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PLYMOUTH CINEMAS

ODEON CINEMA

The Odeon group had apparently purchased some land in Union Street ready for a new cinema.  The outbreak of the Second World War put a stop to this plan but evidently not to Oscar Deutsch's intentions.   The story goes that Mr Deutsch invited Mr Prance of the Regent Cinema to lunch with him at Exeter and announced his plans for a new major cinema that would put the Regent out of business.  Unless, that is, the owners sold it to him.  This they subsequently did and thus it was that on June 17th 1940 the old Regent Cinema reopened as the Odeon Cinema. The Odeon Cinema, Plymouth, formerly the Regent Cinema

Mr Deutsch himself was at the opening when the film "Contraband" was shown.

Plymouth's Odeon Cinema was used for a pre-D-Day meeting The Odeon was forced to close during the height of the Blitz but reopened on Monday May 5th 1941 when "Men Against the Sky" was shown fron Midday until 8pm only. 

<   During the Second World War the Cinema was used by Field-Marshall Montgomery for a briefing session with his officers prior to the D-Day landings.

Being a relativel new building the Odeon survived the Second World War but as the new city centre developed became something of a sore thumb, lying at an angle in what used to be Frankfort Street but was now New George Street.  It not only looked out of place but was unviable given that the Drake was also under Odeon control.

The Odeon Cinema closed on September 8th 1962 it closed to be replaced with the New Odeon Cinema in the former Gaumont Palace building in Union Street.

During June and July 1963 the Odeon was demolsiehd and a Littlewood's department store was built on the.

 

©  Brian Moseley, Plymouth, UK

Page created:  24 April 2008

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