The Valhalla

The Valhalla movie theatre in Glebe, Sydney, had three distinct historic periods. The period before I was aware of it, the period during the 80s where it was the best thing since spiced Lollobrigida, and everything after that.

One of the best things about the Valhalla during the 80’s was the poster for the coming year’s attractions. It was more important than going to the attractions themselves. Your earnest young style councillor had to have a Valhalla poster on the bedroom or kitchen door, partly to hide the stain of something almost as exotic as the films they were going to miss, but mainly for culture-vulture cred.

It always had French and Italian suave, American underground, and for some reason, Eraser Head. I still haven’t seen the film and consider it one of my sacred human rights; not to have seen Eraser Head. The poster also had “fun” reviews within the borders of the film ad panels and exotic words, like “Koyanisqaatsi” and “A Boy and His Dog”.

During that time, there was barely a weekend where we didn’t make the pilgrimage... and it was a bit of a trek. I was a Northern Beaches kid and getting into Glebe in the inner west of Sydney required the sort of energy and stupidity only youth can bring to an endeavour. We loved it.

We watched interesting, if not always good, cinema in a dilapidated old flea-pit, went outside and drank cappuccinos with the lesbians and then made our way home to have energetic, youthful sex with the thoughts of Paris and the future on our tiny, nicotine-addled minds.

When I moved to Glebe for two years in the 90s, quite literally three minutes walking distance away from the Valhalla, I didn’t go once. There’s a lesson there.

But, many of my tastes and favourite scenes are burnt in from the Valhalla. I have no idea why I choose to share this, other than it always makes me smile when I think of it.

The opening to a film called Subway, starring Christopher Lambert (when he’s in French films, you should say it Kristoff Lombear, it’s more fun that way) is all black, then three quotes appear in sequence.

“To be, is to do”, Socrates

“To do, is to be”, Sartre

“Do be do be, do”, Sinatra

Philosophical development in a nutshell.