EARTHQUAKE

Audiences experienced a whole new kind of cinematic excitement when EARTHQUAKE hit the screens in November 1974: the "Sensurround" gimmick sent deep "infra bass" rumbles through the cinema-auditoriums and caused structural damage to more than one picture-palace (NB the Gartenbaukino will not be risking such an outcome at this screening!)

Chronicling the impact of a seismic event registering an astronomical 9.9 on the Richter Scale — the real-world record is a mere 9.5 — and laying picturesque waste to most of Los Angeles, this was Universal's first disasterpiece since AIRPORT. Released shortly after the Warner Brothers / Fox team-up smash THE TOWERING INFERNO (both films scored by John Williams), EARTHQUAKE likewise clicked with sensation-hungry patrons, ranking #3 for the year.

The requisite all-star cast this time finds room for Moses himself, Charlton Heston, plus fellow golden-age veteran Ava Gardner and newer notables like Richard (SHAFT) Roundtree and French-Canadian great Geneviève Bujold — plus an irresistibly daft cameo from Walter Matthau as "Drunk."

Nominated for four Oscars, it won Best Sound and also a "Special Achievement Award" for the visual effects — Academy voters turning a blind eye to the notorious 'red splodge' animation that clumsily crowns the otherwise-terrifying elevator-plunge sequence.