# Movies with intermissions
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-intermissions/682673
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 2, 2014, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-intermissions/682673 "2014-03-02T14:54:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2014, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-intermissions/682673/21 "2014-03-02T17:53:40Z")
_Gettysburg_ was the only movie I’ve been to that had an intermission.
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### Author:  [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2014, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-intermissions/682673/22 "2014-03-02T17:56:51Z")
Dances with Wolves absolutely did. It was the first and only movie I’ve seen in the theater with an intermission. My dad had to explain to me what it was.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2014, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-intermissions/682673/23 "2014-03-02T18:51:37Z")
_Chitty Chitty Bang Bang_ did, and had a good musical interlude, too. The first half of the movie ended with the car going over a cliff; after the intermission, the second half began with just a few seconds of the same footage, and then the car’s wings deployed. Whew!
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### Author:  [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2014, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-intermissions/682673/24 "2014-03-02T19:02:34Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#):
>
> _Monty Python and the Holy Grail_
_HELP!_ is the other comic “intermission” that came to mind for me.
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### Author:  [@Fleetwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fleetwood)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-intermissions/682673/25 "2014-03-02T22:08:29Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#):
>
> Wikipedia lists quite a few:
> [Intermission - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermission#Films)
>
> The only time I can actually recall experiencing an intermission in the theater, is when we saw the TV version of Bergman’s “Fanny and Alexander”, which ran 5+ hours.
Did you see it in a theatre or on TV?
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### Author:  [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2014, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-intermissions/682673/26 "2014-03-02T22:19:50Z")
When I saw **Star Wars** in 1977, it had an intermission right after Luke, Han, Leia, and Chewie fell into the garbage compactor. I’m pretty sure though that was the theater’s doing rather than George Lucas’.
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### Author:  [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2014, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-intermissions/682673/27 "2014-03-02T22:22:28Z")
On a related note, I just discovered that the 1933 version of King Kong had a four minute long overture before the movie began. How many movies have had those? I am guessing that there is a definite overlap with the intermission list.
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### Author:  [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2014, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-intermissions/682673/28 "2014-03-02T22:23:31Z")
> [@NDP](#):
>
> When I saw **Star Wars** in 1977, it had an intermission right after Luke, Han, Leia, and Chewie fell into the garbage compactor. I’m pretty sure though that was the theater’s doing rather than George Lucas’.
I think they call that “falling asleep at the reel.” 😃
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### Author:  [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2014, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-intermissions/682673/29 "2014-03-02T22:26:40Z")
> [@randwill](#):
>
> During my only trip abroad, in Switzerland, I went to see “Batman Returns”. Halfway through it, the movie stopped, the lights went up and everybody went out for a smoke. Even though this movie doesn’t have an intermission, I was told that this was common around there.
>
> Now that I’m older, I wish that ALL movies had an intermission halfway through, for the needed bathroom break.
That wouldn’t do any good, because everybody would want to use the bathrooms at the same time.
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### Author:  [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2014, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-intermissions/682673/30 "2014-03-02T22:39:05Z")
> [@Fleetwood](#):
>
> Did you see it in a theatre or on TV?
In a theater. Every time we thought it was over it went on some more.
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### Author:  [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2014, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-intermissions/682673/31 "2014-03-02T22:51:28Z")
> [@randwill](#):
>
> During my only trip abroad, in Switzerland, I went to see “Batman Returns”. Halfway through it, the movie stopped, the lights went up and everybody went out for a smoke. Even though this movie doesn’t have an intermission, I was told that this was common around there.
>
> Now that I’m older, I wish that ALL movies had an intermission halfway through, for the needed bathroom break.
The same when I was in Israel. I was with an American group in a multiplex watching an Israeli film, and halfway through it just stopped and the lights came on. We were all really confused thinking maybe the film broke, but apparently all films have intermissions there.
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### Author:  [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2014, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-intermissions/682673/32 "2014-03-02T22:57:29Z")
I remember we would visit the old Ridglea theater in Fort Worth in the 70s. I remember intermissions but don’t recall any specific movie. It’s possible that Superman the Movie may have had one but I wouldn’t swear to it.
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### Author:  [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)
#### Post date: [March 2, 2014, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-intermissions/682673/33 "2014-03-02T23:45:36Z")
> [@JKilez](#):
>
> On a related note, I just discovered that the 1933 version of King Kong had a four minute long overture before the movie began. How many movies have had those? I am guessing that there is a definite overlap with the intermission list.
Oh yes, I remember overtures for Lawrence of Arabia and Quo Vadis. Ben-Hur didn’t have an overture, but it did have a prologue showing the birth of Jesus, and the arrival of the wisemen, all this before the title and credits.
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### Author:  [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2014, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-intermissions/682673/34 "2014-03-03T00:03:34Z")
Its a mad, mad, mad, mad world had an intemission
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### Author:  [@HelenGawn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HelenGawn)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2014, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-intermissions/682673/35 "2014-03-03T00:10:04Z")
> [@NDP](#):
>
> When I saw **Star Wars** in 1977, it had an intermission right after Luke, Han, Leia, and Chewie fell into the garbage compactor. I’m pretty sure though that was the theater’s doing rather than George Lucas’.
I remember something similar as a kid. In fact, they clearly used the intermission from _Camelot_ in a contemporary comedy.
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### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2014, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-intermissions/682673/36 "2014-03-03T01:28:40Z")
> [@JKilez](#):
>
> On a related note, I just discovered that the 1933 version of King Kong had a four minute long overture before the movie began. How many movies have had those? I am guessing that there is a definite overlap with the intermission list.
The original Cinerama movies had an overture before each half. It was just soundtrack carried on the main film, just black film, then the curtain opened when the overture was over. At least this was true in the first-run, specialty Cinerama theaters.
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### Author:  [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2014, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-intermissions/682673/37 "2014-03-03T04:15:59Z")
Didn’t _Fiddler on the Roof_ have an intermission?
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### Author:  [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2014, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-intermissions/682673/38 "2014-03-03T06:13:17Z")
I think _A Passage To India_ had an intermission.
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### Author:  [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2014, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-intermissions/682673/39 "2014-03-03T06:25:41Z")
> [@Baker](#):
>
> Ben-Hur didn’t have an overture, but it did have a prologue showing the birth of Jesus, and the arrival of the wisemen, all this before the title and credits.
It did have an overture, at least in the original run. You can see it here. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dApIMjrn2Vg](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dApIMjrn2Vg)
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### Author:  [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)
#### Post date: [March 3, 2014, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-with-intermissions/682673/40 "2014-03-03T06:56:16Z")
> [@Musicat](#):
>
> 2001, and any of the early 3-camera Cinerama movies. They had to pause to change the enormous reels all at once.
>
> ETA: 2001 wasn’t a 3-camera movie, but it had an intermission anyway.
Nitpick: Cinerama was a 3-strip process, and used three projectors, in three separate booths, in the theaters, but it was filmed with a [single camera.](http://www.widescreenmuseum.com/widescreen/cineramacam.htm) Granted, that one camera essentially consisted of three matched camera mechanisms crammed into a monstrous box, but it was a single unit.
Interestingly, each Cinerama frame was 35mm, 6 perfs tall, instead of the then standard 4 perfs, and the frame rate was 26 fps, instead of 24. I suspect this was to prevent the individual strips from being reused in a conventional film or shown in a non-Cinerama theater.
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