I watched old movie at the movie theater① "My Fair Lady"
I am Japanese. I write this blog not only in Japanese but also in English.
But I'm not good at English very much, so I think that there are many mistakes in my English. I appropriate your understanding.
I start new article series in which I write about the experience of watching old masterpieces movies in movie theater screens in present day through revival screenings and so on.
The memorable first article of this series is "My Fair Lady", released in 1964, starring Audrey Hepburn.
Do you know "午前十時の映画祭" ? *1 (Gozen-Juji-No-Eigasai, it means "Film festival at 10 AM")
The project is to screen various classic movies throughout the year at movie theaters in various locations of Japan, once a day for one to two weeks.
↓The official website of "午前十時の映画祭" (external link)
↓The schedule of films to be screened this year in "午前十時の映画祭" (external link)
午前十時の映画祭 has holden 14 times by this year. In recent years, Audrey Hepburn's films have been screened around Golden Week, and last year, the 2023's Audrey film was "My Fair Lady".
I love musical movies, and I also love Audrey. "My Fair Lady" has been my very-very-very favorite movie ever since I borrowed its DVD from my local library when I was a junior high school student.
I thought that I can't watch movie which released in 1964 in the movie theaters in the 21st century. I thought that it is only way to watch old movie that I watch them on small screens like TV, PC, Smart phone. So, when I found out about the festival's existence and saw "My Fair Lady" in the lineup of movies, I jumped for joy.
When I was a junior high school student, I met this movie. Even though I didn't even know half of the meanings of the English words used in the lyrics of songs of this movie, I watched the DVDs over and over again and I remembered lyrics by their sounds. I became to be able to sing the songs in the from memory.
If I tell me when I was in junior high school, "You'll be seeing this movie in theaters 10 years from now", I wonder what I would have thought.
On Friday, April 28, 2023, the first day screening of My Fair Lady of 2023's 午前十時の映画祭, I went to the movie theater. (I ignored the fact that my graduate school entrance exam was coming up. I was an easy-going university student enjoying my fourth year as an undergraduate in which I had much free times.)
I can watch My Fair Lady on a movie theater's big screen, with theater's deep sound, and in 4K (My Fair Lady was eligible for 4K screening)! ! !
I was so excited, and I took my seat at the movie theater.
At the opening of My Fair Lady, "Overture" is played with images of flowers, and the names of the cast and staff are displayed. (In old movies, staff credits often play at the beginning.)
The "Overture" is here ↓ (The video is a channel automatically generated by YouTube called a "topic channel". I recognize it is not an illegal upload.)
I was so moved by the fact that I was able to experience the scene that I had watched and listened to so many times at home with my whole body in the movie theater. Tear started a little in my eyes even though the story had not even started yet.
I have been in a state of tears a little ever since, but what particularly moved me was the scene where Eliza acted by Audrey, appeared on the Ascot Racecourse.
Beforehand, I read this article↓（External link）
In this article, it is written that the beauty of the white of Audrey's costume at the Ascot racecourse. So, I paid attention to this scene. I found that the article is true. The white of Audrey's costume was the most beautiful white among all the whites on the screen. I thought "Oh, this is 4K!" I was so happy to be able to watch this movie's 4K images on the screen of a movie theater.
After the Ascot scene was over, and the famous scene in which Freddy acted by Jeremy Brett sings (I heard the song was dubbed!) was also over, and then came "Intermission"！！！！
After the sign that said "Intermission" is starting, the screen went off, the lights came on. It is time to take a break.
I never thought that the day that I can do like I thought would come. I thought while watching this movie's DVD at home: "I wonder if people who watch the movie in theaters when this movie release went to the restroom or something here."!
I hurried to the restroom, and when I hurried back to the theater's seat, the intermission's time of theater I went to was 5 minutes long, so it was just in time for the movie to resume.
I often see Intermission in old movies (like this film, The Sound of Music, Lawrence of Arabia, etc.), but in recent films, there is not Intermission even in long movies. The last time I went to watch "Oppenheimer" (180 minutes), there was no intermission, so I made sure I didn't drink too much water beforehand.
If there are intermission, I need not to worry so much about my bladder.
This Wikipedia's article, "Intermission" has a list of movies which has Intermission and movies which has no intermission though the movie is long. It is interesting! ↓ (external link)
So, I had a wonderful movie experience that included the two big my heart's moving points mentioned above, and I went home full of satisfaction, but when I woke up the next morning, I already wanted to watch this movie again.
I ended up going to the movie theater to watch "My Fair Lady" three times during the two-week screening period! (What a leisure university student!)
Even if I watch the same movie two and three times,
The impressive points changed (the second time, I was most impressed by how cool Jeremy Brett was in "On The Street Where You Live". The third time, I knew I couldn't come to watch this movie anymore, so When I listen to songs "Get Me To The Church On Time" and "I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face", I was most moved because I thought that "Oh, this movie's end will come soon, when can I watch it at the movie theater next?")
and I was influenced by the other audience each day, such as when there was good laugher, and I feel funnier more because of the person's laughter.
There was something new each time.
Best of all, I was able to watch my favorite movie on a big screen, with acoustics that filled my entire body, and a seat that hugged my body while enjoying the smell of popcorn and the coolness of the juice in my cup. It was a precious memory that I will never forget.
I'm really glad that I found the existence of a film festival called "午前十時の映画祭".
The Audrey's movie for this year's 午前十時の映画祭 is "Breakfast at Tiffany's". It will be released this Friday, April 26, 2024! Of course, I'll go to watch it.
Screenings for the 午前十時の映画祭 generally start in the morning and screen once a day, but "Breakfast at Tiffany's" will be screened in the evening too in collaboration with Filmarks! ! ↓(external link)
It is very thankful that options to watch movie increase.
And the musical movie of this year's "午前十時の映画祭" is "Singin' in the Rain", which I have mentioned many times on this blog!
With Group B theaters will screen it for two weeks first, and then Group A theaters will screen for two weeks. There will be a period when "Singin' in the Rain" will be screened somewhere in Japan for a month. I wonder I'll go see it about 10 times.
I'm looking forward to going to many more revival screenings of classic movies, including 午前十時の映画祭!
See you again!
Note
*1:午前十時の映画祭 "Gozen-Juji-No-Eigasai" it means "10AM film festival".
This is the Japanese event that old masterpiece movies is shown in movie theater.
We can watch old various masterpiece movies in many parts of Japan's movie theaters.
In 午前十時の映画祭, foreign movie is shown with Japanese subtitle not Japanese dubbing. So, people who can't listen Japanese well can enjoy movies.
You can see this year's 午前十時の映画祭's movie line up to this URL.↓ (External website's link, 「午前十時の映画祭」's website.)
上映スケジュール - 午前十時の映画祭14 デジタルで甦る永遠の名作 (eiga.com)
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