1963

During the course of 1963, my magazines had begun to pile up and my yearnings to see some movies that up to then were only magazine photos was really  welling up. I was only 14/15 and all the films that called out to me were ‘X’ rated, for patrons of years of age 16 and over!! Science Fiction and the infinite variety of creatures to be found on distant planets fascinated me more than Vampires and Frankenstein at that time, but of course that was before I’d discovered Hammer Films and the film scores of James Bernard. However, finally, one evening, I held myself upright and walked into the ABC Wolverhampton and paid for a ticket to see ‘The Raven’ and ‘Dr. Crippen’. The Savoy Cinema had opened in 1937 and was the last cinema to open in Wolverhampton town center. In 1960 it became an ‘ABC’ and by 1974 had three screens. In 1986 it finally changed it’s name to Cannon. It closed in 1991. I was just 15 and when I was asked how old I was, and  confirmed ’16’ and was allowed over the threshold and into it’s inner sanctum. Neither film was what I’d expected. I’d chuckled at ‘The Raven’ and there hadn’t even been a dead body on view in Dr. Crippen. However this cinema holds many ‘firsts’ for me. The first experience at a Saturday Childrens’ Matinee: The first X rated movie: The first Hammer film: The first time (but not the last) that my neck hair bristled with anticipation. The first X rated movie had been ‘The Raven’ and it had given a boost to my confidence and pushed me on to buy cinema tickets for X rated movies all over town. The first Hammer Horror was ‘Kiss of the Vampire’ double billed with ‘Paranoiac’, fantastic stuff!! And finally this cinema used to play around with the proscenium lighting just before the curtains opened, until only the red played on the old black & white X certificate, while in the background the final bars of Holsts’ Mars (The Planet suite) played. It used to make me tingle with teenage excitement. The ABC had a ‘Sunday only’ double bill almost every week, so over the next couple of years I was able to view many of the previous decades horrors and Science Fiction thrillers. ‘Fiend Without a Face’, ‘The Monster That Challenged the World’, ‘It! The Terror from Beyond Space’, ‘I Married a Monster from Outer Space’, ’20 Million Miles to Earth’, ‘Night of the Eagle’, ‘The Tingler’, ‘Caltiki-The Immortal Monster’, ‘House on Haunted Hill’ and many others. All rated X certificates! This was, of course, in addition to all the new ABC releases. Most of the AIP and Hammer films came through to the ABC. Of course I often saw non horrors too, and when I went to see, let’s say a James Bond movie, (always screened at the Odeon), I was often accompanied by Tony, who was just a  year or so younger that myself. His Parents had both passed-away within 18 months of each other and my mom was helping out an aunt who had taken him under her wing, and saw to it that he was looked after. He was my ‘model’ when I was trying out the make-ups in ‘The Famous Monsters Make-up Special’, and I’m sure he had just as much fun as I did, as his face disappeared under layers of liquid latex.  He would later enjoy numerous horrors along with me as he grew taller and could get past the cinema cashiers. It was about this time that I began my collection of the ABC Film Review.