Odeon Marble Arch

10 Edgware Road,
London, W2 2EN

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Showing 26 - 50 of 76 comments

drguywalker
drguywalker on December 20, 2014 at 12:42 pm

Lavish ‘for the time?’ This was the uk’s biggest post war cinema and technically highly advanced in design and construction. True, it didn’t have any fake Roman urns and other chintzy set dressing…instead it bore a striking resemblance to the Bauhaus building!

Buffer
Buffer on March 4, 2014 at 1:29 pm

The pond and fish were there in July, 1986, when the adjacent view was taken on the main screen with balcony.

Billy
Billy on December 15, 2013 at 6:11 pm

Can anyone confirm if Disney’s ‘101 Dalmatians’ was shown here around VE Day in 1995? I have a childhood memory of going to an Odeon which was bombed during the war and a short film being played about the rebuilding, then 101 Dalmatians afterwards. The description of both this and the previous cinema on the site seems to match it, if so I was lucky enough to see this cinema before the dividing.

keiths
keiths on November 18, 2013 at 6:34 am

Star Wars in D-150 is a sight I’ll remember all my life. You had to turn your head to see different parts of the picture – talk about being involved….

dp70s
dp70s on September 7, 2013 at 5:39 am

Star Wars run at this cinema in D-150 for all its run. The trailer for Close Encounters run in D-150 for the first 2 days then was shown on the 70mm size screen after that. Pease see my pics etc on this lovely cinema on in70mm.com.

CF100
CF100 on August 20, 2013 at 9:03 pm

The whole site(including office tower) has been sold, and a redevelopment, comprising several towers, has entered the pipeline:

“Construction News” article

The developer’s website mentions cinema space as possible for the redevelopment:

Almacantar – Marble Arch Tower

The existing cinema building would in any case, of course, be demolished.

KitGreen
KitGreen on September 22, 2011 at 12:04 pm

I saw “Ghandi” here.

The best projection I have ever seen.

A pity it is now a multiscreen.

Daviddb
Daviddb on September 13, 2011 at 6:37 am

Of all the theatres I have ever worked being a projectionist here was a privilege and a joy. Perfection was the only standard they knew. Martyn Butler

bigjoe59
bigjoe59 on May 24, 2011 at 2:23 pm

i live in New York City and visited London in August of 1972. i
attended an showing of “Nicholas and Alexandria” at this theater.
it was the first movie theater i had seen with a coffee bar and
cafe rather than just a concession stand selling soda and popcorn.

TLSLOEWS
TLSLOEWS on May 4, 2010 at 11:29 am

Thanks Ken Roe!

Ken Roe
Ken Roe on June 22, 2009 at 11:59 am

Slim, I have amended the introduction to give the opening details. Thanks for your interest.

keiths
keiths on May 5, 2009 at 5:32 pm

Contrary to an earlier posting, I believe the entire second run of Star wars was presented in D150 – it was Close Encounters that had to be shown in ‘standard’ 70mm, though there was NOTHING very standard about the sight of the mother ship when it came over the top of the mountain for the first time….. the whole audience gasped!

Arkadin
Arkadin on April 15, 2009 at 9:09 pm

I saw the restored Lawrence Of Arabia here in the mid-1980s on that marvelous curved screen. What a shame they ruined the theatre.

AdoraKiaOra
AdoraKiaOra on October 16, 2008 at 5:46 am

I was wondering about pics from the 50s.

scott99
scott99 on October 15, 2008 at 7:07 pm

I worked here for a few months when they were showing, Terminator 2 and The Silence of the Lambs. The place used to take your breath away from the top of the rear stalls, where I would frequently nip into the fire escape and have a cheeky fag. It was impressive. When the lights went up however, the seats were all shabby and looked a bit moth eaten. The manager was a bit of a tyrant.

kevinp
kevinp on October 11, 2008 at 7:25 am

herewith some pictures from 1967 featuring D150 : somewhat conflicting screen size : 62 feet …to er 79 ft later being nicer and er more accurate !

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevp/2930889819/

View link

View link

SethLewis
SethLewis on September 15, 2008 at 8:43 am

Pre-refurbishment and plexing, this was a great single screen experience. A great shame that London could not support it as a single screen once the 90s kicked in. Had a great time here for Terminator 2 and The Doors…both pictures which had the right scale for the place. It is now a plex with very tight stepped seating suffered thru Speed 2 and enjoyed Full Monty and Tailor of Panama in spite of the discomfort

AdoraKiaOra
AdoraKiaOra on September 15, 2008 at 8:39 am

Are there any photos of the original auditorium before it was demolished?

AdoraKiaOra
AdoraKiaOra on September 15, 2008 at 8:37 am

I agree with you both, I made many, many visits to the Odeon Marble arch in the 80s and early 90s, while it still had that huge screen and feeling of being in a true cinema, for such ‘Special Engagements’ as ‘Mary Poppins’ etc- THE place to see a movie. I always used to enjoy movies there more so than at the Odeon Leicester Sq or Empire.

drguywalker
drguywalker on September 15, 2008 at 7:06 am

Lavish ‘for the time’? In terms of technical content it was far superior to the mouldy old Regal it replaced. Just because it’s old doesn’t mean it’s better! On the contrary, the new Odeon Marble Arch was brute force sixties modernism at its best. Quite aside from the huge screen and other presentation facilities (which were impressive), you wouldn’t believe how much effort was put into acoustically isolating the whole place. In fact the purpose of that fibreglass rockface effect in the auditorium was acoustical as well as aesthetic. Yes, the Odeon Marble Arch really was a kind of high water mark in terms of big screen entertainment (to use a Rank Organisation slogan of the time). It even cropped up in contemporary architects journals as an object lesson to others and elements of the design were to copied in Rank’s other big projects at the time. Shame it’s glittering, utopian, deep-curve D-150 moment was so short lived!

delta
delta on March 28, 2008 at 8:39 am

D150 only ran at the Odeon Marble Arch, and the Coliseum had only Cinerama

Rani
Rani on March 26, 2008 at 2:18 pm

I only visited that cinema once, but it was a very memorable visit. It was in 1989, and I went to London from Brighton (where I lived at the time) just to see the restored 70mm print of “Lawrence Of Arabia”. Lines were around the building for an early noon screening but I went in very quickly. I sat in the rear stalls, just under the balcony, and I fell in love with the theater right away: It had a feeling of a real cinema. And then the film began. WOW! Until today I regard that screening as one of the best I have ever attended. It was high Definition at it’s best, much better then any HD Digital screenings we might have today. And the movie itself was perfect, still is one of my favorite films ever. It was a stunning expirience and I am very sorry I would be able to visit that cinema again or see another 70mm screening over there. The Odeon Marble Arch before the division was one of the best cinemas I have ever been in. And I have been in a lot before that 1989 visit and after.