ELLSWORTH — Reels of film didn’t break. They didn’t overheat and melt. There was no intermission or clicks or crashes in the projection room, just a movie-theater-quality motion picture and booming surround sound at The Grand Auditorium’s “Grand Gala” Saturday night.

Ben Speed, The Grand’s film coordinator, bids farewell to the old projector during Saturday’s gala.—STAFF PHOTO BY HEATHER STEEVES

“I haven’t been to The Grand in three years. I love movies and it was frustrating to see movies not in the best condition. I just gave up,” said Lawrence Schulman, chairman of The Grand’s film society. “With the improved video and sound, after three years, I came back.”

The Grand’s projection room had been gathering dust since the two old projectors that served the theater for 70 years gave up the ghost in the fall of 2007.

“Not many projectors last 70 years — it’s an old friend,” said Charles Alexander, president of The Grand’s board of directors.

Alexander said part of the old projector will be on display in the lobby before settling into a permanent display case.

Now, two brand new projectors: One for 35mm film and the other for digital projection, fill the projection room and the balcony. Shiny, updated and, most importantly, in working order, they offer a whole new experience to moviegoers. Except for one glitch with the 35mm, which created a low, buzzing sound throughout the film, everything went smoothly. Ben Speed, the film coordinator, said the sound issue should be fixed by next week.

The night started on the street. The eight members of the Fletcher’s Landing Philharmonic, a local band that plays Dixieland music, played, hoping to entice passers-by to enter the gala.

Inside, tours introduced the public to the technology.

Once the band left, a slideshow of pictures of The Grand over the years flashed on the screen to eerie music from Alfred Hitchcock movies.

In memory of the old projectors, both Strong Simplexes, David Weeda, dressed in Royal Stuart tartan, droned a sad, funeral tune on his bagpipes while The Grand’s two projectionists led the Simplex out of the theater.

By 7:30 p.m. the theater got dark and, with the new digital projector, a preview of The New York Metropolitan Opera began. The new eight-speaker surround sound highlighted every shrill of the sopranos and boom of the basses. The Met’s 2008-2009 season will begin at the Ellsworth theater on Sept. 22. Tickets went on sale to Met guild members only and The Grand has already sold $3,000 worth of tickets.

Then “Young at Heart,” the first film to be shown on the new Horizon 5565 projector, began to roll. The audience cracked up as a 93-year-old woman in a white tuxedo shirt belted The Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” The movie features a senior citizen chorus that sings punk and rock music.

“There’s been a lot of buzz about getting the film program up and running,” Speed said. “We’re going to try to mix it up a bit.”

Speed said he plans to keep the artistic films rolling. He also plans to have at least one family film matinee a month and more new releases.

“It’s the start of something new and something big. It’s been a long haul, but we’re getting there,” said John Dundas, a Grand board member.