This 79-year-old film still makes Scots cinema crowds burst into applause |
The only previous occasion when I’d been in a cinema audience burst into spontaneous applause as the end credits rolled was in the summer of 1975. It was at the old ABC cinema on Sauchiehall Street where I’d gone with my school friends to see Jaws. It was every bit as thrilling and scary as we’d been led to expect.
As Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfus paddled away from the blasted bits of the Great White they’d just slain, the Glasgow audience cheered. It wasn’t just that our heroes had escaped being the shark’s dinner; we’d also been entertained by three actors (including the great Robert Shaw) under the direction of Steven Spielberg who was just beginning to cast his spells.
And then on Wednesday night, at the Glasgow Film Theatre, it happened again at the end of It’s a Wonderful Life. Glaswegians are more than a little circumspect when it comes to outward signs of enthusiasm or approbation. So, when a few people behind me began to clap, I hesitated before joining in with the rest of the theatre.
I’ve seen It’s a Wonderful Life many times, but only once before at the GFT, not long after the cinema had adopted it as their annual festive treat to the city. Even so, I was surprised at the spontaneous acclaim greeting Wednesday’s showing. Surely, everyone there had seen this film many times too?
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Afterwards, I see my friend Andrew and his two teenage children. “I’ve been taking these two for the last five years and the applause is baked into the tradition,” he tells me.
I can’t give you a detailed analysis of why Glasgow has taken Frank Capra’s 1946 small-town, American fantasy to its heart so much. Perhaps other cities have taken ownership of it in this way too. The GFT screens 650-700 films a year and It's a Wonderful Life annually sells more tickets than any of the rest.
Since it was first screened more than 20 years ago, total admissions........