Prior to the advent of television, the ‘talkies’ were the most popular form of entertainment. John Guillaumier reminisces about movie theatres in the 1950s and his own ‘adventures’ at the cinema.

In the 1950s, the major towns in Malta had at least one cinema. Valletta and Sliema had several. Ħamrun, where I lived, had five: the Hollywood, the Radio City, the Trianon, the Odeon and the Rex.

Captain Marvel

The newest was the Hollywood theatre. The Trianon, as far as I know, was the oldest in the locality. Inside its long lobby were displayed original film posters from the 1920s and 1930s. While looking at these evocative pictures, I often imagined previous generations of moviegoers queuing up with anticipation on a Sunday evening to watch the movies depicted on these walls.

For many Maltese at that time, an entertaining movie at the local cinema on Sunday evening was the highlight of the week. There was no television in Malta until late 1957 – and then it was only one Italian station, in black and white, starting in the early evening.

Movies always premiered in Valletta and then they were shown in Sliema and at other locations in Malta. They were usually shown in Malta two years after their release in North America.

Local censorship was very strict. Prolonged kissing on the screen was cut short and whole scenes or sequences were sometimes deleted. Nudity was out of the question.

Many of the movies I wanted to see in my early teens, and that I heard other people talking about, such as I Confess, Giant, Witness for the Prosecution, House of Wax (one of the first films in 3D),Picnic and Peyton Place were beyond my reach because they were classified as ‘over 16’ – or worse, as ‘over 21’ –  which, to my adolescent mind, seemed far off in the future.

When a much-anticipated blockbuster, such as Quo Vadis, The Robe or The Ten Commandments premiered in Valletta, residents of other towns often made a trip to the capital city during the week to book seats for the Sunday evening shows, which were always sold out on such occasions.

The Great Caruso

In the past, movies did not end with a never-ending list of credits, as they do nowadays. They just displayed the names of the main actors. This was followed by the trademark “Made in Hollywood, Calif. USA”. To me, this ‘brand’ added to the enormous prestige that the US enjoyed in the 1950s. It made Hollywood look like Shangri-La!

The talkies were so popular at the time that cinemas in Valletta offered matinees at 10am on weekdays. The Radio City in Ħamrun showed serial films, featuring the original Superman and Adventures of Captain Marvel, as Saturday afternoon matinees. Each film had a ‘cliffhanger’ at the end to entice you to come back for the rest of the story on the following Saturday.

Films were usually shown in Malta two years after their release

My favourite was Captain Marvel. At one particular carnival period in the early 1950s, I told my mother that I wanted to “dress” like Captain Marvel. She sent me with a maid to a seamstress, to whom I showed a picture of the costume worn by Captain Marvel. The seamstress told me: “I don’t have the stretch fabric to make this costume.” I didn’t believe her. I thought she was conspiring with my mother to dissuade me from the fantasy that I had of wanting to ‘fly’ like Captain Marvel! 

In bygone days, most cinemas in Malta exhibited film shorts before the featured film. They included newsreels, such as Movietone News; short comedies, such as The Three Stooges; and Looney Tunes cartoons, depicting Bugs Bunny, Duffy Duck or Tom and Jerry. Sometimes, all three were shown in a row before the main feature. This usually went down well with the audience.

The Embassy

One Sunday evening in the early 1950s, I went to the Hollywood theatre with my parents. Before the main feature we were shown a documentary about the Niagara Falls in Canada, which was described as a “destination for honeymooners”. I asked my parents: “What do married people do on their honeymoon?” Some people in the audience heard my question. They smiled at my naïveté.

In those days, Maltese moviegoers flocked to the cinemas to hear Mario Lanza sing in the Hollywood musicals That Midnight Kiss, The Toast of New Orleans and The Great Caruso. Other memorable musicals that were shown then included The Jolson Story, Easter Parade and The Band Wagon (both starring Fred Astaire), An American in Paris (Gene Kelly), Calamity Jane (Doris Day) and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Howard Keel).

Hollywood musicals, such as Meet Me at St Louis (Judy Garland), On Moonlight Bay (Doris Day), Show Boat, Singing in the Rain (Gene Kelly) and The King and I (Doris Day) lifted up my spirits. Adventure films, such as Treasure Island, Ivanhoe, The Adventures of Robin Hood, Sinbad the Sailor and Thief of Baghdad – filmed in gorgeous technicolour and replete with adventure and romance – helped to give me a break from my school homework. 

Films like Peter Pan and The Wizard of Oz  transported me for a while to lands of fantasy, far away from my humdrum life as a school boy. We had no television to entertain us at home, let alone computer games.

As pointed out earlier, in the 1950s, most towns in Malta had at least one cinema. Santa Venera was no exception. The cinema there was called Carmelite Hall, a rather depressing theatre converted from an old cow-barn. On a particular Christmas in the early 1950s, the Carmelite Fathers threw a party for the children of the parish, at which I was also present. After being provided with Christmas treats, we enjoyed watching a Laurel and Hardy comedy. Then we were shown a film featuring the cowboy Roy Rodgers, the hero of many boys at that time.

At the end of the movie, we screamed with delight and stomped our feet with excitement, as we “urged on” Roy Rodgers, on his white horse Trigger and followed by his cowboy entourage, to ride faster and faster in order to rescue his girlfriend from the Red Indians. 

So, I say “Hooray for Hollywood!” for having entertained and delighted millions of children and adults in the Golden Age of the talkies.

The Wizard of Oz