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What evolved in the George was a
spacious and luxuriously comfortable
cinema that successfully combined new
modern simplicity with a nostalgic hint
of classic picture-palace décor.

The revamped cinema opened on
Wednesday September 15, 1965
with a Gala Charity Premiere of the
“sword and sandal” epic The Fall of The George then settled down to a diet of
the Roman Empire. fairly good quality product for some years.
In the 1970s, films utilising the bone-
shaking “sensurround” sound system
such as Earthquake (1975); Rollercoaster
(1977) and Battlestar Galactica (1979)
would shake the building (and patrons) to
its very foundations.

When Greater-Union opened their
new Forum Cinema (1967) and also
converted the (1937) Metro Theatre
into the 3-screen Albert Cinemas Due to high operating expenses – and
(December 1973), the George often the restrictive booking policies from
took a back seat on the big film releases. film distributors, the ability for a single-
However it still found a chance to shine screen cinema to survive and be cost-
with some major first-release hits such effective in a multi-screen market was
as: Every Which Way But Loose; Mad fast becoming near to impossible.
Max and Superman The Movie in 1979;
The Black Hole and Xanadu in1980; Ultimately, with audiences opting for
Private Benjamin in 1981 and An the convenience of easy access and
American Werewolf in London in1982. parking provided by cinema complexes
in suburban shopping-centres, and
Surprisingly, although well equipped with Greater-Union being already well
Dolby-Stereo sound, well into the late catered for with city cinema’s they
1980s the 70mm projection equipment opted to close the George in 1991.
still utilised carbon-arc lamps!
In an exhibition deal with Hoyts, Greater
Union would end up transferring their
interests to the Myer Centre and Regent
complexes and in doing so closed both
the Albert and Forum locations on
April 4, 2001.

With the Forum being twinned in 1982, (The Forum was converted into a Borders
the best product tended to then go to Bookstore in 2009, and the Albert was sold
Greater Union’s two much newer and to an investment company in 2001 for $7.6
modern multi-screen complexes. million and has since been demolished).

CINEMAREC ORD 2011 21