A La Carte

Messy slapstick comedy featuring an ineptitude waiter, presented by Colchester Cine Club and starring an ensemble cast of club members.

Quite aptly described by Colchester Cine Club as a "messy slapstick comedy", ‘A La Carte’ is set in a bistro and features an ensemble cast of no fewer than 13 of its cine club members playing the parts of an ineptitude waiter and his many customers. Colchester Cine Club, always keen to recruit new members, enjoyed making comedies, the more farcical the better! Experience was not important - enthusiasm was! The onus was always on having a good time and getting everyone involved.

In the Spring of 1959 two keen amateur cinematographers, Don Leech and Eric Smith, placed a notice in the public library calling for like-minded filmmakers to attend a meeting at the Cross Keys Inn, Long Wyre Street. Some twenty to thirty people attended, and it was on that day, 24th April 1959, the Colchester Cine Club was formed. Don Leech was voted as Chairman, and fortnightly meetings were to be held in a room over Eric Smith’s shop, ‘Photovogue’ on St. John’s Street.