"A NEW HOPE" - STILL PACKING 'EM IN, EVEN AT 5AM!
I had the joy of experiencing a unique occasion recently. About twice a year since 1986, the Valhalla Cinema situated in Northcote, has held a magnificent tradition of showing 24 hours of non stop Science Fiction movies, which has since become a cult event in itself. People turn up early Saturday morning with sleeping bags, pillows, doonas, and bags of food, along with frisbee's and paper plates (to throw around as amusement between films). The screening of the first movie starts at 7.30am on Saturday morning (following the traditional free breakfast put on by the management), with the last film finishing at 7.30am on Sunday morning. In all, about 13 - 15 films are shown. The films themselves are often vast and varied, but what made the last 24hr marathon a real treat was the last film on the programme - STAR WARS!
For the past couple of marathons, STAR WARS has in fact been the first film shown, however this time around it was relegated to the end. Now most people would ask "Who on Earth would still be around to see STAR WARS at the ridiculous time of 5.30am Sunday morning?" Who indeed? After the second last film had finished (the appalling Robot Monster), everyone who had been in the cinema since the previous morning said to themselves "Just one more film left." Can you then imagine how completely lost for words we were as literally hordes of fresh new people started coming into the cinema? Unbeknown to us, these people had been queuing up outside while Robot Monster was still screening! Now a 24hr marathon has a naturally high attrition rate of people as film after film rolls on by, so by the time the last one comes around, only the real dedicated crazies remain (about 200 people), thus it was a huge shock to us to see the cinema as full as it had been 22 hours earlier. STAR WARS fans had come out of the wood work everywhere to see their beloved film on the big screen at the most ungodliest of hours, proving that there is no shortage of true fans, and believe me, there was not one yawn in the place.
Being a fan of the STAR WARS saga since I was a boy, a lump came to my throat as the audience let out an almighty cheer as the 20th Century Fox logo and fanfare came up, to be followed 10 seconds later with an even larger cheer as the thunderous march of the film, which has been the dynamic symbol of STAR WARS for so many years, exploded into hundreds of ears within the cinema. For me, it was just like reliving 1977 all over again, when everyone was keen, enthusiastic and excited by what was coming up. For anybody who thought STAR WARS had lost its ability to impact itself on an audience, they were proven far wrong by the sheer electricity generated by the people at this screening. Some of the Valhalla "groupies" even got together to act out scenes from the film on the front stage as the movie was progressing, providing an amusing element to the entertainment of the night.
It wasn't long before it was discovered that no one had actually fallen asleep, the moment Luke Skywalker appeared next to Uncle Owen on Tatooine the crowd let out a huge cheer of approval, as the young farm boy - soon to be hero - was introduced in the film. However he was soon to be outdone, the moment Han Solo appeared in the Cantina the crowd let the world know that he was indeed a very popular character.
The film itself looked magnificent on the big screen, which only served to remind us just how inadequate television screens really are. It also re-emphasised how much this film deserves to be shown in a cinema (roll on 1997!), especially considering the actual print itself was excellent. It brought back the memories of old, and in the end I realised it really was no surprise that people would go to such lengths to turn up to the Valhalla in the wee small hours of a Sunday morning to see STAR WARS the way it was meant to be shown, to relieve the joy of experiencing the STAR WARS phenomenon once again at the movies.
It didn't take much insight to notice the tension generated by people as the infamous climatic space battle got underway, it was tension generated by sheer excitement and awe as the spectacle unfolded before us, what made all this tension so obvious was its sudden release in the form of a huge cheer as the Death Star blew up into the never never. Here was an audience not just enjoying a movie, but really enjoying it! The final moment of joy was at the finale when our heroes stood on the steps in the great hall, after receiving their medals, facing the auditorium of people clapping and cheering. But no, a large portion of that clapping and cheering was coming from us, STAR WARS had come to an end, and it has been sweetly savoured by everyone in the house. But the grandest gratitude was still yet to come, as the first credit came up onto the screen "Written and Directed by George Lucas", this by far received the biggest, and most deafening, cheer of all, beating any from the previous 14 films (and that is no exaggeration).
STAR WARS may be 18 years old, but it proved that it still had the ability to hold an audience entranced within its magic, and that was so evident by the reactions of the crowd. It really was the perfect way to finish 24hrs of Science Fiction films, the best had indeed been saved for last.