The Scala’s location was in the most squalid corner of London’s West End. A short but terrifying walk from a pre-Harry Potter Kings Cross station in a web of streets riddled with vice. Scala!!! evokes this well, with Stewart Lee being remarkably sanguine while reminiscing about having piss thrown on him from a passing car. Crucially, despite the unsafe environment outside, everyone talks of the theater as a sanctuary.
But the fun couldn’t last. The neighborhood gentrified, sending the rates up. Then Stanley Kubrick put the boot in, taking the owners to court for showing A Clockwork Orange and bankrupting the place (he had withdrawn his film from distribution in the United Kingdom due to it allegedly inspiring copycat violence). Now, The Scala is a music venue specializing in identarian nights that seem as exclusive as the club definitely wasn’t.
“…has plenty of flair…”
Scala!!! is edited with a frantic and agreeable pace by Ed Mills and Andrew Starke. Its illustrated nicely by a slowly building cartoon by Davy Jones of Viz comic, which shows the auditorium packed full of punks, drunks, corpses, and the late Shane McGowan standing on the seats and urinating on the rows in front (apparently the only thing that drove the mild-mannered owner and Palace Pictures producer, Steven Woolley, to violence).
The film has plenty of flair, with some lunatic graphics by Luke Insect and trippy animation by Osbert Parker. Plus, the raucous music by Barry Adamson is sensational. The film is a vigorous yet disciplined affair that takes its mission of spreading the word about this bygone embassy for the weird suitably seriously.
There is a legend that Christoper Nolan still carries his membership card in his wallet. The card in question was photographed at an event in the Scala’s honor back in 2017, and it appears on screen here. Of course it could be that he’s a sweetheart and jammed the scruffy cardboard into his wallet that night to please the attendees. Equally, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s true and that Nolan has long been a hostage to its power as lucky charm, terrified of discarding it.
Scala!!! is, at heart, a simple documentary with a narrow focus. But it does more to explain the power and meaning of cinema than any other film I can think of.
*Pete lived. He recuperated during Aliens.
"…does more to explain the power and meaning of cinema than any other film I can think of."
