Went to see the kick-off of our lil' 70's disaster film fest programming at the Mayfair this-afternoon, this first two of five films were Earthquake and The Hindenberg.

The disaster movie genre is a bizarre one. In the 70's there was seemingly a rabid audience for plot-lines involving a whole bunch of people being killed or to a lesser extent greatly terrified thanks to natural disaster occurrences or plane crashes. Which is a pretty morbid and blood-thirsty level of cinematic entertainment. You know what makes for a fun night out at the cinema? The destruction of a city and the death of thousands!

Hindenberg is of course based on a true story, but like every film based on a true story, I'm curious as to what the percentage of truthiness actually is. There was in fact a dirigible that was called the Hindenberg, but not so sure if it was an espionage plot that caused the tragedy. I have a feeling it might have been plain ole' boring human error. In the case of this film they actually inter-cut real footage of the tragedy (spoiler alert!), which adds an extra level of macabre to the George C Scott lead epic.

Earthquake is arguably the most famous from the era and genre. Starring Charleton Heston and as per usual for these kinda movies, a giant supporting cast of all your favourite B grade and washed up celebrity talent. My personal favourite was Richard Roundtree's portrayal of a motor-bike stuntman, who spent the movie in a costume that to me looked a lot like DC Comics Black Lightening. The movie is not good per say, I have a feeling that none of them are, but it is definitely worth checking out if only for the awesome old school in-camera special effects and the over-the-top Charlton Heston-ness. I wonder what it must have been like sitting in a theatre in downtown L.A. and watching the film in it's initial release?

For those who missed out on our first pair of so-bad-they're-good disastrous films at the Mayfair and want to catch the encore presentation, you can do so on Tuesday September 7th at 6:30pm and 8:45pm.