North Bend Theatre brings classic films to the big screen
March 19, 2008
By Ryan Piersol
It’s certainly not 1942 anymore, but if Cindy Walker has her say, it will at least feel like it for a few hours.
For the past two months, the owner of the North Bend Theatre has been trying something new on Wednesday nights. Due to a group of avid classic film fans, she’s introduced Wednesday Night is Date Night, when the theatre shows legendary films from the 1930s through the 1970s.
One week it may be James Dean in the 1954 cult classic, “A Rebel Without a Cause.” The next, it may be Robert Redford and Paul Newman in the Oscar-winning, “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”
Whatever the film, they’re all classics – and films few ever had the chance to see on the big screen.
“How many of us actually saw Casablanca on the big screen?” Walker said of the 1942 love story.
“Films like these are great on the big screen and most of us missed that. You can stay at home and watch them on Turner Classic, but it’s not the same. This way is a totally different feel and almost makes it seem like you’re back in that time.”
The North Bend Theatre typically shows two movies throughout the week that have just been released. Walker started mixing it up last summer with the Kids Summer Film Club, featuring films like “E.T.” and “Ants” for the younger crowd.
That experiment worked well enough for the theatre to create the Fall Classic Series, a 10-week event that began last October with “Singing In the Rain” and ended Christmas week with “Casablanca.”
Early this year, she started taking requests from regulars for entries into Wednesday Night is Date Night. It started on Valentine’s Day with “To Have and Have Not,” a love story featuring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Next week, the theatre will show “Cool Hand Luke.”
“The people who come really enjoy it,” Walker said. “Part of it is difficult getting the word out, because people are really busy. But the people who come seem to come every Wednesday night.
“There’s just such a great variety of older movies that you don’t usually get to see. And, quite frankly, a lot of people asked us to show classics. They’re expensive to get, so we want to build an audience.
And the way to do that is to be consistent with it and have it every week, until it’s a success.”
This project will last through April 16. There are still four films remaining in the series.
Walker takes suggestions through the theatre web site, www.northbendtheatre.com.
She expects to hold the Kids Summer Film Club for a second time later this year.
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