3 Falke Bio. The first Todd-AO Installation in the Nordic countries
Denmark, 23.10.1958 - 14.12.1982

This is what made the 3 Falke Bio famous. The Todd-AO screen. A magnificent 17,6 meters wide (58 ft) and 8 meters tall (26 ft). The depth of the curve was 2,7 meters (9 ft). The screen was the entire front ”wall” which gave a fantastic illusion of looking out of a window. Black masking could be moved up and down and sideways to accommodate every thinkable aspect ratio in all 70mm and 35mm formats.

The 3 Falke Bio opened to the public on Friday October 24, 1958. The night before had been an invitational premiere for special guests and government officials. The architect and designer, Mr. Ole Hagen (1913 - 1984), was a famed Danish architect, responsible for numerous schools, public buildings and houses. His company Ole Hagens Tegnestue was the largest architectural firm in Denmark for many years. In 1959 he also designed the Cinerama theatre in Copenhagen, known as Kinopalæet.

The 3 Falke Bio had 1000 seats but was far from being the largest cinema in terms of seating capacity in Denmark at that time. Several Copenhagen cinemas had more seats: The Nora (1184), The Palads Teatret (1549), The Palladium (1347), The Saga (1692) and World Cinema (1575). In terms of screen size and film width, however, 3 Falke Bio beat them all. Todd-AO, Big Screen and 6-track stereophonic sound were all slogans that made 3 Falke Bio famous. A sign with neon lights and 24-sheet poster always decorated the front.

The licensee to operate the cinema was awarded to Liberalt Oplysningsforbund and in August, 1958 they hired Mr. August A. Andersen (1910 - 1990) to be the manager of their new prestige cinema. Mr. Andersen had begun his career in the cinema business in the late 1920s as an usher and later as a projectionist at the Metropol and Palladium cinemas in central Copenhagen. Prior to becoming manager of the 3 Falke Bio he came from positions at Paramount and Warner Brothers distribution. Mr. Andersen stayed at 3 Falke Bio until his retirement June 31, 1977, nearly 20 years later.

At 2 PM October 16, 1958 the architect and the manager opened the doors to the new cinema for the press. They explained the new film format Todd-AO, the screen size and the sound system and how it all worked together. At this point it was announced that "South Pacific" in Todd-AO would be the first film at 3 Falke Bio.

"It is going to be a tremendous success and [Opening night] will be sold out before the craftsmen are gone".

Mr. Anderson enthusiastically told the admiring writers. He had seen "South Pacific" in London at the Dominion (UK Todd-AO birth place) and predicted a six-week run at 3 Falke Bio. Opening night was sold-out in less than an hour, and "South Pacific" stayed at 3 Falke Bio for an impressive, and unprecedented, 3½ year run. Two periods: 72½ and 112 weeks, or 184 weeks total. It was finally taken off on February 14, 1963, 2056 performances later.
 

3 Falke Bio was built like an amphitheatre with 28 rows of seats. All rows were curved to provide the best possible sightlines to the screen. The seats, with teak arm rests, had turquoise upholstery and were made by the Danish factory “Odense Stole- og Møbelfabrik”.

3 Falke Bio was built like an amphitheatre with 28 rows of seats. All rows were curved to provide the best possible sightlines to the screen. The first third of the seats were the first 11 rows on an slightly upward sloping floor from the screen and stage bottom. Row 12 was raised 2 meters (6 ft) from the floor. The succeeding 16 rows climbed steeply up to the back of the cinema. The seats, with teak arm rests, had turquoise upholstery and were made by the Danish furniture factory “Odense Stole- og Møbelfabrik”. The floor was dark-stained pine with carpets on the stairs. The ceiling was dark blue with built-in downlights. Walls were Asbestolux tiles with acoustic equalization, and a 15-Watt lamp was hidden between each tile. The stage was illuminated by means of 81 ceiling-mounted spotlights. The foyer was very small, and only had room for 500 people. There were public phones and a concession kiosk. The boxoffice was outside in open air. Staff rooms were on the 2nd and 3rd floor. Projection room was on the 4th floor… and there was no elevator!

The projection room was well equipped. Two Philips all-purpose DP70 projectors with Mole Richardson lamp houses, one Ernemann 35mm projector, one Bang & Olufsen (BOFA) V-6 six-track amplifier, a rewind table, and of course a coffee table for the projectionists. Projection lenses for Todd-AO were American Optical Cine-Apergons of exceptionally good quality – as the adverts said. The screen was the largest ever seen in a Danish cinema. An impressive 17,6 meters wide (58 ft) and 8 meters tall (26 ft). The depth of the curve was 2,7 meters (9 ft). The screen was the entire front ”wall” which gave a fantastic illusion of looking out of a window. Black masking could be moved up and down and sideways to accommodate every thinkable aspect ratios in all 70mm and 35mm formats. The 3 Falke Bio’s Todd-AO screen was surpassed in size only by the Cinemiracle (22 meters) and Cinerama (29 meters) screens later installed in Denmark. 3 Falke Bio's screen remained the largest in Denmark until closure in 1982. Behind the screen were five sets of loudspeakers. Each channel consisted of three woofers on top of each other mounted on a large baffle made of wood. There was a tweeter on top of the baffle. 36 effects speakers were located in the auditorium, hidden behind the Asbestolux walls. The sound quality was remarkable according to trade press.

The most faithful guest was Mr. Ejner Knudsen who saw "South Pacific" more often than anyone else. He was 62 in 1958, father of four kids and a widower. He always bought the same seat. Row number 1, seat number 1 (Nearest to the screen). He was very fond of Ms. Mitzi Gaynor and saw her lovely talents more than 170 times. On several occasions he was given special attention when he had seen the film a certain number of times. Saturday, July 16, 1960 on the occasion of his going to see the film the 50th time, Mr. Andersen gave him a complete set of movie stills, a bottle of cognac and a tour in the projection room. Mr. Andersen later recalled the expenses for this award far exceeded the ticket income from Mr. Knudsen. But the newspapers loved the story of the man who saw "South Pacific" every Saturday from the same seat and it was good press coverage for the cinema.
 

The projection room was well equipped. Two Philips all-purpose DP70 projectors with Mole Richardson lamp houses, one Ernemann 35mm projector, one Bang & Olufsen (BOFA) V-6 six-track amplifier, a rewind table, and of course a coffee table for the projectionists. Projection lenses for Todd-AO were American Optical Cine-Apergons of exceptionally good quality – as the adverts said.

"South Pacific" was shown every day at 19:30 (7:30 PM) and also at 16:00 (4 PM) during weekends and holidays. The Todd-AO demonstration short film "The Miracle of Todd-AO" accompanied "South Pacific" from the first day. It never had a Danish title, but was affectionately called ”Rutschebaneturen” (”The Roller Coaster Ride”) and was even advertised by that name. The show at 3 Falke Bio was advertised all over Denmark and even in Malmö, Sweden. The Todd-AO process made an unprecedented impact on the Danes. Bus loads of people from all over the nation came to Copenhagen to visit 3 Falke Bio to see ”The Greatest Show in Todd-AO”. 3 Falke Bio played ”South Pacific” exclusively in Denmark, and at that time it was the biggest success in Denmark, ever! Tourists also frequently came to 3 Falke Bio as films were always played in original versions with subtitles in Danish. 262.368 guests saw "South Pacific" during the first year.

In the following 12 years, 3 Falke Bio played many of the best 70mm films Hollywood had to offer. Many films broke records and the cinema was well known outside Denmark for its beautiful architecture and splendid viewing conditions for 70mm. A few celebrities visited the cinema during premieres. Mr. Omar Sharif ("Lawrence of Arabia"), Mr. Peter Glenville ("Becket") and Mr. Rod Steiger ("Waterloo") all visited 3 Falke Bio. A premiere at 3 Falke Bio was always a Copenhagen EVENT. The royal family, diplomats and politicians often visited the cinema on these black tie/dark suit occasions.

3 Falke Bio management was approached in 1958 - even before the opening - and a proposal was drafted to install Cinemiracle. The plans were considered, but abandoned, because the screen would have been too small. A few years later a proposal to install Cinerama was also considered. Again, 3 Falke Bio declined. They had a good business with Todd-AO and saw no reason to change to Cinerama. The DP70 projectors were re-equipped with new Zeiss’ 6500-Watt Xenon light lamphouses in 1967. Dimension 150 was installed the same year at the expense of 20th Century Fox, only to be used for the prestigious premiere of "The Bible … in the beginning". The complete D-150 120-degree screen was installed in three days and taken down again by the end of the run (3. March 1967 - 30. April 1967). Newspaper ads wrote it was the first D-150 installation in Europe. Sensurround was installed for "Earthquake" in 1975. A Philips/Kinoton non-rewind ST 270 platter system was also installed in 1975 and taken out again 1977/78. Dolby Stereo (A CP50 processor) and new speakers were installed for "The Deer Hunter" in March 1979.
 

Widest smile possible, interviewing Mr Oliver Michael Todd, a Todd-AO theatre. And the location is what used to be 3 Falke Bio, on 5 March 2014. Where do you go from there?

Six months later in November 1981 3 Falke Bio reopened under yet another new management and ran until December 1982. A very strange mixture of old and new films was shown, none of which made any big business. 3 Falke Bio’s swan song as a Todd-AO cinema included 70mm screenings of “Battle of the Bulge”, “Earthquake” and the campy “Ice Station Zebra”. “Zebra” was the last 70mm film to be shown on the curved Todd-AO screen on 1. August 1982 completing a two-week run, only 12 years after the original premiere 23. January 1970 on the same screen. 3 Falke Bio officially closed after the last performance on Tuesday December 14, 1982, never to reopen. The final film shown on the largest screen in Denmark was a 35mm version of "Spartacus".

On January 17, 1983 the Todd-AO screen was taken down and replaced by a considerably smaller flat screen on the rear wall. The new screen was simply a cut-out piece of the big screen. The cinema continued for a while with film club showings, and then it was over for good. The name was changed to 3 Falke Scenen [3 Falke Stage] and the old neon sign was taken down. The Philips projectors were sold in 1986, ironically the same year Warner Brothers seriously considered re-opening the cinema as a multiplex, but it was too late. The owners of the building were going to rebuild the entire theatre/ cinema/ hotel complex. The projection room also disappeared in 1986 as part of the rebuilding. The first 11 rows of seats are also gone and have been replaced by a large stage. Most of the auditorium still exists today: for nearly 40 years after the closure of the cinema, it has been used for theatre, concerts, TV recordings, lectures, meetings and interviews.

3 Falke Bio was way ahead of it's time in 1958 with 1000 seats, style, ambiance and the "high impact" atmosphere. It was designed based on Todd-AO recommendations on how to offer the audience the chance to be "in the movies". Modern cinemas often fall short on cheap design, but still owes a lot to this type of cinema, with a big screen covering an entire wall, curved stadium seating, excellent sightlines, 70mm, and much more. It's not a new invention. It was all done 60+ years ago.

One final touch of Todd-AO glory happened quite anonymously on March 5, 2014. I had the honour of interviewing a gentleman by the name of Oliver Michael Todd (1965-2015), who happened to be working in Copenhagen as a teacher at that time. It was quite moving to sit and listen to Oliver’s few, but nice recollections, about Todd-AO. A BIG-SCREEN film process that carry his name! We were only two people in the huge auditorium sitting in the original seats from 1958. We imagined, listening carefully, we could still hear the faint and distant echoes of magnetic sound and “Oklahoma!” in THE SPLENDOUR OF TODD-AO in the former cinema. Oh, did I forget to mention? Oliver's grandfather happened to be a Broadway Producer, the one and only Michael Todd.
 

The 70mm films at 3 Falke Bio

Top Five 70mm Box Office
Listed here are the 5 most successful films in terms of audiences. All presented in 70mm.

Source of Information