Astor Theatre, St Kilda, Art Deco movie theater in St Kilda, Australia.
The Astor Theatre is a single-screen Art Deco cinema on Chapel Street in St Kilda, Melbourne, listed on the Victorian Heritage Register. It has a stalls section and a curved balcony, and the original stage curtain is still in place.
The theater opened in 1936 and was one of the last grand picture palaces built in Melbourne in the Art Deco style. It has run as a cinema without interruption since then, despite several changes of ownership over the decades.
The Astor regularly screens retrospectives and themed film seasons that draw an audience devoted to watching older films on a big screen. The auditorium's curved balcony and working curtain system remind visitors that going to the cinema was once a formal occasion.
The venue sits at the corner of Chapel Street and Dandenong Road in St Kilda, and it is easy to reach by tram or train. Seating is unassigned, so arriving early on popular screening nights helps you choose a good spot in either the stalls or the balcony.
The Astor is one of the few cinemas in the world that still regularly screens films in 70mm print, a format known for its large image size. On those nights, the difference from digital projection is clearly noticeable to anyone sitting in the auditorium.
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