Geoffrey Macnab: Without the glamour it's just a movie

We may be in a new age of austerity, but that doesn't mean premières are what they used to be

We all know the drill; elegantly dressed actors and voluptuous actresses waiting in line to shake Princess Margaret's hand, or swanning down the red carpet.

In a post-war Britain coming to terms with austerity, the big movie premières (the newsreels remind us), provided much-needed distraction and colour. We may be in a new age of austerity, but that doesn't mean premières are what they used to be. We've had "green" premières, online premières and underground premières; premières in village halls and in rural backwaters. It's all much more democratic but also self-defeating. Strain off the glamour, invite everyone and no one will care who comes.