CHOOSING the right films to attract movie-goers can be a tricky balancing act for the owners of small, independent cinemas.

But Becky Hallsmith, who runs the Ultimate Picture Palace off Cowley Road, knew she had got it right when a silent movie and live music evening sold out on Friday night.

About 120 people paid between £10 and £12 to watch 1920s silent movie star Harold Lloyd in the 1923 film Safety Last!, which features a memorable scene with the actor hanging from a clock face.

And while the film was being screened, Oxford band The Mighty Wurlitzer added to the entertainment by playing to the audience. Vintage cartoons were also shown and the audience were encouraged to wear vintage clothing.

Ms Hallsmith said the recent success of the Oscar-winning film The Artist had revived interest in the silent movie era.

She added: “It was a three-hour jamboree including the Harold Lloyd movie, music from The Mighty Wurlitzer and vintage cartoons. The event sold out very quickly and people were clamouring for returns so I don’t think this is the last time we will be holding this sort of evening.

“This is probably the first time an event like this has been held at a cinema for many years but it was a great success.”

The UPP in Jeune Street celebrated its centenary last year.

Previous owners Philippa Farrow and Jane Derricott , who took over the cinema in 2009, decided to sell up last year because they said running the East Oxford cinema had left them exhausted.

It became a furniture store in the 1920s, when Safety Last! was originally on the cinema circuit, and was turned back into a cinema in 1976 by BBC Oxford radio presenter Bill Heine.

Squatters inhabited the building after the cinema closed in 1994. It reopened as the Ultimate Picture Palace in 1997.