#41 – Watch a movie in art deco at The Sun Theatre in Yarraville – Saturday, June 1, 2013
I’ve got a couple of cinemas on my list and The Sun Theatre was not my initial choice. But I have to say I was so wrong and so glad I included it rather than the Gold Pass seats in one of the Village Cinemas. The Sun one of the classic Melbournian cinemas that managed to stand the test of time. It originally opened in 1938 as a single-screen cinema with 1050 seats. At that time it was the most luxurious cinema in the area and drew large crowds each week (that was before TV). Today, it sports six boutique cinemas with a total of 660 seats. The six cinemas are named after classic cinemas from the area that have now long gone. You quickly get a feel that it not only was once a great cinema, but still is.
As I knew from my research prior to our outing, the cinema sports a big neon sign on the roof that can be seen from far away and thereby has become a Yarraville icon. As soon as I saw that sign, I was captured by the Sun Theatre’s charm. You sense the theatre’s history from the outside with its old school letter displays of which movies are showing. Inside you are welcomed by a classic foyer with a ticket box, a candy bar and (novelty) a bookshop – all in Art Deco. On the way to the cinemas we were fascinated by several telegrams sent by classic Hollywood stars like Clark Gable and Joan Crawford to send best wishes for the opening night.
We went to see a movie that perfectly fit the cinema’s 30s style: Baz Luhrmann’s Great Gatsby. We couldn’t have chosen a better venue for the movie or a better movie for the venue. Both fit so perfectly that the entire experience seems inseparable, even the theatre’s typography matches Gatsby’s. The movie trailer came out around the time we relocated to Melbourne. Ever since I saw the first scenes of the trailer I was hooked and looking forward to seeing it. And I wasn’t disappointed. The book is one of the few that I read multiple times and the movie did it justice. I had so many pictures from the book in my head and Buz Luhrmann managed to project them onto the big screen beautifully.
It must have been a great experience to watch a movie in a sold out theatre of 1050 seats in the old days. The Grand, one of the six boutique cinemas, now hosts approximately 200 people, i.e. only about one fifth of the original size. Nevertheless, the screen is huge and lets you immerse in the movie experience. You a greeted at the cinema’s entrance by an usher with a flashlight who will show you your seat. The seats escalate nicely so that your view isn’t compromised even if the person in front of you stands up.
We were part of a very illustrious crowd dressed up in the style of New York roaring twenties wearing fedoras, cocktail dresses and feathers in their hair. Everything fitted nicely together: A rainy winter evening, a traditional movie theatre in Art Deco, a very visual movie adaptation of a classic combined with an appreciative crowd. It just wouldn’t have been the same watching Iron Man 3. So we left with a warm and fuzzy feeling, looking back having a last glimpse of the big neon sign. We will come back.
