to 2nd October, 1965 )

" ) GONE WITH THE WIND (70mm Re-issue) - 10 weeks (ABC - 22nd December, 1968 to 1st March, 1969 )

" ) ANNE OF THE 1000 DAYS - 10 weeks (GAUMONT 1 - 12th April, 1970 to 20th June, 1970 )

22) THE GUNS OF NAVARONE - 9 weeks (ODEON - 16th July, 1961 to 16th September, 1961 )

" ) FIDDLER ON THE ROOF - 9 weeks (GAUMONT 1 - 20th February, 1972 to 22nd April, 1972 )

24 ) THE ROBE - 8 weeks (PALACE, UNION ST.) - 15th February, 1954 to 10th April, 1954 )

" ) GIGI - 8 weeks (CINEMA HOUSE ) - 14th September, 1959 to 7th November, 1959 )

" ) SOLOMON & SHEBA - 8 weeks (ODEON - 26th December, 1959 to 20th February, 1960 )

" ) THE ALAMO - 8 weeks (ODEON - 19th February, 1961 to 15th April, 1961 )

" ) WEST SIDE STORY - 8 weeks (ODEON - 11th November, 1962 to 5th January, 1963 )

" ) LAWRENCE OF ARABIA - 8 weeks (ODEON - 13th October, 1963 to 7th December, 1963 )

" ) SCROOGE - 8 weeks (GAUMONT 1) - 27th December, 1970 to 20th February, 1971 )

31) 55 DAYS AT PEKING - 7 weeks (ODEON - 11th August, 1963 to 28th September, 1963 )

" ) DOCTOR DOLITTLE - 7 weeks (ODEON - 24th March, 1968 to 11th May, 1968 )

" ) WHERE EAGLES DARE - 7 weeks (ABC - 18th May, 1969 to 5th July, 1969 )

" ) NICHOLAS & ALEXANDRA - 7 weeks (GAUMONT 1 - 26th December, 1971 to 19th February, 1972 )

35) CAN-CAN - 6 weeks (ODEON - 17th April , 1960 to 28th May, 1960 )

" ) EL CID - 6 weeks (ODEON - 16th September, 1962 to 27th October , 1962 )

" ) THE LONGEST DAY - 6 weeks (ODEON - 17th February, 1963 to 30th March , 1963 )

" ) CAMELOT - 6 weeks (ABC - 17th December, 1967 to 27th January , 1968 )

" ) HALF A SIXPENCE - 6 weeks (ABC - 28th April , 1968 to 8th June , 1968 )

" ) GOLDFINGER - 6 weeks (GAUMONT - 4th October , 1964 to 14th November, 1964 )

" ) ICE STATION ZEBRA - 6 weeks (GAUMONT 1 - 23rd July , 1969 to 30th August , 1969 )

" ) FUNNY GIRL - 6 weeks (GAUMONT 2 - 23rd July, 1969 to 30th August, 1969 )

" ) BEN-HUR (Re-issue) - 6 weeks (GAUMONT 1 - 18th January, 1970 to 28th February, 1970 )

" ) LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (Re-issue) - 6 weeks (GAUMONT 1 - 11th October, 1970 to 21st November, 1970 )

" ) WAR & PEACE - 5 weeks (CINEMA HOUSE - 22nd July, 1957 to 24th August, 1957 )

46) THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE - 5 weeks (ODEON - 11th October, 1964 to 14th November, 1964 )

" ) KHARTOUM - 5 weeks (ODEON - 12th February, 1967 to 18th March, 1967 )

" ) THE BIBLE - in the Beginning - 5 weeks (ODEON - 19th March, 1967 to 22nd April, 1967 )

" ) FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD - 5 weeks (ABC - 25th August, 1968 to 28th September, 1968 )

" ) THREE COINS IN THE FOUNTAIN - 5 weeks (PALACE, UNION ST. - 25th October, 1954 to 27th November, 1954 )

That's 50 - but also in joint 46th place are:

" ) THE KING & I - 5 weeks (PALACE, UNION ST. - 1st October, 1956 to 3rd November, 1956 )

" ) ISLAND IN THE SUN - 5 weeks (PALACE, UNION ST. - 5th August, 1957 to 7th September, 1957 )

" ) THE SHERIFF OF FRACTURED JAW - 5 weeks (PALACE, UNION ST. - 22nd December, 1958 to 24th January, 1959 )

" ) PATTON - 5 weeks (GAUMONT 1 - 21st June,1970 to 25th July, 1970 )

" ) TORA, TORA, TORA - 5 weeks (GAUMONT 1 - 4th April, 1971 to 9th May, 1971 )

" ) WATERLOO - 5 weeks (GAUMONT 1 - 2nd May, 1971 to 2nd June, 1971 )

" ) BEDKNOBS & BROOMSTICKS - 5 weeks - (GAUMONT 2 - 26th December, 1971 to 29th January, 1972 )

Well, that's the score up to the beginning of 1972. I'm sure there are many other long running movies after that....

"Grease", "E.T. ...", "Harry Potter",etc.

As I said earlier, maybe someone else can fill in those gaps?.......maybe even I will be in the mood to do so, one day ?

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Nice work, Welcome to the Site S24 and Thank you for that very interesting list.

Yes a brilliant and very interesting post S24.

Welcome to Sheffield History.

Your list must go beyond 1972 as one of the films at 6= is Star Wars with 1978 dates of showing.

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Yes a brilliant and very interesting post S24.

Welcome to Sheffield History.

Your list must go beyond 1972 as one of the films at 6= is Star Wars with 1978 dates of showing.

Thanks for the welcome folks and glad that you found my post interesting.

No, Dave - my list does end at the start of 1972.

I only looked up the "Star Wars" info recently because someone else had speculated on it's run, earlier in this thread, and I wanted to include it in my list.

Whilst looking that up, I also noticed that "Ryan's Daughter" had run concurrently with it, at the ABC, and had also clocked up 13 weeks.

This surprised me actually, as this movie is always talked of as being a huge flop. I must admit, I never fancied it, and have never seen it to this day.

Still, there are many, many other films i'm sure that would have been delighted with a 13 week run !

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Guest funkydory

S24-and everyone....

Here's a visual aid to the list of 'long runs in Sheffield' recently, including a closeup of the item listing the Gaumont.

I have a similar amount of 'stuff' on nearly all the titles you have listed, but unless the showing was a 'Cinerama' presentation only a very few will have a promotion with a Sheffield inclusion unfortunately..

Funkydory.

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Oh! I'll try this one then!

I am sure I have welcomed funkydory to the site already but the post I made seem to have disappeared.

Welcome to Sheffield History funkydory, - please don't let recent technical problems discourage you from posting.

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Guest abcman

Oh! I'll try this one then!

Poster for 'Fall Of The Roman Empire' which ran for a season at the Odeon in 1964 (not 1965) and one for the ABC's season of 'Gone With The Wind' in 70mm in 1968.

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Poster for 'Fall Of The Roman Empire' which ran for a season at the Odeon in 1964 (not 1965) and one for the ABC's season of 'Gone With The Wind' in 70mm in 1968.

Now wasn't "Gone with the Wind" made in the late 1930's just before the Second World War?

If so, it would probably predate 70mm film and the various widescreen formats based on it.

It appears not to have been remade in 70mm as the poster looks exactly as the original.

Was it somehow transfered to 70mm at a later date?

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Guest abcman

Now wasn't "Gone with the Wind" made in the late 1930's just before the Second World War?

If so, it would probably predate 70mm film and the various widescreen formats based on it.

It appears not to have been remade in 70mm as the poster looks exactly as the original.

Was it somehow transfered to 70mm at a later date?

Yes, MGM painstakingly took frame by frame and processed it into a 70mm ratio and re-processed the sound into stereo. Some of the shots were a bit grainy, but on the whole the thirty year old film looked and sounded good. Much of that must be down to the original makers of the film though.

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Yes, MGM painstakingly took frame by frame and processed it into a 70mm ratio and re-processed the sound into stereo. Some of the shots were a bit grainy, but on the whole the thirty year old film looked and sounded good. Much of that must be down to the original makers of the film though.

Now I seem to remember that for many years "Gone With The Wind" was classed as "the longest film" with a running time of (I think) arond 3 hours.

If this is so then at a standard projection speed of 24fps that would be arond 250,000 to 260,000 frames :o

Very painstaking lol

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Guest abcman

Now I seem to remember that for many years "Gone With The Wind" was classed as "the longest film" with a running time of (I think) arond 3 hours.

If this is so then at a standard projection speed of 24fps that would be arond 250,000 to 260,000 frames :o

Very painstaking lol

Yes, it must have been quite a job.

If I remember rightly, the 70mm film arrived on 13 separate reels in metal cases and as with all 70mm film each reel was rewound using white cotton gloves to protect the film.

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Yes, it must have been quite a job.

If I remember rightly, the 70mm film arrived on 13 separate reels in metal cases and as with all 70mm film each reel was rewound using white cotton gloves to protect the film.

So if the original was on 35mm and in standard format but the 70mm copy was in a more modern "Widescreen" format they must have either lost some of the picture at the ends or, more likely, gained a black margin top and bottom in what became known as "letterbox" format.

Unless, possible but even more technically advanced, each frame was copied using AO (Anamorphic Optics) to distort the image into the new format, and then using similar optics on projection to correct it again.

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Guest abcman

So if the original was on 35mm and in standard format but the 70mm copy was in a more modern "Widescreen" format they must have either lost some of the picture at the ends or, more likely, gained a black margin top and bottom in what became known as "letterbox" format.

Unless, possible but even more technically advanced, each frame was copied using AO (Anamorphic Optics) to distort the image into the new format, and then using similar optics on projection to correct it again.

Each frame must have been 'cropped' from the original certainly - but only really noticeable when writing was on the screen, mainly at the start of the film.

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Each frame must have been 'cropped' from the original certainly - but only really noticeable when writing was on the screen, mainly at the start of the film.

Now, when shown on TV (4:3 aspect ratio, not widescreen) many widescreen films started off highly distorted stretched out vertically so that people were tall and thin but at least it got all the title text information on the screen.

Once the titles had finished the picture "jumped" into a normalised view which filled the screen, but clearly the left and right hand ends of the picture were missing off the ends of the screen.

At the end of the film, it may have jumped back to get the end titles and rolling cast list and production team names on the screen.

I suppose this was done quite easily by adding or removing the required projection anamorphic lens from in front of the projected widescreen version of the film. Without the anamorphic, the distortion would be tall and thin.

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Guest funkydory

Here's the commemorative advertisement for the re-mastered 70mm version of "Gone With the Wind".

10th September 1968, Empire Theatre Leicester Square London.

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