17.11.2019

Cinéma Pathé in Cirque d'Hiver Paris/France


This postcard was sent in 1914. The building is still standing in Paris and used for big venues.
The Cirque d'Hiver ("Winter Circus") was designed by the architect Jacques Ignace Hittorff and was opened by Emperor Napoleon III on 11 December 1852. The circus originally had 3.900 places. The building was not only used for circuses, also musical concerts and exhibitions. Since 29 August 1907, electric light illuminates the interiors.

But I couldn't find facts about using this building as a cinema. In 1914, the cinema belongs to Pathé. The writing above the entrance is very interesting: Ex Cirque d'Hiver. That means showing movies there was not only for certain time, it should be for an indefinite length of time. The time of the circus should have been over ...
But it could be only a short time of cinema, maybe because of the beginning of the war
Since 1934, the circus is owned by the Bouglione family. Today, in addition to the Cirque d'Hiver performances, there are numerous other types of events, such as dressage events, musicals or fashion shows.
 

16.11.2019

Kino in Kamenický Šenov/Czech Republic


The architect Leo Kammel was born in Steinschönau/Kamenický Šenov in 1885. He built this cinema in 1928, two years before the Kino in Nový Jičín.
On the postcard there is written "Kino und Stadttheater Steinschönau - Cinema and City Theatre". But above the entrance is only written "Kino". You can see a man in one opened window, maybe Leo Kammel?
The cinema is still in use, now named Kino Hvězda (english "Star").

03.11.2019

Kino International in Berlin/Germany - "Die Brücke" 1964

I'm sure, Kino International in Berlin is the most printed cinema on postcard worldwide. This is No. 20 in my collection showing different posters - and it is not the last one.
The poster today advertises the film Die Brücke / The Bridge, a German anti-war film by Bernhard Wicki from 1959. 
It tells about the last days in war 1945 in a small Bavarian town. Seven underaged boys receive the militarily senseless order to defend a bridge from the advancing US troops. Only one will survive the mission ...

The film received many awards and nominations, among them a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1960. It is one of the best German films of all time. It came to East German cinemas on 4 September 1964.


The postcard was published by Graphokopie H. Sanders KG Berlin.
The poster was designed by Jürgen Großmann.

02.11.2019

Kino in Nový Jičín/Czech Republic

Neutitschein, Lichtspielhaus is written on this postcard, sent in 1941 by military mail.

The cinema opened on 25 December 1930, with 720 seats and named Kino Kosmos. It was built by the architect Leo Kammel (1885-1948).
Leo Kammel senior was the son of glass dealer Willibald Kammel and Johanna née Palme. In 1902–1905, he studied drawing and painting at the School of Applied Arts in Prague. Later he attended the Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied architecture under Professor Jan Kotěra. After graduating, he settled in Vienna around 1913, where he worked as an independent architect. In 1929 he lectured at the Technical University of Vienna. During the interwar period he designed in Austria, especially in Vienna, where he participated in the design of residential units and created the marketplace project (1935) and in Czechoslovakia. His extensive work is not fully documented. In the period before the First World War he worked in the Classicist style under the influence of Otto Wagner. In the 1920s he was influenced by Czech Cubist architecture and was considered an important representative of Cubism. In the interwar period he was influenced by decorativism and expressionism and the work of Peter Behrens (1868 - 1940) and Clemens Holzmeister (1886 - 1983). Since the 1930s, expressionist creation has shifted to functionalism. 
The cinema building in Nový Jičín is influenced of Erich Mendelsohn's work (1887 - 1953). You can find other cinemas designed by Leo Kammel in Baden/Austria (Cinema Paradiso), in Kamenický Šeno and in Krnov.

The cinema in Nový Jičín is still in use, its name is now Kino Kvéten - Cinema May. It was renovated in 2005 by Architráv. Now it has one modern equipped hall with a total capacity of 455 seats (287 seats on the ground floor, balconies 86 + 82 seats).

13.10.2019

Kino Lucerna in Praha/Czech Republic

Cinema Lucerna (english: lantern)  is the oldest cinema in Bohemia and one of the oldest worldwide, has working since 3 December 1909. It is located inside the Palác Lucerna in the Prague city center. The unusual building, stylistically on the border between Art Nouveau and Modernism, is one of the first reinforced concrete buildings in Prague. It also has a unique passage with a glazed roof. This modern palace on Prague's Wencelas Square was built by Vácslav Havel, a real estate developer. (The postcard picture top left shows his bust, made by Jan Štursa.) Brother Miloš Havel established Barrandov Studios in Prague. Former president Václav Havel was the grandson of Vácslav Havel. The Lucerna Palais with Cinema Lucerna still belongs to the Havel family.
Currently the cinema hall has 453 seats, it is equipped with cutting-edge 4K digital technology also enabling 3D projection, with Dolby Surround 7.1 sound system and it is the most visited classic cinema in the Czech Republic.
A second hall with 51 seats opened in 2013 (postcard picture bottom right). Former it was used to be a private screening room to Miloš Havel.

Palais and cinema are used also for filmmaking, for instance the 2007 French movie La Vie en Rose about Édith Piaf with Marion Cotillard. The beginning and the end of her career was shot in the premises of Lucerna Palais. 
The sculpture in the middle of the postcard is made by David Černý, showing St. Wenceslas riding a dead horse.

I got this postcard via Postcrossing from Martin, he is working in Palác Lucerna. Děkuji, Martine!
And published it on my blog on European Arthouse Cinema Day 2019.

04.10.2019

Kino International in Berlin/Germany - "Die zweite Wahrheit" 1967

Another postcard from Kino International in Berlin.
This time it was a bit harder to determine the date of the photo on the basis of the movie poster. I succeeded with the help of the book Mehr Kunst als Werbung. Das DDR Filmplakat 1945 bis 1990 by Detlef Helmbold, which contains all East German cinema posters. Looking this book is like a walk through film and design history.
The poster on the cinema belongs to the movie Die zweite Wahrheit/La seconde vérité. It is a 1966 French film directed by Christian-Jaque.
The movie started on 13 October 1967 at Kino International.
The postcard was published by Verlag Felix Setecki, Berlin, in 1968.

Moskva in Minsk/Belarus


The cinema Moskva in Minsk is a late Soviet era building. It was opened on 19 September 1980 and was the first widescreen cinema in Belarus. Architects were Viktor Kramarenko, Vladimir Shcherbina and Mikhail Vinogradov.
The cinema has two halls - for 260 seats and 1070 seats, designed for showing films, holding conferences or concerts. In the foyer of the cinema there is an exhibition hall, a lecture hall with 120 seats, also intended for showing short films. Also in it is the Minsk theater-studio of a film actor, designed for 260 seats, the Paradise Show, there is a billiard room, a bar, and evening discos are held.

The cinema is still working, but has no website.

27.09.2019

Arena in München/Germany

The Arena cinema has been delighting people since 1912. It is the fourth oldest cinema in Munich. And it is not one of the biggest. It started with one hall in with about 120 places. It was a cinema for the neighborhood, soldiers, maids. And it is still today a place for everybody loving movies.
In 2012, the hall was departed in two tiny halls: one with 64, one with 38 seats.
The photo on the postcard was taken in September 1974. Cinema advertises Festival des Phantastischen Films 1974. There was shown movies like Der Flug zur Hölle / The Land Unknown (USA 1957), Das grüne Blut der Dämonen Quatermass and the Pit (USA 1967), Die Rache der Pharaonen / The Mummy (UK 1959), Frankensteins Ungeheuer / The Evil of Frankenstein (UK 1964).
The postcard is a clever made ad card. You got a free ticket, sent the postcard to a friend and came with friend and postcard to the cinema.
There was published also a booklett about Arena on the occasion of the 100th birthday: Nie bedeutend ... aber immer noch da by Winfried Sembdner.

15.09.2019

Schauburg in Güstrow / Germany

The Schauburg cinema was built between 1958 and 1960 by Hochbau Schwerin according to plans by the architect E.-M. Hetzer. It was the second cinema at this place. In 1914, the cinema Welttheater was set up in a former steel factory building. Around 1930 the name was changed to Schauburg. Since this building was in very bad condition after the war, it was closed in 1958.
The new Schauburg had 712 places and also the technic for showing 70mm films.
In 1993, the cinema had a new owner - Kieft & Kieft, but it had to be closed in September 2005 due to fire safety shortcomings. The cinema was closed for more than a year, until in September 2006, a new operator re-opened the cinema under the name Moviestar
Today the cinema has 4 halls with 354, 122, 122 and 22 places, modern technology and fire protection systems.
The postcard is published in 1962. In the showcase you can see advertising for a movie titled something with Abenteuer (Adventure). It could be the 1960 Soviet movie Das Millionenabenteuer / Спасите наши души / Save our souls directed by Aleksei Mishurin, came to East German cinemas in May 1961.

08.09.2019

Lichtspiele in Calau / Germany

Calau is a community with about 7.700 inhabitants today.
The cinema was opened in 1938 with 375 seats, maybe in a new building. Its name was Kurmark-Lichtspiele. After 1950, it was only called Lichtspiele. Now it is closed.
But people of Calau can still go to the movies. The Protestant parish operates since 2013 a program cinema with a regular program once a month. Movies are shown in the community room in the parish hall next to the church.

Lichtspiele der Freundschaft in Wünschendorf (Elster) / Germany


Wünschendorf is a community in Thuringia, today with about 2.800 inhabitants and no cinema.
I couldn't find any facts about this cinema. Andreas Praefcke lists on Carthalia an older postcard from 1966.
At all, the building looks like other East German Socialist cinema buildings. I think it was built about 1960 to bring culture to the village. It is now closed.
The postcard is from 1973. The cinema advertises the 1966 Italian film Unser Boß ist eine DameOperazione San Gennaro / Treasure of San Gennaro. It came to East German screens on 29 March 1968.
The name Lichtspiele der Freundschaft (Cinema of Friendship) was a common name for cinemas in East Germany. Above all, it refers to the friendship with the Soviet Union. But everybody loves going to the movies with friends.

07.09.2019

Oktyabr in Minsk/Belarus



The cinema Oktyabr (October) opened on January 30, 1975 on the site of the former cinema Zorka (Star) with the film Blockade (USSR, 1974). 
The architekt was W.M.Malyshev. It had one hall with 1.388 seats in the form of an amphitheater. After modernization in 2012, it has still 1.180 seats and a screen 22 by 10 meters.
You can see on the postcard advertisement for the film Бегство мистера Мак-Кинли / The Flight of Mr. MacKinley - a 1975 Soviet science fiction film directed by Mikhail Schweitzer.  
Here you can read more about old and new cinemas in Minsk.
Here is another postcard from this cinema from 1978.

The cinema seems to be closed. In the building there is today Maxshow Disco Club.

04.09.2019

Ukraina in Novorossiysk/Russia

Novorossiysk is an important Russian port on the Black Sea with about 240.000 inhabitants.
Cinema Ukraina was opened in 1955, K.M. Michailov was the architect. The postcard is from 1984.
In 1997, the building was opened as the City Palace of Culture. It provides leisure for the population, conditions for the development of folk art and amateur art to all citizens.
The building is located on Lenin square, you can see the statue of Lenin in frint of the cinema.

Another cinema in Novorossiysk I blogged: Neptun

01.09.2019

Awrora in Krasnodar/Russia

Krasnodar is the 16th most populated city in Russia with more than 1.000.000 inhabitants. 
Cinema Awrora opened there on 13 May 1967. The cinema was a project by Sochi Design Institute Giprokommunstroy under the direction of chief architect Yevgeny Serdyukov. 
The cinema has two halls, a big one with 1.179 seats and a small one with 130 seats.
Now it is closed for reconstruction. As written on website an open air cinema shows movies meantime. 
The sculpture of Aurora impresses the view of the cinema. It was created in 1967 on the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution by Ivan Shmagun. Aurora is the goddess of dawn in Roman mythology. But it has also a political statement. On 25 October (7 November new style) 1917, the cruiser Aurora in Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg) fired the first shot, signalling the beginning of the attack on the Winter Palace. 
The opening movie in this cinema was Залп «Авроры» / The Salvos of the Aurora Cruiser by Yuri Vyshinsky from 1965 about October Revolution, shown in 70mm format.

Yunost in Sankt-Peterburg /Russia

The cinema Юность / Yunost (Youth) - a typical Soviet cinema - was built in the years 1957-1960 according to the drawings of the architects Victor Matveevich Fromsel and Oleg Ivanovich Guryev. On the facade lined with pink tiles - sculptural images of a girl with a ribbon fluttering overhead and a young man with a lamp - disappeared in the 1990s.
Since 2003, the building has been owned by Balthouse LLC. They wanted to demolish the cinema and build a residential building in its place. Later it was decided to convert the house into a shopping and entertainment complex with a small cinema. 
Today there is a restaurant Yunost in this building, but no cinema.

Lichtspieltheater der Jugend in Frankfurt (Oder) / Germany

This postcard is from 1955, when the rebuilt cinema opened again. 
The house was built in 1910 as a concert hall and restaurant by Ludwig Engel. Since 1919 it has used as a cinema with more than 1.000 seats, Decla-Lichtspiele managed by Max Perlinsky. It was destroyed inside in World War II, but had good chances for a reconstruction. In 1954 the works started after plans from Wilhelm Flemming. 
The Lichtspieltheater der Jugend (Cinema of the Youth) opened on April 30, 1955 with the new East German comedy Sommerliebe. I'm not sure, if the poster in front of the cinema advertises this movie. 
The sculpture left of the entrace shows a debris woman, remembering the destroyed and rebuilt city. The sculpture right of the entrace shows a steel craftsman, because Frankfurt (Oder) was a center of steel production.
The cinema closed in 1998, when a new cinema opened in the city. It is a listed monument, but not a nice monument. There were and are different plans for a new chance of this interesting building, maybe a museum of modern arts. Look at this facebook site.

26.06.2019

State Theatre in Oroville, California/USA

Built in 1928 by renown California architect Timothy Pflueger, the Oroville State Theatre was one of many California theaters owned and operated by the Turner & Dahnken Circuit, one of the largest independently owned theater chains in the country. The late 1920s were a period of prosperity in Oroville, reflected by a number of major building commissions, an abundant agricultural industry and ultimately the gold rush which lent support to Oroville’s economy during the early years of the Great Depression.
Over time the City of Oroville has experienced economic peeks of strength and growth as well as the turbulence of struggles and challenges. The fate of the theatre has been passenger to that roller coaster ride. During one downturn, the Theatre was sold to United Artists who modernized several aspects of the theatre, but with considerable loss to the interior detail and damage to the Theatre’s infrastructure. UA held the Theatre for only a short time before seeking to divest itself of the project.
In 2014, the Oroville City Council voted unanimously to approve a contract allowing the State Theatre Arts Guild (STAGE) to operate and manage the Oroville State Theatre.
Today, the theatre provides several types of services: live performances featuring celebrated artists; co-sponsored performances as a collaboration between two or more local organizations; and a rentable venue for community events such as graduations, recitals and city meetings.
The historic Oroville State Theatre is staffed exclusively by an all-volunteer team of workers and supporters who come together to be a part of the ongoing “Miracle on Myers Street”— a community project named not only for sustaining the Theatre’s day-to-day operations but promoting the dream of completely restoring the building to its original appearance and ambiance. 

You can see on the postcard, the State Theatre advertises the movies The Pink Panther and One Man's Way, both came in Spring 1964 to the screen.

28.05.2019

Filmpalast in Kaiserslautern/Germany

This cinema exists from 1937 till 1944.
Alfred Meyer, owner of the cinema Central in Kaiserslautern, built the generous movie theater with 850 seats in the hall of the Protestant Society House. The opening was on September 3, 1937 with the film Sieben Ohrfeigen / Seven Slaps (Germany, 1937). In 1944 the building was destroyed by bombs, the film operation had to be stopped. After the damage had been eliminated in 1950, the Pfalztheater moved in this building.
You can see on the postcard an advertised movie with Heinrich George. It must be the movie Schicksal / Destiny (Germany, 1942).
The fountain in front of the cinema is the Fackelwoogbrunnen, created by Friedrich Korter in 1939.

26.05.2019

UCI Kino in Hamburg-Wandsbek/Germany

This postcard is an advertising card from Edgar Medien, #3.555. Maybe fresh from the opening. This UCI Kino opened as UCI Kinowelt Smart City on 1 August 1999. The architects were Eller, Maier, Walter & Partner. UCI opened another multiplex in Hamburg-Othmarschen three months ago. It seems to be a good time for multiplex cinemas.
Today UCI Kino has 9 halls with about 2.500 seats, among them an IMAX with 249 seats since 2018.

Cinema La Palace in Tunis/Tunisia

Cinema La Palace is located on Avenue Habib Bourguiba, the central thoroughfare of Tunis, and the historical political and economic heart of Tunisia. The hotel Rossini Palace openend in 1902 and restored in 2002. Paul Baron was the architect of this art noveau building. It is still standing, not used as a hotel anymore, but the cinema is working.
Originally here was as a theater for the Italian community in Tunisia - Le théâtre Italien is written on the postcard. Later a cinema was opened.
On wikipedia you can read, cinema was opened in the 1920s. But this postcard is dated on 7 May 1916 (not stamped) and already shows a cinema.

21.05.2019

Zentral-Lichtspiele in Riesa/Germany

An interesting postcard from Zentral-Lichtspiele in Gröba. Gröba is since 1923 a part of Saxon town Riesa. Kinowiki writes that this cinema was opened in 1913 with 400 places. I think this postcard is from 1913, an adcard from the opening. It was published by the magazine Der Artist
I wonder where the hall for 400 places was. The look into the projection room and the engine room is very interesting
I don't know when the cinema was closed - maybe in the 1960s. The building is still standing.
The cinema was directed by Anna Zach, she had later still two other cinemas in Riesa.

19.05.2019

CT-Lichtspiele in Dommitzsch/Germany

Dommitzsch is a town in Northern Saxony on the river Elbe with about 2.400 inhabitants. 
This cinema was opened in 1939 by Herbert Günther. CT-Lichtspiele means Central Theater Cinema, in 1991 it was also named Central Lichtspiele. It had 288 places and was closed after 1991.
I don't know if this building is still standing.

Jūrmala in Jūrmala /Latvia

Cinema Jūrmala in Majori is written on this postcard. Majori is a part of the town Jūrmala, about 25 km west from Riga. Jūrmala remains a tourist attraction with long beaches facing the Gulf of Riga and romantic wooden houses in the Art Nouveau style.
But I couldn't find anything about this cinema - only some sad pictures with empty cinema buildings in Jurmala on this site.

Pionieris in Riga/Latvia

This cinema in Riga was opened on May 19, 1962, on the day of the 40th anniversary of the All-Union Pioneer Organization named after V. I. Lenin and got the name Pionieris - Pioneer. It was a special cinema for children. Architect was Juris Petersons. 
It wasn't a newly built cinema. On December 25, 1923 here was opened cinema Forum with about 750 places. The owner was Andrejs Kerre. (Today Forum Cinemas is a cinema operator with some cinemas in Latvia, a subsidiary of the Finnish company Finnkino Oy - but has nothing to do with this building).
From 1997 till 2004 the cinema was named Oskars and showed movies for everybody.
In July 2012 a night club with five dance halls opened in cinema building.

Did you know that great Soviet film director Sergej Eisenstein was born in Riga in 1898?

29.04.2019

Manas in Bishkek/Kyrgyzstan

Bishkek is the capital and largest city of Kyrgyzstan, between 1936 and 1991 named Frunze (like written on the postcard). Manas is a Kyrgyz epic hero.
The Manas cinema was opened in 1966 as the largest widescreen cinema in the USSR. With an auditorium for 740 people. Today it has a big hall with 550 seats and two smaller ones.

Barguzin in Irkutsk/Russia

In 1971, the Barguzin was opened.
Barguzin is the name of a river flowing into the Barguzin Bay of Lake Baikal and also the name of a strong wind on Baikal.
Today there is still a cinema Barguzin in Irkutsk. I am not sure if it is the old building renovated or a new built one.
This cinema is a typical widescreen cinema with 800 seats, found in some cities of former USSR, so for instance
  • Cinema Shipka in Kuibyshew, now Samara
  • Cinema Udogan in Chita
  • Cinema Iskra in Ufa
  • Cinema Krakow and Niwki in Kiev
  • Cinema Iskra in Perm
  • Cinema Komsomoletz in Mariupol
  • Cinema Kosmos in Kaluga
 Whether there is a postcard of every cinema?

28.04.2019

Belarus in Brest/Belarus

Reconstruction of the Cinema Belarus was completed in the winter of 2001. There are three halls - Big (496 seats), Small (232 seats) and VIP (20 seats).
The cinema was opened in 1971. 
And that's all I knew about it.

Oktyabr in Smolensk/Russia

Cinema Oktyabr - October - was opened on November 7, 1948 on the anniversary of the Great Socialist October Revolution. It had about 1.000 seats in two halls. Its construction began in 1938 according to a standard design developed by the architect Viktor Petrovich Kalmykov (1908-1981). He was the chief specialist in the design and construction of cinemas in the USSR. In total, there are four such cinemas left - Zvezda in Tver, Rodina in Elista, Simferopol in Crimea and Oktyabr in Smolensk.
Two years after the start, construction was suspended due to the termination of funding. During the German occupation in the unfinished building on July 16, 1943, the Vozrozhdenie cinema opened.The construction of the cinema was resumed in the autumn of 1945. The opening ceremony was held on November 7, 1948, and until 1970 it was the largest cinema in the city. 

In the early 2000s. the building fell into disrepair. Cinema closed about 2010. Periodically, the halls used for exhibitions - dinosaurs, butterflies, monkeys, wax figures and as a shopping mall.
The postcard is from 1962.
Here you can read more about the history of cinemas in Smolensk (in Russian).

27.04.2019

Moscow Cinema in Yerevan/Armenia

Moscow Cinema is located at the Charles Aznavour Square in Armenian capital Yerevan. Tiran Terkanyan and Gevork Kochar were the architectures. It was opened on 12 December 1936, with the Soviet-Armenian movie Pepo.
The cinema was privated in 1999 and reopened after a major renovation in September 2000. Now it has 4 halls with 491, 350, 49 and 35 seats. And it has also an open-air theatre at the eastern side of the building.
The postcard is from 1960, it is more a drawing than a photo.

Pobeda in Kirov/Russia

Cinema Pobeda - Victory - in the Russian town Kirov was opened in 1955. It was built by Nikita Ivanovich Koslov in the so called Stalinist Empire style.
Today, this place is used for the Musical restaurant Gaudi.
The postcard was published in 1973.
Cinema Burevstnik in Nishni Novgorod nearly looks like Pobeda in Kirov. It was also opened in 1955 and still works.

Nizami Cinema Center in Baku/Azerbaijan

Nizami Cinema Center in Azerbaijan's capital Baku was opened in 1934. Sadig Dadashov and Mikayl Huseynov were the architects. The cinema was named after the poet Nizami Ganjavi, a 12th century Persian poet.
In 2011, the cinema was renovated and reopened. Now it has at all 4 halls with 500, 80, 50 and 24 seats.
The postcard is published in 1960.
Cinema came to Azerbaijan already in 1898. The Russian-French photographer Alexander Mishon has shot several film subjects on the city and has featured on August 2, 1898 - Day of Azerbaijani Cinema today.
In 1915, the Belgian Pirone brothers set up a film production lab in Baku. They invited the Russian director Boris Svetlovu to work on them. Svetlov's film In the Kingdom of Oil and Millions (1916) was the first and very successful Azerbaijan epic film.

18.03.2019

Apollotheater in Lüdenscheid/Germany

This impressive building stood in Lüdenscheid from 1939 to 1971. The architect was Hans Huth. The cinema was opened with 1074 seats. The owner was Franz Bruckmann, who had cinemas in Lüdenscheid, Dortmund, Düsseldorf, Berlin.
I think, the postcard was published in the first months of the cinema. 
It is not far away from Apollo Service Kino in Altena.



16.03.2019

Kino International in Berlin/Germany- "Festtage des sowjetischen Films in der DDR" 1964

Kino International was opened on November 15, 1963. This photo was taken in May 1964 and published as a postcard by Kunstanstalt Straub und Fischer in Meiningen.
The cinema advertises Festtage des sowjetischen Films in der DDR / Festival of Soviet film in the GDR. As read on the website of DEFA-Stiftung there were shown movies like Die Ballade vom Soldaten / Баллада о солдате / Ballad of a Soldier (Director: Grigori Chukrai, USSR 1959), Die Kraniche ziehen / Летят журавли / The Cranes are Flying (Director: Mikhail Kalatozov, USSR 1957) and Ein Menschenschicksal / Судьба человека / Fate of a Man (Director: Sergei Bondarchuk, USSR 1959). And maybe one of the famous Soviet fairy tale movies? 

15.03.2019

Kino International in Berlin / Germany - "Chronik eines Mordes" 1965

Berlin Kino International postcard 1965 Chronik eines Mordes


The photo was taken in February 1965, when the movie Chronik eines Mordes / The Story of a Murder was shown at Kino International. It is an East German DEFA movie following the novel Die Jünger Jesu by Leonhard Frank. Director was Joachim Hasler. You can see the actress Angelica Domröse in the main role at the poster.
The poster was designed by Erhard Grüttner.
The postcard was made by Graphokopie H. Sander KG.

11.03.2019

Cinema in Réhon/France

Réhon is a commune in North-Eastern France, next to Belgium. In 2016, there lived about 3800 people. I think the picture was taken in the early 1910's, then Réhon had about 2050 inhabitants. Réhon was a center of steel smelting in the 19th and 20th centuries. At the beginning of the 20th century, the number of inhabitants grew strongly. Of corse these inhabitants wanted some friendly hours after work. A cinema opened in Réhon.
Maybe the photo was taken for the opening of the cinema. You can see a couple in the entrance. And five small trees decorate the street. I couldn't find anything about this cinema. I think it didn't work long time. But a postcard is left.

10.03.2019

Cinéma Le Castillet in Perpignan/France

Perpignan is the France's most southern city with about 120.000 inhabitants, 13 km west of the Mediterranean coast. The Castillet is a famous fortification in Perpignan, partly destroyed in the early 20th century. Cinema Le Castillet is located on the plot of land left vacant by the destruction of Perpignang's historic ramparts. 
The cinema was inaugurated on November 7, 1911 in a new yellow painted building in modern style. The architect was Eugène Montès, sculptures were created by Alexandre Guénot. At that time cinemas opened normally in already existing buildings, mostly inns  and hostels. So it is one of the oldest cinema buildings in the world.
And still in activity Le Castillet can claim today the title of the oldest cinema in France. The facades and roofs are listed as historic monuments in 1997.
Joan Font (1884-1977), who personally knew the Lumière brothers, founded the cinema, which has since been owned by the family. Originally a single hall with 1.100 seats, the Castillet becomes a multisalles of six the eight screens for capacity of 1.872 seats. 
You can read on the postcard "Cinema et Skating". There was an open-air roller skating on the first floor, very fashionable at this time.
You can also see avertising for a movie Bébé. Bébé was a series of comical mute shorts made between 1910 and 1913 by Louis Feuillade. But I couldn't find among the French Wikipedia list a movie with a prince (like written on the display stand). The postcard itself was sent in 1915. 
Today Perpignan is also famous for the L'institut Jean Vigo, the second most important film cultural institution in France.

09.03.2019

Cinéma Sandaga in Dakar/Senegal

Cinéma Sandaga was located at the famous Sandaga market which still exists today. The cinema was opereating in the early 1930's.
The postcard itself looks like a frame from an interesting movie. I'd like to see it. Who opened this cinema, which movies were shown, who saw them, went women there?
Here you can read more about cinemas in Senegal in the interwar period. 

07.03.2019

Excelsior in Antananarivo/Madagascar

Madagascar - second country named after a movie (first one was Brazil:).
I got a good offer and bought some old postcards, among them this exotic one. The postcard shows Madagascar's very first cinema Excelsior. It opened in 1922. It was a place for cinema, skating and dancing - like written above the door. 
Lamia Belkaied-Guiga published the book Regarder des films en Afriques about cinemas in Africa, there Karine Blanchon wrote about cinemas in Madagascar.
You can see on Wikipedia side Antananarivo a picture with two other old cinemas in this town: Ritz and Rex, opened in 1929.

04.03.2019

Metropol in Moscow/Russia

It is not easy to know something about this cinema. It is not listed on Russian Wikipedia side Cinemas in Moscow.
It was right in the building of the Hotel Metropol, a famous hotel in Moscow, built in 1899-1907 in Art Nouveau style.
In 1908, a novelty of the entertainment industry of that time appeared - the Opera-Kinemo, later named Modern. It was the first two-hall cinema in Moscow, changed its name in Soviet times into Metropol. Now it is closed.
Here you can see some interesting pictures from the cinema. 
It is easier to find this postcard then some information about Cinema Metropol on the internet. I bought this postcard on eBay.

03.03.2019

L'Arlequin in Paris/France

L'Arlequin is a  cinema in Paris opened in 1934 as the Lux Rennes. Lux, because it was situated in the building of its patron, the Compagnie Parisienne d'èletricité. The art-deco, air-conditioned 500-seat theatre, with 12-metre screen and adjacent bar was somewhat luxurious for the period.
In 1962 French filmmaker, director, Actor and screenwriter Jacques Tati acquired the cinema and named it L'Arlequin. From 1976 to 1991 the theatre was programmed by the Soviet film export agency to serve as a showcase for Soviet films, allowing to discover directors like Andrei Tarkovsky and Andrei Konchalovsky.
L'Arlequin regained ist current name in 1991. Today the cinema has three halls with 94, 102 and 395 places. It is still known for ist specialisation in German and Russian movies.
The postcard is an ad card for a movie series with Russian and Georgian films in 2004.
Thank you, Aldo, for this postcard!

02.03.2019

Kino Toni in Berlin/Germany

100 years ago Fritz Wilms and Max Bischoff started building a residential house with a movie theater in Berlin-Weissensee. 
It was first cinema by the architect Fritz Wilms (1886-1958), but not the last one. He designed more than 15 cinemas in Berlin between 1920 and 1951. The cinema opened on September 4th, 1920 with 456 seats and the name Decla-Lichtspiele. Decla (originally Deutsche Eclair) was a German film production and distribution company. In 1921 Decla was absorbed into the UFA-Company and the cinema changed its name in UFA-Theater. After World War II UFA-company and this cinema were damaged. The cinema opened at Christmas 1948 with the new name Toni Film-Bühne, Toni because it is situated at the Antonplatz. In 1979, the last privately-owned cinema in East Berlin had to give up, because of high investment needed. The district film directorate Berlin took over the cinema and opened three years later the converted hall with 277 seats, now with the name Kino Toni
In 1992 the film director Michael Verhoeven bought the Toni, renovated it and expanded it with a small hall Tonino. Now it is called Kino Toni & Tonino
For more pictures and information look at Kinokompendium

The postcard is from 1989, the picture from 1987. The advertised movie Die Bestechlichen / Les Ripoux / My New Partner is a French movie from 1984, came to East German cinemas on June 5th, 1987. 
I love this busy street scene with typical East German vehicles.

29.01.2019

Filmcasino in Wien/Austria

I got this postcard  from my friend Josefine in 1996. At this time I worked sometimes in a little cinema named Casablanca as a projectionist. There was shown every Saturday the Austrian movie Müllers Büro and the good old Casablanca. I still know many songs and scenes by heart. 
Now I found this postcard again.
It is an extraordinary postcard: Looks like a photo - but it is a painting. Painted by Franz Zadrazil (1942 - 2005), known for his photo-realistic depictions of Viennese facades, business portals and rail stations. Zadrazil has repeatedly painted cinemas, cinemas were a part of his childhood. His father was a projectionist at Wiener Imperialkino, and the boy often went home with his father from work through the night city.
The Filmcasino in Margaretenstrasse was opened in 1954 after renovation by Albrecht F. Hrzan. A cinema has been at this place since 1911. But at the beginning of the 1970s, the hall had to be closed and then served as a venue for a Yugoslav cultural association. In 1989 Folk High School Margareten leased the vacant and old cinema and discovered a 1950s architectural jewel behind old Tito paintings. On September 21, 1989,  the Filmcasino, gently renovated by the architects Elsa Prochazka and Silvin Seelich, reopened with the opening scene of 2001: A Space Odyssey. And it is still today a good place for films after some renovations.
The postcard is also significantly for me. In 2001 I was for my honeymoon trip in Vienna and on an evening I went to this place. I saw there Nanni Moretti's La stanza del figlio (Italy, 2001). Still remember the well maintained 1950s style and the old chairs. Waiting for the beginning of the film, I remembered my friend Josefine, studied law in Italy, and old friends Max and Larry around the corner.

I received this postcard via postcrossing. It is an ad card for the documentary Studio 54 (USA 2018) with a special label from the cinema Filmcasino.