Milestone 1936

It is now 10 years since the Neath Empire Cinema was built.  The cinema closed for a few months for refurbishment and when completed had 1,300 seats.    It was regarded as the most comfortable cinema in the town.

The Neath Guardian dated Friday, 6th November 1936, featured the re-opening of the cinema after the refurbishment.

The multi page feature included the following advertisements associated with the refurbishment:-

W.H.Snow & Sons (Neath) Ltd.
Builders and Contractors
Main Contractors for the refurbishement.

W.J.Creemer Ltd  - Cardiff
Electrical Instalations.

E.A.Smith & Co - Neath
Cement for the reinforced concrete
Sanitary, Door and Widow Fitments.

Lithalun Products Ltd - Bridgend
British Acoustical Material for Talkie Cinemas.

A.G Thompson & D. Manolopoulos Ltd  - Swansea
Reinforced Concrete Specialists.

Falk.Stadelmann & Co Ltd - Cardiff
Lighing fittings for the Vestibule.

The Franco-British Electrical Co.Ltd - Cardiff
Neon Lighting Signs.

W.E.Gorman - Neath
Sweets, Chocolates and Cigarettes
(Stall at Main Entrarance)

Profit & Alderslade - Neath
Heating extensions.

Bryncethin Brickworks - Bridgend
Suppliers of all the wire cut bricks.

J.Newton Whitley - Bristol
Stained Glass Windows for Landing, Mezzanine,
and Floor Floyer.

W.A.Baker & Co.  -  Newport
Collapsible Gates and Metal Canopy.

Robinson, David & Co. Ltd - Neath
Wood, Mouldings and Plywood.

Fred W. James - Neath
Chemist & Optician
(Entrance at side of cinema)

The Rapid Pre-cast Concrete Co. Ltd - Neath
Floors laid with CULLAMIX
Suppliers of precast re-inforced concrete beams
for floors. 

Research by Jason Reynolds.
Apologies are made for any ommisions.

FILM RELEASES during the year
1936

Notable films released in 1936

• Accused, starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. and Dolores del Río
• After the Thin Man, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy
• The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss, starring Cary Grant
• Anthony Adverse, starring Fredric March and Olivia de Havilland
• Les bas-fonds, (Underworld), directed by Jean Renoir, starring Jean Gabin and Louis Jouvet
• The Big Noise, starring Guy Kibbee, Alma Lloyd, Warren Hull, and Dick Foran
• The Bohemian Girl, starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy
• Bullets or Ballots
• Cafe Mascot, starring Geraldine Fitzgerald
• Cain and Mabel, starring Marion Davies and Clark Gable
• Camille, starring Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor
• Captain January, starring Shirley Temple
• Ceiling Zero, starring James Cagney
• Cesar, directed by Marcel Pagnol
• The Charge of the Light Brigade, starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland
• Charlie Chan at the Opera, starring Warner Oland and Boris Karloff
• Come and Get It
• The Crime of Monsieur Lange, directed by Jean Renoir
• Desire
• The Devil-Doll
• Dimples, starring Shirley Temple
• Dodsworth, directed by William Wyler, starring Walter Huston, Ruth Chatterton and Mary Astor
• Dracula's Daughter
• Follow the Fleet, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
• Fury, starring Sylvia Sidney and Spencer Tracy
• Go West, Young Man, starring Mae West, adapted by her from Lawrence Riley's 1934 stage play Personal Appearance
• Gold Diggers of 1937
• The Great Ziegfeld, starring William Powell, Myrna Loy and Luise Rainer
• Green Pastures, adapted from the 1923 stage play of the same name, starring Eddie Anderson -(film mentioned in article)
• Hopalong Cassidy Returns
• Intermezzo, starring Ingrid Bergman and Gösta Ekman
• The Jungle Princess
• The Last of the Mohicans
• The Lawless Nineties, starring John Wayne
• Libeled Lady, starring Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy
• Little Lord Fauntleroy
• Lloyd's of London
• Man of the Frontier, starring Gene Autry
• The Man Who Could Work Miracles, starring Roland Young and Ralph Richardson
• Mayerling, directed by Anatole Litvak starring Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux
• Men Are Not Gods, starring Miriam Hopkins
• Modern Times, written, directed by and starring Charles Chaplin with Paulette Goddard
• The Mongolian Boy (Монгол хүү), directed by Ilya Trauberg is released as the first Mongolian film
• The Moon's Our Home
• Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, directed by Frank Capra, starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur
• My Man Godfrey, directed by Gregory La Cava, starring William Powell and Carole Lombard
• Night Mail, documentary
• The Only Son (Hitori musuko), directed by Yasujiro Ozu
• Osaka Elegy (Naniwa erejii), directed by Kenji Mizoguchi
• Our Relations, starring Laurel and Hardy
• The Petrified Forest, starring Leslie Howard, Humphrey Bogart and Bette Davis
• The Plainsman
• Poor Little Rich Girl
• The Prisoner of Shark Island
• Reefer Madness, (also known as Tell Your Children)
• Rembrandt, starring Charles Laughton
• Road Gang
• Romeo and Juliet, starring Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, John Barrymore and Basil Rathbone
• Rose Marie, starring Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy
• Sabotage, an Alfred Hitchcock thriller starring Sylvia Sidney and Oskar Homolka
• San Francisco, starring Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald and Spencer Tracy
• Secret Agent, an Alfred Hitchcock thriller starring John Gielgud and Madeleine Carroll
• Show Boat, starring Irene Dunne, Allan Jones, Charles Winninger, Paul Robeson and Helen Morgan
• Sisters of the Gion (Gion no shimai), directed by Kenji Mizoguchi
• Small Town Girl, a William Wellman film starring Janet Gaynor, Robert Taylor and James Stewart
• The Story of Louis Pasteur, starring Paul Muni
• Stowaway
• Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, starring Tod Slaughter
• Swing Time, starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers
• Tarzan Escapes
• Theodora Goes Wild
• These Three, starring Miriam Hopkins, Merle Oberon and Joel McCrea. (Adapted from the Lillian Hellman play The Children's Hour)
• Things to Come, based on the story by H.G. Wells
• Too Many Parents, debut film for Frances Farmer
• The Trail of the Lonesome Pine
• Wife vs. Secretary
• Yiddle with his Fiddle, starring Molly Picon