From: utzoo!decvax!cca!hplabs!hp-pcd!everett
Newsgroups: net.movies
Title: Casablanca on TV/movies - (nf)
Article-I.D.: hp-pcd.511
Posted: Thu Dec  2 18:01:31 1982
Received: Sat Dec  4 01:29:48 1982

#N:hp-pcd:6500005:000:3092
hp-pcd!everett    Dec  2 14:14:00 1982

From: Everett Kaser
      hplabs!hp-pcd

Re: Casablanca

I disagree that Casablanca is better adapted to the small screen of TV. The 
first couple of times I saw it, it was on TV. It was excellent. Then one 
saturday, a local radio station sponsored an old movie revival at the local
quad cinema. One of the movies was Casablanca. We went to see it, and, to say
the least, I was blown away. There is NO comparing a movie on the big silver
screen to one on the small glass screen (when it was made for the big silver
one. For those of you who have now seen Star Wars at home on TV, maybe you
got the same feeling; I'm sure you would if you were to go back and see it at
the theatre after having watched it on TV. On the large screen, the movie
comes to life, you're absorbed into it, the rest of the theatre disappears 
(unless there's a noisy boor nearby), and the movie becomes the only real
world for its duration. Casablanca was no different in this aspect. On TV,
I really liked it (and still do, since I bought it on tape, uncut and   
uninterrupted by commercials), but at the theatre, larger than life, its
pure distilled excellence.

The above brings to mind another point that digresses a bit. I own, use, and
thoroughly enjoy a video tape recorder.  However, I fear because of it for  
the traditional theatre for the above stated reasons. The time will come 
(and I fear it's drawing nigh) when theatres will have difficulty competing
with home video. When it costs $7.00 to $15.00 or more for a family to go to
see a single movie, and you can rent 3 movies for $7.50 for a week-end, what
can happen? Yet it will be a long time before video in the home can compete
with theatres for that bigger than life thrill. Theatres will have to start
offering something more than just the standard fare, a la advanced projection
technology that can *really* put you *in* the movie, etc. etc.

One last comment, as an example of some of my above statements. Last night we
went to see 'The Empire Strikes Back' again, and there's one point early on,
where the scout flyers are out looking for Han and Luke on the snow planet,
and for a few brief seconds you're sitting in the cockpit as the flyer skims
up and down over hills and cliffs; several times, your theatre chair falls
out from under you, your stomach rises to your throat, you clutch at the arms
knowing you're falling with an accelartion of 9.8 m/sec/sec or whatever it is.
*THAT* is something you'll never get from even a four foot home projection
system.

Enough. The front of my shirt is getting wet from my dribblings.

				
    Not afraid not to mention ET as JC until the last minute                  
                  when I really couldn't care less,
    Not afraid to care less about couldn't care less flames,
    Not afraid to make grammatical mistakes in public,
    Not afraid to forget my name,
    Not afraid to wet my pants,
    Not afraid to faint whe 
    Not afraid to kiss a
    Not afraid to suc
    Not afraid to
    Not a fraid toe
    No taf raid sommay wommay goo goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo





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