How About Something Nice For a Change

A few nights ago Heather (my lovely wife) and I did something many people never get to do anymore ... we watched a movie outdoors. If you're old enough to remember the drive-in, you might have been conceived in one! :)

This wasn't a drive-in, but a more pleasant and particularly Floridian sort of affair. Near us here in Maitland is a village called Winter Park, an affluent bedroom community of old money and european shopping. In the center of this village is a train station and a modest community park, with a small stage at one end. Our local art-house movie theatre and cultural institution the Enzian Theatre has, after years of me badgering them, taken up a suggestion: showing classic old movies in non-traditional settings, for free, so that people could see them again the way they were meant to be seen. I guess they needed a sponsor/partner to finally implement the idea, but I'm glad they finally got around to it.

They got some really good-quality projection and sound equipment, a DVD player, some classic movies and a screen and put it on the stage, then invited people to just show up and watch in the evenings just after twilight. While it's already unbearably hot in the days now, we still have the balmy breezes in the evening so it's quite pleasant. Last month it was Some Like It Hot, this month it was The Palm Beach Story. Great old movies both of them, both with a prominent Florida connection.

I am a big movie buff, and enjoy old movies and new pretty much equally. It's really hard to describe how ... er, nice this all is. Sitting out on a blanket with some wine and cheese (or fried chicken and soda), running into old friends, watching an old but really well-made film that at least half the audience has never seen before and hearing them laugh or clap or gasp in the right places. Watching a movie alone on your TV compared to watching a film projected properly in a theatre full of movie fans is like wolfing down cold pizza compared to eating a full-course, gourmet meal. It's just that much better. Even films that are not particularly epic or "cinematic" gain immeasurably from the large projection and the sound of the crowd. The audience are an important and often-overlooked part of the whole moviegoing experience, and I absolutely revel in it. I keep one eye on the crowd at all times.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say here is that every now and again you need to turn off the Playstation (or fill in your technological addiction of choice) and harken back to the simple pleasures (but don't go Amish on us or anything, okay?). Luckily for us here, the Enzian allows us this particular one.

Next month's feature will be the Marx Brothers' Duck Soup. I can't wait.