Going Attractions: The Definitive Story of the Movie Palace

That's the title and that's pretty much what this is.... although I balk whenever something claims to be 'definitive'. Half of this is the usual talking heads -- including Leonard Maltin, of course -- and half the movie palaces themselves in varying states of survival. To keep visual interest, a lot of the shots of movie palaces are done with a moving camera.... or, in cases where only photographs survive, a moving photo.

The talking heads are the usual assortment of impassioned, sensible, and incoherent people. The point of this moving picture is, unsurprisingly, the pictures of the lost architectural wonders of the movie palaces. Built to show movies to audiences of as many as five thousand people at a time, when the time came when they could not be filled, they lost their purpose. Today, when even the most rabid movie fans are happier sitting at home, the communal aspect of audiences has been lost. We forget that having hundreds, even thousands of strangers sitting in the dark is not threatening. That they came to laugh or cry or cheer at the same thing, and do, is what makes communities, cities, even nations. When we lose places that can happen, we lose our sense of being a people.

Long-overdue documentary on a worthy subject: what became of those grand movie palaces first built in America's larger cities in the 1920s? Writer-director April Wright first takes us back to the movies themselves, to the arcades and the nickelodeons, before D. W. Griffith came along and started filming actual stories. Realizing that large crowds needed to see these then-silent pictures on a big screen, the theater moguls of history began building bigger and more lavish places for people to catch their favorite stars, Mary Pickford and Charlie Chaplin. Once movie companies got involved and attached themselves to theater chains, the competition heated up (although this exclusive arrangement was eventually squashed by Congress). As a teenager living near Tucson in the early-1980s, I had the great privilege to see several movies in an enormous mid-'60s palace named the El Dorado (I always joke I missed 15mns of "Pennies From Heaven" because I was awestruck standing in the most elaborate men's room I'd ever seen!). The El Dorado is now torn down, as are most of the lush, plush theaters talked about here--and the photographs of decaying balconies and murals is heartbreaking. Film historian Leonard Maltin and a handful of theater restoration experts talk about their favorite picture palaces with a mixture of sentiment and nostalgia, plus a determination to keep what few landmarks there are up and running. But, as one interviewee remarks, "It's not enough to just restore a movie theater--you have to keep it going by breathing life into it." An expensive proposition, indeed. This was April Wright's follow-up of sorts to 2013's "Going Attractions: The Definitive Story of the American Drive-in Movie"; she keeps the narrative moving fast, with names, dates and places going by at such a quick clip you need a scorecard to keep track of the many historical personalities involved. However, it's also a well-researched and entertaining document with dozens of rare and wonderful photos of vintage buildings and movie marquees. *** from ****

"Going Attractions" is a documentary celebrating the great old movie palaces of yesterday...mostly built in the 1920s-40s. Unlike a typical theater, these places were HUGE and FANCY...far, far nicer than the nicest modern movie theaters. But, over the years, these places have mostly been torn down and this movie explains why as well as provides hope that some of them might be preserved.

I enjoyed this film but am sure many viewers will think of an old movie palace near them that is never mentioned in the documentary (such as the Tampa Theater near me or Grauman's Egyptian Theater). Additionally, occasionally some of the details are off...such as talking about films by the famous Lumière Brothers while showing a film of Georges Méliès. Another minor detail is talking about how theaters resorted to giveaways to get folks into the place...something which actually was practiced in previous decades. Still, these quibbles are minor and the show features some lovely archtitecture and history.

Nice look at old movie houses with plenty of historical info and tours of places that would be awesome to see. It's not going to blow your mind, but it's fine.

First half was pretty interesting (although I got way too much Ross Melnick and too little Lennie Maltin). I am old enough to remember when the best part of going to see "Ben Hur" was gazing at the outside and inside of the Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Blvd where it was shown. For a ten year old whose architectural experience was limited to suburban housing and shopping centers (malls weren't happening yet) it was, to put it mildly, a real trip.

Second half majorly drags with the final third pretty much a litany of various restorations of various movie palaces. Certainly a worthwhile endeavor but a bit repetitive and enervating to watch. And too much time throughout was spent on the movie biz rather than the movie theater. I didn't need to be told once again about D. W. Griffith's making the movies a mass medium or the rise of United Artists or Mary Pickford's business acumen.

As I watched this doc from the comfort of my pandemic couch I kept wondering if movie theaters will survive COVID. They survived TV, so there's some hope, but I worry that this particular "shared human experience", even though it can involve obnoxious humans who won't shut up or silence their phones or sandwich wrappers, may be a thing of the past. Give it a C plus.