# Why don't movies have Intermissions anymore? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [August 10, 2024, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-movies-have-intermissions-anymore/1005546 "2024-08-10T18:34:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2024, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-movies-have-intermissions-anymore/1005546/101 "2024-08-20T20:39:04Z")
You can watch the 1938 movie for free on YouTube. Leslie Howard is brilliant as Henry Higgins. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/cxUTv_C9PPw/maxresdefault.jpg "Pygmalion 1938 Leslie Howard & Wendy Hiller") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cxUTv_C9PPw) ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2024, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-movies-have-intermissions-anymore/1005546/102 "2024-08-21T01:05:06Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > If you read the original play, it ends with Liza walking out on Higgins to attend her father’s wedding, and their parting is not at all amicable. The most recent Broadway revival in 2019 used that ending. It made so much more sense. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2024, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-movies-have-intermissions-anymore/1005546/103 "2024-08-21T02:32:35Z")
So they cut the whole “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face” nonsense? ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2024, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-movies-have-intermissions-anymore/1005546/104 "2024-08-21T03:52:45Z")
> [@XOldiesJock](#): > > “The Godfather” clocked in at just under three hours, but I don’t recall it having an intermission, even in its original release. The showing I saw had an intermission. I remember because I was a tobacco smoker at the time. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2024, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-movies-have-intermissions-anymore/1005546/105 "2024-08-21T12:44:57Z")
For those not as familiar with the term, here is the Wikipedia entry on [Roadshow theatrical releases](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadshow_theatrical_release). > A roadshow theatrical release or reserved seat engagement is the practice of opening a film in a limited number of theaters in major cities for a specific period of time before the wide release of the film. Roadshows would generally mimic a live theatre production, with an upscale atmosphere as well as somewhat higher prices than during a wide release. One point not mentioned in that article was that, for later films at least (1950s on), roadshows often had overtures, entr’acte music, and playout music as part of the print. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2024, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-movies-have-intermissions-anymore/1005546/106 "2024-08-21T22:55:21Z")
Does the Overture and Exit Music get a thread, too? \*I was watching a movie with a friend that had what seemed an inappropriately long Overture. I remarked, _"This movie really needs to get overture itself_". Friend pissed pants laughing. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2024, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-movies-have-intermissions-anymore/1005546/107 "2024-08-22T00:53:43Z")
Are there any films with an overture that are NOT an adaptation of a theatrical production? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2024, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-movies-have-intermissions-anymore/1005546/108 "2024-08-22T01:03:27Z")
Wikipedia has a list of [films with overtures](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_with_overtures) and some appear not to be based on theatrical productions. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2024, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-movies-have-intermissions-anymore/1005546/109 "2024-08-22T01:05:23Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Are there any films with an overture that are NOT an adaptation of a theatrical production? What counts as an overture? Any music played over the opening credits (back when movies had opening credits)? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2024, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-movies-have-intermissions-anymore/1005546/110 "2024-08-22T01:07:03Z")
Wikipedia defines it as “a piece of music setting the mood for the film before the opening credits start.” ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2024, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-movies-have-intermissions-anymore/1005546/111 "2024-08-22T01:09:11Z")
I was thinking of a static screen with an illustration or the word “Overture” on it. The purpose of an overture is to get people to sit down and shut up. Previews do that now. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2024, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-movies-have-intermissions-anymore/1005546/112 "2024-08-22T01:17:25Z")
**La La Land** was originally supposed to open with an overture, which was cut from the theatrical release but added back for the touring concert version: [https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/music-cut-from-la-la-land-added-back-in-for-concert-tour/](https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/music-cut-from-la-la-land-added-back-in-for-concert-tour/) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2024, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-movies-have-intermissions-anymore/1005546/113 "2024-08-22T15:20:26Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Are there any films with an overture that are NOT an adaptation of a theatrical production? Yeah. **2001** had an overture (It’s on the DVD). So did **Lawrence of Arabia**. And **Spartacus**. Used to be almost standard for blockbuster epics. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2024, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-movies-have-intermissions-anymore/1005546/114 "2024-08-22T18:51:44Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > So they cut the whole “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face” nonsense? No. After all that stuff Eliza comes back, they get together, and then Higgins starts to order her around and she leaves. So slightly different from the movie. I saw that production in Lincoln Center and was annoyed by it, not because they adopted Shaw’s intention of her marrying Freddy, but because Higgins is not allowed a character arc. He winds up just as obnoxious as he starts. It was far more a feminist take than the original version of the musical. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2024, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-movies-have-intermissions-anymore/1005546/115 "2024-08-22T20:00:06Z")
The pause button is the new intermission. I think the production is primarily designed for streaming and blu-ray. The lighting, sets, and framing of the scenes is desigined to look best on a digital widescreen tv. The fairly short run in theaters is a secondary concern. They’re using bigger screens and better audio systems. That makes a movie look its best. It’s an important revenue source. But the big money is streaming and distribution on Blu Ray to homes. It’s entirely different with old movies. They experimented with several screen sizes and audio. CinemaScope, VIstaVision and THX are examples. The release to tv was a secondary concern. They altered the frame size (aspect ratio) to fit tv screens. Sometimes cropping out actors on the edges. The difference in watching a movie at a theater and home tv were vastly different. ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2024, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-movies-have-intermissions-anymore/1005546/116 "2024-08-22T20:14:48Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > **A Funny Thing Happened on the WAy to the Forum** ends its first act with Pseudolus, about to be chopped by Miles Gloriosus’ sword, asking that he be allowed to say one word. He is. The word? “Intermission” And in **Spamalot** King Arthur just breaks the fourth wall and tells the audience it’s time for intermission (in song): “Have a drink and a pee We’ll be back for Act Three…” Patsy: “Two sir!” ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2024, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-movies-have-intermissions-anymore/1005546/117 "2024-08-22T20:25:52Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > What counts as an overture? Any music played over the opening credits (back when movies had opening credits)? So “Angel of the Morning” was the overture to _Deadpool_? I think the first film I saw in the theater with an intermission was **Reds** (1981 - 3h 20m). I found it odd at the time. And speaking of which: > **[The Warren Beatty Movie That Marked The End Of The Intermission Era - SlashFilm](https://www.slashfilm.com/817242/the-warren-beatty-movie-that-marked-the-end-of-the-intermission-era/#:~:text=In%20an%20interview%20with%20Entertainment,minute%20movie%20to%20begin%20with)** > > Spoiler: It's not 2016's "Rules Don't Apply." [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-movies-have-intermissions-anymore/1005546.md?page=5)