Review by henry8-3

Extraordinary look at a notorious London cinema that was uncomfortable, smelly and with a lousy sound system. It was though a focal point for thousands and thousands of different folk who could go there, often drunk, stoned or both, whoever and whatever they were without judgement. Its choice of films was deeply varied showing many classics but could always be relied upon to screen near to the knuckle films. Hence festivals could be as varied as Laurel and Hardy to kung fu and soft porn. As a documentary it is largely a series of interviews with people who had great memories of the place up to those whose lives were shaped / influenced by what to many of them was a second home, interspersed with many many clips.

Not remotely pretentious or full of itself it is just an interesting record of an extraordinary piece of social history. Sadly the great days of the Scala have ended although I must say, in part because of rather freewheeling misguided decision to screen a banned film / break the law. Well worth seeing, particularly for film lovers.