The Scala in Kings Cross might be a music venue these days, but from the early 80s through to 1993 when an illegal screening of then still-banned A Clockwork Orange forced the venue to close, it was probably the most exciting movie house in London, playing host to a range of films that few cinemas in the capital – then or today – can match. Whether monster movies like King Kong, shown on its opening night, cult sex-horror assault Thundercrack, arthouse, nouvelle vague, kung-fu, Hollywood classics or Laurel and Hardy, the Scala had a hands-off, no-limits approach to repertory programming that you’d be hard pressed to find in today’s cinema climate where even arthouse venues often screen the same Hollywood fare as the big corporate chains. But until October 2nd, a string of independent cinemas, pubs and arts venues across London are taking part in Scala Forever, showing many of the films that made the movie-going haunt so beloved. Yesterday east Finchley’s Phoenix played host to a tremendous double-bill of Tonite Let’s All Make Love in London, a psychedelic romp through late 60s London showing how live performance can be filmed with an imagination to match the sounds, and Jazz on a Summer’s Day, a sublime document of the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival featuring Thelonious Monk, Louis Armstrong and Mahalia Jackson, the latter standing several feet away from her microphone to protect it from her power. Though it kicked off in August, there’s still plenty left to relish, with triple bills from Italian giallo master Dario Argento, double headers from smut supremo Russ Meyer and Werner Herzog, Turkish grindhouse and 1983 Palme D’or winner Ballad of Narayama. We might never see its like again (only the Prince Charles Cinema comes close) but for a few remaining weeks, until A Clockwork Orange – what else? – brings it to a close – you can still get that little bit closer to glorious Scala-simulation.

http://scalaforever.co.uk/