A Century of Stories: The Rialto Cinema and the Memories It Holds

For many, The Rialto is first and foremost the place of seminal films. “Titanic” in particular, left its mark on many Morlais residents, like Frédéric, who remained “stunned, from start to finish” or this Internet user who remembers being frightened at the sight of “an endless queue, all the way to the bottom of rue Gambetta”.Aurélie, 43, will also never forget the “Titanic mania” that hit in 1997: “We came wiht friends to see the film at the Rialto. We loved it so much that at the end of the session, we stayed hidden to attend the second screening of the film. All this for the stunning eyes of Leonardo DiCaprio!” she laughs.

“The whole audience stood up and applauded”

For Renaud, his first memories in the room are those of “Ben-Hur”, at 9 years old, “at the time when Le Rialto only had a large room with a balcony”. and when it comes to horror films, we note “The Howling”: “I’m 14 and scared,” laughs Josiane. But the collective experience of a good film in the theater sometimes exceeds the individual memory. When “La Môme”, a biographical film retracing the life of Edith Piaf, was released in 2007, the feedback from the Morlais public was unanimous. “The whole audience stood up and applauded during the credits. Part of the audience was even seated on the ground all around the seats,” relates Pauline.

there was also applause during the numerous previews organized at the Rialto. Franck Dubosc, in 2009, walked the red carpet of the morlaisian cinema to promote his film “Incognito”, followed by Dany Boon, in 2018, for “La Ch’tite famille”, and the Palmashow, which came in “Vedettes”, in 2022.