The year was 1957, and the biblically-inspired movie screened at the old Geroda Cinema in Jalan Masjid Lama ran for so long – almost four hours – that an intermission was needed midway.
“That was also when I had my first fine taste of Coca-Cola after seeing some people drink it at the coffee shops in town,” he recounted, in a book titled “Pasir Mas: Memories & Experiences”.
He added that later classics screened at the cinema included Ben-Hur (1959), also starring Heston, and The Guns of Navarone (1961) with Gregory Peck. Special tickets were sold to schoolchildren then at only 20 sen per head.
Zawawi, now 75, fondly remembered a time when Pasir Mas was home to at least three commercial cinemas – Geroda, Panggung Buruk and Rex Cinema.
Today, Kelantan no longer has any cinemas. Kelantanese must travel across state lines to places like Dungun, Terengganu, if they wish to watch a film on the big screen.
While the Kelantan government never officially banned cinemas, the stringent conditions imposed on operators, including the need to avoid dark screening environments and to pause operations during prayer times, have discouraged firms from setting up in the state.
Zawawi recounted that Panggung Buruk opened in the early 1950s in Pengkalan Pasir and as the name suggested, was little more than a humble wooden hall, with wooden seats laid on an earthen floor.
“It was at Panggung Buruk that I saw my first movie. My half-brother took me there on his bicycle and we rode about six miles from our home in Kampung Kangkong,” he said, adding that the film was “Semerah Padi” (1956), starring the late P Ramlee and Satya “Saadiah” Baharom.
Geroda on the other hand, was established in the mid-1950s and owned by a prominent Pasir Mas business family known as the Iman Brothers – Wan Ibrahim Wan Sulaiman and two of his brothers, Wan Ishak and Wan Yaacob.
Zawawi said Geroda screened films made and distributed by Singapore-based Cathay-Keris Film Productions, including Elvis Presley’s Blue Hawaii (1961), the Beatles’ musical Hard Day’s Night (1964), as well as popular Hindustani films like Sangam (1964) and Bobby (1973).
Compared to Panggung Buruk, Geroda was a concrete building with cemented floors and air-conditioning. Then came Rex Cinema in the late 1950s, also offering modern facilities.
Zawawi said Rex screened films produced or distributed by Hong Kong-based Shaw Brothers. Among the blockbusters shown there was West Side Story (1961), featuring Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, George Chakiris and Natalie Wood.
He also recalled classics like P Ramlee’s “Ibu Mertuaku” being shown on Rex’s screens, leaving moviegoers emerging from the theatre with puffy faces and red eyes after the tears they had shed.
“It was at this cinema that I had many first dates with my other half,” the retired agriculturalist said fondly.
With both Rex and Geroda operating in the same town, Panggung Buruk soon closed down.
Sometime in the early 1990s, Rex too closed its doors, but Geroda’s structure still stands – its façade now fronted by a furniture shop named Perabot Sin Kian Huat. The main building remains intact, and the ticket-selling cubicles are still clearly visible.
A window to the world
Wan Ibrahim’s son Wan Salleh told FMT that the films opened a window to a world bigger than Pasir Mas, saying they were “both entertainment and education”.
“The movies opened my mind to urban life in Europe and the US with its cowboy towns and duels in the Midwest, the glitzy world of movie stars, heroes and heroines,” said Wan Salleh, who later embarked on his own adventures furthering his studies in New Zealand and Belgium.
The avid traveller said the joy and experiences he gained from watching movies from a young age lingered long afterwards, sparking in him a desire to explore the world beyond his small town.