The Wonder Cinema
Take a trip from The Wizard of Oz to Reservoir Dogs in the Wonder Cinema of Ireland, the Ritz, Belfast. Join hosts, filmmaker Brian Henry Martin and cinema historian Dr. Sam Manning in a new six-part series exploring the remarkable story of a long lost super cinema.
The Wonder Cinema
Series One Trailer : The Ritz, Belfast
Take a trip from The Wizard of Oz to Reservoir Dogs in The Wonder Cinema of Ireland, the Ritz, Belfast. Join hosts filmmaker Brian Henry Martin and cinema historian Dr Sam Manning for a new six-part series revealing the remarkable story of a long lost picture palace.
Written and presented by Dr Sam Manning and Brian Henry Martin
Music by Score Draw Music
https://thewondercinema.buzzsprout.com
BHM: Welcome to the Wonder Cinema podcast,
Dr Sam: where we wonder about cinema.
BHM: I'm filmmaker and film critic Brian Henry Martin
Dr Sam: and I'm cinema historian and author Dr Sam Manning.
BHM: Well, we are going to tell the story Sam in this podcast of just one cinema.
Dr Sam: But not just any cinema, the Wonder Cinema of Ireland, the Ritz, which opened in 1936 in Belfast.
BHM: Okay, so the Wonder Cinema of Ireland is the Ritz, Belfast. Now, Sam, I'm from Belfast, so I went to the Cannon cinema which was the later incarnation of the Ritz, but Sam, you don't sound like you are from Belfast, what's your connection to this?
Dr Sam: I'm what the locals would call a blow-in but I'm just interested in the history of cinemas in the city and the social history of Northern Ireland and I think the Ritz is a great way to look at that history from the 1930's right through the Troubles into the 1990s.
BHM: Now, there's going to be some incredible moments like when Cary Grant is presented with a shillelagh on the stage of the Ritz or when the fab four walk up the marble steps and the crowd goes wild. Sam what moments stand out for you?
Dr Sam: Those alongside some other great ones like Gracie Fields visiting in 1936 but also looking at the cinema in more troubled times, so for instance, we are going to look at how it was bombed in 1977 and then how it reopened and reimagined itself in the 1980s.
BHM: And how a fax from Stephen Spielberg brought the curtain down on the Wonder Cinema of Ireland. Who is this podcast for? Well, it's for cinema fans who fancy a trip which takes us from The Wizard of Oz
Dr Sam: to Reservoir Dogs.
BHM: Wow and that's an extraordinary journey! I mean it's fifty plus years and yet Sam so much happens.
Dr Sam: Yeh and it's not just the history of a cinema, it's almost the story of Northern Ireland or the social and cultural history of Belfast. All in one place, the Wonder Cinema of Ireland.
BHM: Why listen to this podcast, well, why indeed? I don't know who is going to listen to this podcast but thank you if you are going to. The good news is Sam, we have two listeners.
Dr Sam: And we hope to have many more. So if you are interested in cinema, if you are interested in history, if you are interested in Belfast or Northern Ireland, then we hope you will join us to hear more about the Wonder Cinema.
BHM: The first podcast drops on Monday 2nd September, we will see you then.
