70mm Cinema Eden, Pilsen, Czech Republic |
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| Written by: Luděk Brejcha, Pilsen, Czech Republic | Date: 25.02.2017 |
 70mm
Cinema Eden. Picture from Luděk Brejcha's collectionClick to see enlargement. I'm former professional projectionist from Pilsen, Czech Republic and now I'm a fan of all aspects of film and projection techniques. In Pilsen, there was a cinema called EDEN for 70 and 35mm projection, and "my" cinema, the HVEZDA (The Star). Both cinemas EDEN and HVEZDA are closed. Projectors ended up God knows where. Cinema Eden, Pilsen, founded by the "Invalids Association", opened in 1920 with the name "Invalid". The cinema was nationalized in 1948 and was re-started with the new name "Svět" (The World). After rebuilding in the sixties, a completely new cinema with another new name was born: The Panoramic Cinema Eden, with dual 70mm/35mm film projection equipment made by Meopta Přerov in sixties. Two Czechoslovak MEOPTA UM 70/35 projectors with production numbers #003 and #007, thus making them two of first these projectors. The sound and acoustics were very good too. The first valve amps were replaced by fully transistorised amplifiers from the Tesla brand, type AKT 635 with 6 x 30W effect. 5 speakers behind the screen, and 12 effects speakers in the auditoria. |
More in 70mm reading: In Czech:  • Z historie 70mm kina Eden v Plzni • Počátky Todd-AO Centrum Panorama Varnsdorf, Czech Republic in70mm.com dubbed into foreign language Chrudim Cinema Exhibition 70mm in the Slovak Republic KINO MIR 70'S 70MM SEMINAR KRNOV Internet link:
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 The important part of the Eden's Meopta UM70/35 projectors were the 70mm magnetic sound heads. This one is in the collection of the author of
this text. A personal gift to him from the former Eden projectionist,
Mr. Jiří Šobr. The first motion picture in 1967 was the premiere of "Old Shatterhand" in MCS 70 Superpanorama 70mm. The number of seats in the rebuilt cinema was 540. The golden era of this cinema was from 1967 to 1970. The Eden had two projectionists upstairs, and the third projectionist operating the show from the middle of the auditorium. From here, he had the possibility to make adjustments to the focus and volume settings. The new Eden became very popular, and the city installed road signs to make it easier for the audience to find the cinema. A very beautiful cinema of it day with the auditorium in ocher and brown colors. The curtain was in russet, a dark brown color with a reddish-orange tinge. The leatherette seats were brown and with perfect exceeding, and very comfortable. Of all the 70mm films I saw at the Eden, I particularly enjoyed "Grand Prix", what a fantastic adventure!, "Spartacus", "Le Mans", "Battle Of The Bulge", "West Side Story", great music and sound!, "Alien", a thrill!, "The Bridge At Remagen", "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind", "Liberation" ("Osvoboždenie", a Soviet production in five parts! and "Battle Of Moscow", another Soviet production. The USSR productions used to be very popular, however, after 1968 the Czech people largely ignored them. |
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 Business
started to decline in the early 1989s when the first multiplexes arrived.
The Cinema Eden closed its doors after the
final performance on February 27, 2006. After closure the building was
completely rebuilt and now houses a medical laboratory. |
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Cinema HVEZDA (The Star) |
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 All
three pics are from cinema HVEZDA (The Star) . In this cinema, where I
worked, we had two MEOPTA Meo 5XB projectors - on the pcture from projection
room. These Meopta projectors are for 35mm film only. |
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 two
MEOPTA Meo 5XB projectors |
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 Cinema
HVEZDA (The Star)Click to see enlargement |
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