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When I was in my teens,
Lawrence Of Arabia opened in Phoenix, Arizona, and I went with my parents. It was a swanky theatre with 70mm projection and stereophonic sound, and the loge-style seating in the smoking section would rock back and forward as you sat back in your chairs. But
Lawrence Of Arabia never gave me the chance to test how the chairs worked, as I sat bolt upright for the entire film. Then came the scene as Lawrence and Sherif Ali and 50 other true believers cross the Nefud desert.
It was a prolonged sequence through every variety of arid landscape, much like the desert that surrounded that hometown Phoenix audience. That desert crossing cast a spell on me. Yet the first thing I noticed was how quiet the audience was and how few cigarettes were being lit as the sun bore down on the riders, most notably Gasim, who had fallen off his camel in the night and was trekking toward the rising furnace of a sun. Lawrence, risking everything, rides back for him as the sun grow
Cinemas have always been a vital part of what makes movies so special – and right now, they’re sorely missed. Across the UK and worldwide, thousands of venues are currently shuttered amid the Covid-19 pandemic, with filmgoers and filmmakers alike anticipating a time when we can all bask in the glow of a projector light once more. If you need evidence of how much it means to everyone, just look at the latest issue of
Empire – in which Edgar Wright curates a massive celebration of cinemagoing, with Hollywood icons and
Empire readers sharing their most treasured experiences of watching a movie with a packed crowd.
Seeing a movie on the big screen, beautifully projected and with booming sound, is an incredible feeling – but it’s only half of the cinema experience. The other half is the audience itself – the crowd all gathered to get sucked into someone else’s story, ready to burst into raucous laughter, jump out of their seats, or have the rug pulled out from under them in a glorious shared moment. Ask anyone what their greatest ever cinema moment is, and the movie itself always has a part to play – but it’s the feeling of the crowd that inevitably tips it over into something truly special.