Kam Ling Theatre (Queen's Rd West) / 金陵戲院 [2001-2001]

Primary tabs

Submitted by OldTimer on Wed, 2017-03-08 00:10

Current condition:

Demolished / No longer exists

Date Place completed:

2001-01-01

Date Place demolished:

2001-12-31

Seating capacity: unknown

Address: 491 Queen's Road West, Sai Wan, Hong Kong. The location marker on this map is approximate.

There was another theatre with the same Chinese name 金陵戲院 (Kam Ling Theatre) [1951-1973] located close by, and its page is at: https://gwulo.com/node/36399#18/22.28603/114.13535/Map_by_ESRI-Markers/100

For the theatre discussed on this page, only the Chinese name appears in the sources. I have selected the English name to match its Cantonese pronounciation.

Folks of my age will remember those cinema days. After waiting for a while, we turned back to look up at several small openings wondering when the projector was going to start. For long films, the operator needed to start a second film reel using another projector, and when he was slow we stared at the blank screen.

An interesting Chinese news article appeared on December 5, 2001, and its translation reads something like this:

December 5 (Xinhua) The Hong Kong SAR Film and Television Department, together with police, smashed a Grade-4 film 蠱惑戲院 (translation: sexy movie theatre) operation at Sai Ying Pun yesterday, following a similar operation at another theatre. The police arrested its operator and seized more than 800 obscene discs. (Locals can educate me if "Grade" is the proper term. From Internet sites, Grade 3 is for age 18 and over, but no comments about Grade 4 so I assume 80 and over.)

The article continues ... Located at 491 Queen's Road West, 金陵戲院 operates daily non-stop from 12:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. showing Grade-3 movies at a price of $40HK. Recently, the department received citizen complaints about Grade-4 films being shown. In response, the department sent inspectors unannounced to the site. They found on that day that only Grade-3 movies were shown, and the inspectors returned to office empty-handed.....

Yesterday noon, two film inspectors made another un-announced visit, bought ticket and entered the scene to carry out their covert operation. It so happened the first film shown was a Grade-4 movie. The inspectors immediately contacted their superior who obtained a court search warrant. The West Coast Police task force joined in the operation which started at 3 p.m. and the event was covered by a television station. They seized the discs mentioned above, and released more than 20 spectators.....

The inspectors found two DVD players in the theatre, one used to show Grade-3 movies and the other Grade-4 movies. Whenever the operators notice any suspicious person in the audience, they would immediately black-out the latter and switch to the former (no blank screen gap here).

There is no information about the opening and closing date of the theatre. Considering the recent public complaints and the date of police raid, I estimated the operating period to be within 2001.

Sources: