Alabama Theatre

The most stunningly beautiful movie theater I've ever been to, complete with an old fashioned organ. I HIGHLY recommend going!!! The beautiful and elaborate building is worth it alone.

It could be the neon sign, or the classic marquee, possibly the organ that disappears under the stage, or maybe the amazing concerts, perhaps the holiday movies that come with sing alongs, or all of the cinematic classics that they play through out the year... I'm certain that it is one of these things that makes me love the Theatre as much as I do.

My first memory of the Theatre is my parents taking me to see "The Ten Commandments."  After seeing it in that majestic setting on that huge screen, I was terrified when I happened to meet Charleston Heston years later.  If I'd seen it on our home TV, it wouldn't have resonated as so real.  

If you are ever fortunate enough to see a show or movie here, then go ahead and count yourself as a lucky dog.  Of all the things I've been lucky to see at The Alabama, watching "It's A Wonderful Life" each year with people I love, is by far my favorite.

Go ahead and start making memories of your own... you can thank me later.

Oh boy. I feel like a jerk for giving this place such a middling grade, what with it being such a beautiful and historic Birmingham landmark, but I almost always leave here underwhelmed by my actual movie-viewing experience. I've sat down to watch a number of films over the past few years and been immediately disappointed to realize I was watching a DVD or a Blu-ray being run through a digital projector rather than an actual film print of the movie. I understand that this isn't L.A., and it probably isn't very economical for the Alabama Theatre to rent a 35mm print of Jaws, but I just can't justify spending $10 to see a movie here when I literally have the same disc at home. This seems like a relatively new development because I remember seeing classic movies like The Godfather and Annie Hall here in the late 90s that were clearly actual film prints. Another issue for me is the sound. I'll preface this by saying that I know absolutely nothing about acoustics, but the sound setup is such an echoey mess that I often struggle to hear dialog from the movie I'm watching (and no, I'm not 90 years old). A friend of mine saw Brian Regan do stand-up here, and he had similar complaints.

I really want to love this place, and I am genuinely happy that it has been preserved. However, for me this is just not the ideal venue to actually watch a movie. Maybe my expectations have been spoiled by cookie-cutter multiplexes that are specifically built for modern sound systems and have the revenue to actually rent film prints (which isn't cheap, I'm sure). Having said that, they do hold some great events here. My complaints aside, the annual Rocky Horror Picture Show mascarade ball is something that everyone should experience at least once, and this theater is practically the heart of the Sidewalk Film Festival. Also, on a more personal note, Tom Waits' performance here several years ago is one of the greatest things I've ever witnessed, and I'm still kicking myself for not seeing George Carlin when he performed here on his final tour.