Hitchcock's old gem

As Herbert Henry Asquith strode into No 10 as Prime Minister in 1908 and the country prepared for the London Olympics, a young Alfred Hitchcock was being lured into the magical world of cinema by the silent films shown at his local cinema.

Hundreds of film-lovers and Hitchcock aficionados last night held a candlelit vigil in an attempt to save the EMD cinema, in north-east London, which inspired the boy who grew up to be one of Britain's greatest filmmakers. As they gathered, images of Hitchcock were projected on to the former cinema building. Actors Tony Robinson and Meera Syal have joined the high-profile campaign to stop the Grade II-listed building in Walthamstow being turned into a church.

The EMD, which opened as a dance hall in 1887, has been closed to the public since it was bought by the Brazil-based religious organisation Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in 2003. There has been no cinema in the area since then.

The McGuffin Film & Television Society wants the local authority to offer the UCKG ownership of an empty building next to the cinema, allowing the EMD to be sold to operators who would reopen it.

But the UCKG is expected to seek permission from Waltham Forest Council to convert the magnificent building into a church in the coming weeks, even though its first application was rejected following a public inquiry. It plan was turned down because of the building's historic significance and because there is no other cinema in the borough. The council has since promised to build a multiplex, but no firm plans have materialised.

Blackadder and Time Team star Tony Robinson grew up in nearby Leytonstone and was a regular visitor to the EMD in his youth. He said: "The cinema is an exotic masterpiece. It's where my teenage eyes were opened to the great jazz and rock'n'roll artists of the 1960s and where I saw a host of great movies. At this exciting time in our history when east London is about to be revitalised, it would be crazy to turn our backs on such a magnificent venue."

Award-winning actress and screenwriter Meera Syal has lived near the cinema. She said: "This stunningly beautiful building has a rare touch of glamour. It would be an absolute tragedy if the film-lovers of east London were to be permanently deprived of this jewel of a cinema." Tony Benn and Ken Livingstone are also opposed to the demise of the EMD.

The original venue, Victoria Hall, hosted one of Britain's first film shows, around 1896. Its interior was one of 12 designed by the Russian theatre director Theodore "Komis" Komisar-jevsky in the 1930s. The EMD is the only one that still exists as a cinema. Until the end of the 1970s it was also a music venue. The Beatles, Stones and Buddy Holly performed there.

Bill Hodgson of McGuffin said: "The council will commit political suicide if they approve the church application."