UP ALL NIGHT TO GET LUCKY

The Excellent Mark Kermode's Secrets Of Cinema recently covered cult movies. With the restrictions of an hour he managed to cover a lot from the obvious to the more unexpected choices, and a mention was made of the Scala cinema. Most would know the Scala as the large venue in Kings Cross but my experiences of the wonderful world of cult cinema took place at the original Scala Cinema Tottenham Street. This was an intimate venue that hosted film festivals, all nighters and live bands.

Two of the most memorable occasions at the Scala were the Golden Turkey Awards Festival and the 3D Movie All-Nighter.

The treats that awaited us were a list of cult oddities and all sorts, many of which were exposed to the public for the first time. some of he titles shown were;

• Santa Claus Conquers The Martians, in which Kris kringle thwarts an alien invasion
• The advertised Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes was unavailable so we were treated to The Attack Of The Mushroom People
• Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter replaced the absent Billy The Kid V Dracula
• Robot Monster, a film so low budget that the antogonist is wearing a gorilla suit with a divers helmet
• Queen Of Outer Space (Pink Tinted Version) staring Zsar Zsar Gabor
• Monster On Campus, a chilling tale of a teen in a hairy rubber mask running amok
• Ed Wood's Plan 9 From Outer Space-the Citizen Kane of bad movies
• Glen Or Glenda, Ed Wood's autobiographical film about transvestism and Angora sweaters

The Perils of attending a 3D all-nighter are manifested in a blinding headache at around 5.00am as the 3D experience involved wearing 3D glasses and the toll it takes on ones eyes after 8 hours is rather fearsome when paired with sleep deprivation.

One of my favourite All-Nighters was the Gene Wilder/Mel Brooks experience. A blend now legendary and lesser known films from two of the funniest men in movie history.

Silver Streak, Young Frankenstein, High Anxiety, Blazing Saddles, The World's Greatest Lover and The Adventure Of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother. This was a bill of films that is unsurpassed in terms of comedy and shows a great deal of diversity in terms of Gene Wilder in particular. It's also worth noting the standout performances from Cloris Leachman (who died this week aged 94) in three of the titles. The Adventure  Of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother showed Wilder's love of  absurdist British Comedy and sits well with the work of Cook & More and Python. When we emerged blinking into the early morning sunlight our jaws and ribs were aching to add to the 100 yard stares a night without sleep evokes.

Of course there were other All-Nighters at the Scala, notably the Jamaican All-Nighter which featured the excellent The Harder They Come and the National Lampoonesque Smile Orange, and you could generally find All-Nighters at various Odeons, notably the raucous Kung Fu All-Nighters.

In those days these Cinematic outings were a lot of fun, a great shared experience and more importantly an opportunity to experience the breadth of movie genres that were out there. You might get lucky and find a real gem to recommend, or be there at the start of a cult,  it was, after all, an era where the words streaming and Youtube were unknown, you had to go out there and find it!