Skip to main content

Why Terowie Picture Theatre was different than the others.

Terowie is a small mid-north town in South Australia, today it would be seen as a ghost town. From the heady days of nearly 2000 residents today, just over 100 people call it home.  But it is such an interesting town that I urge you to visit if you are ever in the area.  The buildings in the main street are a snapshot of a 19th-century Australian town.  

In researching my blog I came to understand what a remarkable town Terowie was and continues to be.  Very much a community and seems to continue today.  But it is the 'community' heart of Terowie that made it different than other towns during the 1920s through to the 1960s when they came together to 'put on a show' for each other.  That is what I love about picture theatres the social heart of them in a city, in a suburb in a town.  Where people come together, whether it be strangers or fellow townsfolk.  Going to the pictures was and continues to be a very social outing.  

https://sapicturetheatres.wixsite.com/sapicturetheatres/post/terowie-institute-theatre-terowie 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Cinema of Attractions.

 There is a period in film history sandwiched between the Lumiere Brothers and the beginning of the studio era that the film theorist Tom Gunning calls an era of the ‘cinema of attractions’.  This is a theory used to describe films that are not narrative driven, but rather are driven by the need to amaze, a need to exhibit, a need to acknowledge their audience. This essay will examine the technology behind film, the desideratum for these films to exhibit, as well as the cultural context of film during this period and it will consider the theory behind ‘cinema of attractions’. In the mid-eighteenth century shadow theatre had arrived in Europe and was at once very popular with audiences (Robinson 1981, p. 2). Magic lanterns go back to the seventeenth century when exhibitors would tour cities and towns (Robinson 1981, p. 9).  Whilst invention after invention came and went, it could be argued that it was the invention of photography in 1826 that is the true basis of film as w...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Boat

Earlier on I mentioned that I would be discussing many genre's of film not just Australian Film, this is my first post away from Australian Film and I have decided to discuss a Short Film that I rate as one of my all time favourites. Buster Keaton's The Boat. Last year I watched "The General", Keaton's acknowledged masterpiece and was completely entranced by it, I had previously watched some silent movies and had not really gotten into them. But I found The General very different and still rate it as one my favourite movies. After watching The General I had to see more Keaton so I did the BIG plunge and purchased The Art of Buster Keaton (Released by Kino), every single short and feature film that Keaton released whilst he had he own studio, oh an one in which he was merely an actor "The Saphead". In amongst this wonderful set, is The Boat. a short first released in November 1921. The premise is that Keaton having built a boat "The Damfino" dec...
Post a Comment
Read more