Watching films in The Rex
I have always loved going to the cinema - looking up at the bright screen, I forget the world outside - along with my fellow patrons, I lose myself in the movie - we are all beguiled by the same potent spell -
When I was a boy, I used to go to The Ritz - my dad went with me to Doctor Zhivago - for the first time, my heart was rent by tragedy - I imagined trams clattering through the streets of Gosport - noble doctors fell lifeless upon the pavement - steely eyed revolutionaries rode armoured trains - huge red flags billowed like sails -
I was haunted for months by scenes I remembered from Ben Hur - the splintered chariots, the beautiful mad horses, the terrible beats of the drum deep within the slave galley -
I am sure I can remember life size cardboard cut outs of Judah Ben-Hur and Messala in the foyer -
Now, worlds later, I watch films in The Rex, in sleepy Wareham - talkies were first shown here in 1927 - Jocelyn issues the tickets - she has a marvellous drawling voice - she told us how she had been born in Sri Lanka - she had been a talented actress - amongst her many parts was that of Sally Bowles - a picture on the cinema website shows her, elfin faced, a cigarette holder in her rosebud mouth -
Recently, on Tessa's recommendation, I saw Django Unchained in The Rex - I emerged onto West Street, expecting to see decadent plantation owners, implacable avengers, sneering Uncle Toms - I saw, instead, a Long Johns Fish and Chip franchise -
I have always loved going to the cinema - looking up at the bright screen, I forget the world outside - along with my fellow patrons, I lose myself in the movie - we are all beguiled by the same potent spell -
When I was a boy, I used to go to The Ritz - my dad went with me to Doctor Zhivago - for the first time, my heart was rent by tragedy - I imagined trams clattering through the streets of Gosport - noble doctors fell lifeless upon the pavement - steely eyed revolutionaries rode armoured trains - huge red flags billowed like sails -
I was haunted for months by scenes I remembered from Ben Hur - the splintered chariots, the beautiful mad horses, the terrible beats of the drum deep within the slave galley -
I am sure I can remember life size cardboard cut outs of Judah Ben-Hur and Messala in the foyer -
Now, worlds later, I watch films in The Rex, in sleepy Wareham - talkies were first shown here in 1927 - Jocelyn issues the tickets - she has a marvellous drawling voice - she told us how she had been born in Sri Lanka - she had been a talented actress - amongst her many parts was that of Sally Bowles - a picture on the cinema website shows her, elfin faced, a cigarette holder in her rosebud mouth -
Recently, on Tessa's recommendation, I saw Django Unchained in The Rex - I emerged onto West Street, expecting to see decadent plantation owners, implacable avengers, sneering Uncle Toms - I saw, instead, a Long Johns Fish and Chip franchise -
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