Odeon Camden

 

Film  For Sentimental Value.  Really friendly staff though its clear that the cinema itself hasn't had much investment for quiet some time with mucky staircases, broken seats and stains on the screen.  Sat at the front of Screen 5 which put the image directly in front of me which along with having to climb stairs to reach the seats in the auditorium offered Manchester Cornerhouse Screen 3 vibes.  Originally opened as a large single screen Gaumont in 1937 and has operated in various arrangements and guises over the years (full history at Cinema Treasures here).  As I was leaving I informed an usher I'd been chatting to about the stains on the screen, at which point she told me they'd be closing in five weeks so its unlikely to be replaced or refurbished.  Cinema Treasures explains that by the end of the year this ninety year old cinema with its Art Deco foyer will be demolished to make way for student halls.

Odeon Leicester Square

 

Film  For 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.  The chain's flagship and built as such by Oscar D back in 1937.    As well as a box-ticking exercise, this was the fulfilment of an ambition to visit the site of so many premieres and Royal Film Performances across the decades (although the late Queen stopped going after The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and who can blame her).  The cost always seemed ridiculous (at present £25 for the cheapest ticket, £32.50 in the Royal Box).  But with a MyLimitless membership, it's £3 and only because it's a recliner seat in Dolby Cinema screen.  For that price, how could I not ... spend £50 going down to London and back for it?

It is an absolutely massive auditorium on two tiers of the kind which used to be incredibly common in the UK.  Refurbished in 2018 to Luxe standard with a reduced seat count of recliners and the installation of a Dolby projection system which offers vivid colours and blacks which are blacker than black.  The sound echoes into the space in a way I haven’t heard since the ABC Cinema on Lime Street closed.  Here is the view from the very back row, at which point you’re probably going to get a larger image watching it on your phone:

What look like the arms of a chair are actually replicas of the Art Deco features which were removed in the 1960s but added during the most recent refurbishment and looked humongous from my front-row seat.  The cinema has four other screens which are about the size of the average Everyman auditorium and were added in 1990 by covering over what was the alleyway at the back of the cinema.  But honestly, I wish all Odeons were as obviously well-maintained as this.