Scala!!!

During its heyday in the 1980s, the Scala Cinema in Kings Cross was renowned as an auditorium of liberation, misbehaviour and seediness. A home for movie-loving misfits and drug-taking creatives, Scala gained significant notoriety among the wild youths of Thatcherite Britain and today it’s a venue that goes down in cult legend. Filmmakers Ali Catterall and Jane Giles try to capture the essence and heart of what the movie theatre truly was through the eyes of its clientele in their feature-length documentary, fully titled SCALA!!! Or, the incredibly strange rise and fall of the world’s wildest cinema and how it influenced a mixed-up generation of weirdos and misfits.

If you have been to the Scala, you have a story to tell. Contributors talk about their experience in a very “you had to be there to believe it” manner, reminiscing about sitting in an auditorium with all sorts of characters at all times of the night. Between X-rated screenings and the latest experimental work from the likes of Ingmar Bergman and Werner Herzog, you tiptoe around sleeping bodies, extravagantly dressed moviegoers and those simply looking for a place to relax after a night out. Giles and Catterall tell this story via archive footage from through the ages, clips from the most popular movies and interviews with former punters like Stewart Lee and employees such as actor Ralph Brown.

A rich cultural haven that inspired future award-winning directors like Christopher Nolan and Steve McQueen, Scala was fuelled by the passion of its customers, forming a boiling pot of creativity. Each contributor breathes their own life into the documentary, making it a Scala-esque viewing in itself. The slick, explosive editing makes you laugh, mimicking the chaotic movie listing posters the cinema used to release. It makes you feel uncomfortable and makes for fluid storytelling. If you have no prior knowledge of the Scala, then this documentary will spark that interest.

Scala!!! is riotous fun but also very serious in the tribute it is paying. The Scala offered an outlet for those in society who found it difficult to express who they really were and this reflection on the cultural significance of the cinema leaves a solemn taste as the credits roll.

Today, Scala still exists as a nightclub, hosting countless acts including Coldplay, P!nk and Maroon 5, but the memories of its time as a cinema live on through the warm memories of its past punters.

Guy Lambert

Scala!!! is released in select cinemas on 5^th January and available on BFI Player and BFI Blu-ray from 22^nd January 2024. A season of the Scala’s greatest hits, Scala: Sex, drugs and rock and roll cinema, runs at BFI Southbank throughout January, with selected films on BFI Player.

Watch the trailer for Scala!!! here: