GUERNSEY CINEMAS
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| 1000-1099 | 1100-1199 | 1200-1299 | 1300-1399 | 1400-1499 | 1500-1599 | 1600-1699 | 1700-1799 | 1800-1899 | 1900-1999 | 2000-2099 |
Guernsey
was hosting silent films in 1896 and “talkies” followed not long after their
creation in around 1929.Names such as the Lyric Hall, Central Hall, The People’s Palace ( also known as Billy Bartlett’s or The Flea Pit ), St. Julian’s Hall ( later The Gaumont ) and the North Cinema were all familiar to the Guernsey public from the late 1920s and early 1930s onwards. One of the biggest, the Regal Cinema, was built in 1937 in inimitable Art Deco style and re-named the Odeon in 1948. There, one could still buy ice-cream, pop-corn and hot-dogs from usherettes in the interval up until its closure in 1980. People may also just remember films being shown at venues such as Rectory House ( in Market Square ) and The Empire Theatre ( St. Sampson’s Electric Theatre ) which was open for live acts and films from 1912.
All Guernsey’s cinemas were closed after the air-raid on St. Peter Port on 28th June 1940 by the German Luftwaffe, but were re-opened shortly after the Island was occupied by German forces. At the Regal, German films were initially shown on 2 nights every week, but by the end of 1941 the programme was exclusively German.
After
the war the cinemas remaining in operation were the Odeon, Gaumont and the
North Cinema. The Lyric was used as a film venue for British Forces until it
was converted into a billiard hall in 1951. By the 1950s, of course, films
were being produced in glorious “technicolour” and the problems caused by
inflammable celluloid film were overcome thanks to the use of the safer
acetate medium. Following the launch of BBC television in 1936 cinema had a fight on its hands. Thanks to the slow development of the medium cinema held its audience appeal until well into the 1970s. However, with Sony’s introduction of the Betamax home Video Cassette Recorder in 1974 the general public were suddenly able to enjoy the luxury of private home viewing. This, coupled with improved broadcasting and television quality, heralded the down turn in attendance figures at the cinema. The North Cinema closed in around 1957 but the Gaumont and Odeon soldiered on.
The
Gaumont continued development which culminated in the introduction of a
second screen in 1980. But with the competition from home viewing, Guernsey
found it impossible to sustain two cinemas; the Odeon closed its doors the
same year and was sold to the States of Guernsey for £300,000. Fighting
against the convenience of rental and retail video, the Gaumont eventually
closed its doors in January 1985. In the void left by the disappearance of
the last two cinemas Beau Sejour Leisure Centre continued to show films in
its theatre auditorium, a service it still provides to this day. It wasn’t
until 1993 that local business felt that there was sufficient interest again
to merit the opening of dedicated cinema screens on the Island. In that year
the Mallard Double Bill Cinema opened with 2 screens, and 2 more were added
a year later, in 1994. With the improvements in auditorium design, digital
surround sound and CGI technology ( Computor Generated Images ) cinema has
again become popular – not least because these visual and audio advances are
best enjoyed and appreciated on a large screen rather than on a home
television.