gotham@24fps

QUAD CINEMAS
Four screens
34 W. 13th St. (between Fifth and Sixth Avenues)
(212) 255-8800 [Recorded info] 

    
A Sunday morning at the Quad. An ELDERLY CUSTOMER, 
the first patron of the day, is fumbling in her pocketbook 
for a few bills with which to purchase a ticket from the 
theater CASHIER. Perhaps a dozen people are lined up out 
the door behind her, fidgeting uncomfortably.




CUSTOMER:
Give me one ticket to Seventh Heaven. 
(Beat.) That's in English, isn't it?

CASHIER:
One ticket, Seventh Heaven.

CUSTOMER: 
That's in English, isn't it?

CASHIER:  
No, it's in French with English subtitles.

CUSTOMER: 
Oh, well, never mind. Give me one ticket to 
Western. That's in English.

CASHIER:  
You want Western? No, it's not in English.

CUSTOMER: 
It's not?

CASHIER:  
English subtitles.




The CUSTOMER scowls at the one-sheet for NIGHTS OF CABIRIA.

That's just the way it goes at the Quad, which distinguishes itself in its 13th Street neighborhood by offering air conditioning and a senior discount. The audiences at this place are all over the map: older folks catching a few Zs during the French films, twenty-somethings on strange medication, and the hardcore foreign film crowd cursing quietly under their breath because they can't see these movies in a more hospitable setting.

The theaters are roughly the same dimensions as a coffin, which is a horrible design for a moviehouse. Screens and seats are both small, but at least the picture is bright and in focus (the plus in my D-plus). In general, they program stuff that the Angelika and Film Forum farther downtown didn't take and for that I thank them -- although I still do my best to avoid them. D+. (Frazer)

Worst theater in the city. [Worse comes to worst in Odell's subsequent review of the National Twin. -bf-] Cramped lobby, theaters that are tiny and have TERRIBLE sight lines (if the theater's packed, it's usually impossible to see the whole screen), inadequate sound system. Oh, and the design is ugly. Unless a film I want to see is only playing there, I avoid it like the plague. Redeemed by the most adventurous movie selection among the commercial multiplexes in Manhattan. D. (Odell)

The screens are so small that I find it almost impossible to tell whether a film is in 1.85 or 2.35. It may be in the right aspect ratio, but it sure as hell ain't widescreen! My worst Quad experience happened at a screening of Satyajit Ray's The Stranger. The projector was placed too low for the first 5 minutes, so the subtitles were projected below the screen. Although this mistake was finally corrected, the projectionist didn't have the courtesy to rewind the reel and start the film over. I've also had to put up with one speaker cutting in and out for the entire length of a film. (Erickson)


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