After the outbreak of war in 1914 the Queens Picture House became a popular venue for viewing the latest war reports via the newsreels keeping the local cinema goers informed on the happenings overseas.

As was the case with many Picture Houses at the time, “ladies attending the matinee performances would have been served tea and biscuits on trays during the interval.”

In May 1930 the cinema became equipped for sound and a Western Electric Sound System was installed with the first talkie film being shown on Monday 19th May called ‘Smiling Irish Eyes’.

Throughout the 1930’s the Queens Picture House was well attended despite competition from the nearby Winter Gardens Cinema and the ABC and GB Circuit cinemas in Crosby. From 1939 when the Plaza cinema opened competition for patrons became much closer and many local cinema goers were drawn to the new ‘modern’ cinema.

In 1955 the Queens Picture House became equipped for CinemaScope and in the same year the process of showing First run films began with the film ‘Three Coins in a Fountain’ but only survived as a cinema for four more years as the popularity in television grew

In 1959 the Queens Picture House closed on August 22nd with the last film reels shown ‘I only Arsked’ staring Bernard Bresslaw and ‘ Buchanan Rides Alone’

The Queens Picture House closed on 22nd August 1959. The last film shown there was ‘I only Arsked’ starring Bernard Bresslaw and ‘Buchanan Rides Alone.’

The building later became a furniture store which was greatly adapted. Today on the site stands a bar which plays homage to its cinematic past by being named once again The Queens Picture House.

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In the early part of the 20th Century access and forms of media were quite limited. There was no internet or television and no access to 24 hour news therefore the cinema played an important role in society by not only being a social outlet offering entertainment but also by the way in which information and news could be disseminated to the masses.

The phenomenon of cinema within society during the 30’s to the 60’s has long been thought to have played a role in shaping and forming opinions. At the time news and views on the world were limited. Newspapers were of course available but could be expensive and the radio or wireless as it was known in those days would provide news to the masses but it wasn’t until newsreels were shown at the cinema that news became more accessible.

The Newsreel was an important part of many people’s cinema experience. News was brought to life in moving pictures through the cinema newsreels showing more of what people had read or heard about on the radio.
view memories of the newsreels at the cinema.

The day was 2nd September 1939 and due to the onset and declaration of World War II the government ordered all cinemas and places of entertainment to be closed due to fear of bombing. Calls were quickly raised to re-open the cinemas and within two weeks the restrictions were lifted.

The cinema was a place where the public could be entertained, to take their mind away from rationing and the harsh realities of war as well as an escape for a few hours into the magical world of film.

It provided a way of helping keep up spirits and would later be used as a useful tool in providing information about the war efforts and a way of communicating public information to large audiences through films and government announcements.

The newsreels and public information films made for the cinema gave the government a means of controlling what and how information was given to its audience as tighter controls of film censorship took hold.

Film makers such as Humphrey Jennings, David Lean and Carol Reed produced British films to rival Hollywood. These gave accounts of British life through the war and served as a purpose to boost morale, giving a reflection of war all be it with a certain slant which could now be deemed as propaganda to a cynical eye. Films such as ‘Listen to Britain’ 1942 directed by Humphrey Jennings and Stewart McAlister.’ ‘The True Glory’ 1945 directed by Carol Reed and ‘A Diary for Timothy’ also directed by Jennings in 1945.

Of course not all cinema goers would want to watch films about the war, they wanted to go to the pictures to escape into the comforts and luxurious surrounding which the cinema provided.

Unfortunately a few of our local picture houses were damaged and destroyed during the war years. The area was hit quite badly due to its close proximity to the docks. Old Picture Houses such as The Broadway, The Imperial and the Metropole were hit in strikes and closed. Bombing during the May blitz caused devastation not only to buildings and businesses but also to families, around the corner from where the Metropole stood a memorial stone has been erected in memory of those who lost their lives.

The environments of the cinema were often quite opulent and luxurious, and coming into the cinema from the cold sometimes gas lit houses at the time provided a place of affordable luxury to escape.

Today the Pictures still continue to astound and amaze the audiences with breath taking cinematography and stories, screened with digitally enhanced creative effects and stereo surround sound, and still provides a place to escape into the world of film and away from the hum drum of daily life.

This website contains memories of Going to the Pictures from the 1930′s to the 1960′s period, regarded by some as the golden age of cinema. the memories give us an insight into the important role that cinemas played within society.

The role that cinema has played in modern society cannot be underestimated. The influence of film in helping form opinions and fashions can be seen and demonstrated through the decades.

Cinemas not only showed films they also showed news keeping the nation informed in the days were there was no or very little access to media and television

The moving images would enhance the news and gave viewers a means to see what was going on in the world. The main types of newsreel shown within cinemas were the Pathe newsreel heralded with the crowing cockerel at the start and British Movie Tone News.

In 1886 Societe Pathe Freres was founded by Charles Pathe and his brothers. They were pioneers in the moving image industry and invented the cinema newsreel. French Pathe began in 1908 and in 1910 a newsreel office in London England was opened. The newsreels were silent until 1928, and over the years have captured and shown some remarkable footage to audiences in the cinema. Joy’s, triumphs and tragedies were shown within the news reels and historic events from the decades were captured on film are now archived for modern audiences to view. The footage recorded for the newsreels helped keep the cinema going audiences informed on what was going on in the world and provided a deeper insight than was sometimes available only through the newspapers or radio broadcasts.

In 1913 the Pathe newsreel cameraman captured the dramatic scenes when suffragette Emily Davidson threw herself in front of the Kings horse at the Derby. The fatal bid to break the land speed record by Frank Lock hart was recorded in 1928. In 1937 the Hinderburg disaster was filmed and shown within the news reels. In 1941 the sight of a torpedo sinking HMS Barham was filmed by the Pathe news. In 1952 The Farnborough Air tragedy was viewed by 1000’s of cinema goers as was the death of Donald Campbell in 1967 whilst attempting to break the world water speed record

By the 1930’s British Pathe not only covered news items for the cinema audience but also entertainment, sports and culture. Over the years Pathe has changed hands of ownership several times until 1970 when it stopped producing cinema newsreels. Archive footage from the Pathe cinema newsreels can still be viewed at the Pathe news website.

Other popular newsreel producers included British Movie Tone News which made the first of the sound newsreels for cinemas in 1929, and Gaumont British news which ended newsreel production in 1956 and evolved to create the colour cinemagazine series shown at cinemas from 1959 called Look at Life.