Sneak in the Whole Family

In the 1950s and 1960s, it was common to see kids tagging along adults to watch films. Parents would often get two tickets, and then bring in their children for a night of entertainment. Front of house staff were usually quite lenient on that even though the law stipulated that every audience should have a ticket. In late October 1961, the Police Licensing Office finally required all cinemas to strictly enforce the “Each ticket admits one person” policy.

Smoke By All Means

Smoking indoors was a common scene in cinemas back then, and people were tolerant about that, too. In late November 1959, the Tai Wan Cinema Circuit was showing Sun Luen Film Company’s The Great Pretender. Sponsored by a tobacco company, the film gave out free packets of cigarettes to ticket holders. The advertisements even encouraged the audience to “enjoy the cigarettes while watching the film.”

Turn up the March Music

Nowadays credit roller appears at the end of a film. But most old films have shorter credits that are shown at the beginning instead. So the audience would walk out right away as soon as the lights were up. To avoid chaos when a thousand audience members left at the same time, cinemas would play uplifting military march music to guide the audience to leave swiftly and orderly.

Sex on the Screen

Sex On Wheels is a film best known in Hong Kong for its daringly erotic scenes. The film was scheduled to be shown at Roxy Theatre and Sands Theatre in August 1973. But in the afternoon of 13 August, Roxy Theatre was suddenly banned from showing the film. Although both cinemas were showing the same film, the version shown at Roxy Theatre turned out to contain 600 feet of previously censored content. The distribution company was later fined by the authorities.

Watch Without Paying

Standalone theatres used to be very common. With the entrance facing the street, anyone could easily walk in, including street rowdies who entered without tickets. Ushers often got beaten up when they tried to stop them. In July 1969, three staff members of Sands Theatre were beaten while expelling a handful of freeloading teenagers from the theatre. In March 1990, it was reported that as many as 400 people impudently walk into Manning Theatre without paying. But with cinemas moved into shopping arcades, such incidents rarely occur these days.