I went to see The Birds last night at the Kino Arsenal. I was running a bit late and couldn’t find the theater right away, but I got there, took the elevator down to the theater and waited in the short line.
One thing I’ve noticed is that sometimes Berliners are in no hurry whatsoever and once they get to the front of the line have no problems taking forever. When you buy a movie ticket, you buy any candy and drinks right then too and the woman at the head of the line was debating with the ticket seller back and forth about which Haribo candy she would get, seemingly forever, even though the movie was starting in under two minutes. She eventually settled on some Sour Pommes (not sour potatoes, but sour french fries).
But I got in just on time and noticed a microphone at the front. Someone came up and introduced this guy who then proceeded to talk about the sound and music in The Birds for at least a half hour. He had xeroxed pages from a book with quotes that he read. Most everyone seemed to be enjoying his talk, so it must have been interesting. From what I know now, Arsenal is also a film museum and must be really into the history of these films. The Hitchcock films they are showing in this series are all about the team work behind his films and The Birds was chosen for the sound design and lack of music.
Anyway, after he finished, the curtains opened and the movie started right away, not a single preview. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a movie like that. I didn’t remember until I saw them that Beth and I had seen the opening credits just a few days before. The movie was only in English, with no subtitles. At the end of the movie, it just ended. There were no final credits and they just closed the curtain and everybody left. It was a cool theater with nice red seats and the classic red curtain.