The Official Blog of Laemmle Theatres.

blog.laemmle.com

The official blog of Laemmle Theatres

You are here: Home / Theater Buzz / Royal

45th Anniversary Screenings of Louis Malle’s MURMUR OF THE HEART on Wednesday, August 16th in Encino, Pasadena, and West LA

by

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present the latest installment in our Anniversary Classics Abroad series, Louis Malle’s irreverent and often uproarious comedy, MURMUR OF THE HEART, which earned an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay of 1972.

During the course of his career, Malle proved himself one of the most astonishingly versatile of all international directors. His movies ran the gamut from the influential French noir, Elevator to the Gallows to the sexually daring drama, The Lovers, which was charged with obscenity and eventually cleared by the United States Supreme Court; the dark screwball comedy, Zazie dans le Metro; two piercing World War II dramas, Lacombe Lucien and Au Revoir Les Enfants; and the documentary Calcutta.

In America, Malle made the controversial Pretty Baby, which introduced Brooke Shields; the scintillating two-character talkathon, My Dinner with Andre; and the bittersweet comedy classic, Atlantic City, which earned five Oscar nominations, including one for best picture and another for Malle as best director.

Murmur of the Heart was an autobiographical memoir from Malle, a coming-of-age story told with candor and exuberant wit. Set in 1954, the year that France lost control of its colonies in Indochina, the film focuses on a chaotic bourgeois family headed by a wild, taboo-breaking mother, played to perfection by Italian actress Lea Massari.

The cast also includes Benoit Ferreux as her 14-year-old son, Daniel Gelin as her gynecologist husband, and Michel Lonsdale as a somewhat hypocritical priest.

Pauline Kael called the film an “exhilarating high comedy about French bourgeois life,” and she added, “Massari is superb as Clara, the carelessly sensual mother.”

Leonard Maltin praised the picture as a “fresh, intelligent, affectionately comic tale” that builds to “a thoroughly delightful resolution.”

MURMUR OF THE HEART screens at 7pm on August 16th at the Royal in West L.A., the Town Center in Encino, and the Playhouse in Pasadena. Presented on DVD. Click here for tickets.

ART IN THE ARTHOUSE presents: THREE WOMEN: PERCHED UPON THE TREE OF LIFE at the Royal

by

BLANDINE SAINT-OYANT, RANA WILSON and NADEGE BAER

Three Artists perched high above the fray, upon a tree bending towards the heavens. The dappling of leaves, the rounded crescent forms and the ether itself, all imagery ribboning towards the nascent sky. When forms dance, they dance with hope, they dance with joy and they dance for Life.

Art in the Arthouse presents the artworks of three extraordinary artists, distinct in craft and vision, yet connected by their visceral energy and joie de vivre.  Don’t miss this unique exhibit, now on display at the Royal through October 21, 2017.

NADEGE BAER and BLANDINE SAINT-OYANT are both of French origin, and RANA WILSON is a Los Angeles native. These three painters joins forces, their work intersecting forms creating a dance in space. BAER’S work plays with compositional balance, painting corpuscular forms that anchor themselves to the edge of the canvas. Deftly painted in acrylics, they resemble a translucent quality of watercolors. WILSON’S wispy play with forms and open spaces are cleverly rendered, sent into the ether, undulating like smoke. SAINT-OYANT has created an intriguing series with a micro view, subatomic and brilliant. Read more about these artists’ journeys through exhibition notes available at the theatre.

    – Joshua Elias, CURATOR

LAEMMLE LIVE presents: McCabe’s Guitar Shop on August 13

by

RSVP USING EVENTBRITE
This is a Free Event

It doesn’t get much better than this! Sunday, August 13 LAEMMLE LIVE welcomes McCabes Guitar Shop for a free pop-up celebration of all things guitar, banjo, ukulele and harmonica. McCabe’s renowned teachers and students share their musical wit and wisdom with lively performances and demos. Hosted by Head of Music School Denny Croy at the Monica Film Center. If you miss out, no need to worry! There are some excellent guitar lessons available at austinguitarlessons.net.

It began in 1958. Furniture designer Gerald McCabe repaired guitars for his folk-singer wife’s musician friends who had no local music store. Gerald and his friend Ed Kahn decided to open a small music shop on Pico Blvd in Santa Monica. They began repairing instruments, selling folk music books and records, carrying Mexican guitars and old banjos. Whilst nowadays people can look at Magical Instruments to get a recommendation for a guitar, back then the options were much more limited. Still, word spread and local musicians began hanging out, relishing one of the only guitar shops in the Southern California area. One of those young musicians was Bob Riskin. Bob started as an employee in 1960. In the early 60’s lessons and classes were added. In 1969 McCabe’s began presenting live concerts. Bob Riskin became sole owner in 1986. Bob and his wife Espie are still running McCabe’s today! Over the years, musicians from all aspects of the musical spectrum, from gifted amateurs to seasoned professionals, have come to appreciate McCabe’s friendly, knowledgeable sales staff, expert repair shop and world class teaching staff. Join us for memorable music from a local treasure!

EVENT DETAILS
Sunday, August 13, 2017
11:00 AM
Monica Film Center

RSVP USING EVENTBRITE
This is a Free Event

Q&A with MY FAVORITE YEAR Director Richard Benjamin, Co-stars Lainie Kazan and Joseph Bologna, and Producer Michael Gruskoff on Thursday, July 27 in West LA

by

35th Anniversary Screening of MY FAVORITE YEAR (1982) Followed by a Q&A with Director Richard Benjamin, Co-stars Lainie Kazan and Joseph Bologna, and Producer Michael Gruskoff on Thursday, July 27, at 7:30 PM at the Royal. Presented on DVD.

Click here for tickets.

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 35th anniversary screening of the popular comedy, MY FAVORITE YEAR, which earned Peter O’ Toole his seventh Oscar nomination for Best Actor. The year is 1954, and O’Toole plays an aging, dissolute movie star (a cross between John Barrymore and Errol Flynn) who creates havoc when he is hired as a guest star of a TV comedy series modeled on Sid Caesar’s groundbreaking variety show.

Mark Linn-Baker plays a young writer on the show (said to be based on Mel Brooks), and the extraordinary cast also includes Jessica Harper, Joe Bologna, Lainie Kazan, Bill Macy, Lou Jacobi, and Cameron Mitchell, with Gloria Stuart in an unbilled cameo. Norman Steinberg and Dennis Palumbo wrote the screenplay, and Richard Benjamin made an impressive directorial debut.

Writing in The Hollywood Reporter, Robert Osborne said, “Benjamin keeps everything rolling merrily from start to finish.” Variety’s Todd McCarthy declared, “MY FAVORITE YEAR provides a field day for a wonderful bunch of actors headed by Peter O’Toole in another rambunctious, stylish starring turn.” Peter Rainer of the Los Angeles Herald-Examiner touted the film as “a comic triumph” and added, “It’s as jam-packed with invention and eccentricity as a Preston Sturges romp.”

After shining as an actor in ‘Goodbye, Columbus,’ ‘Diary of a Mad Housewife,’ ‘The Last of Sheila,’ ‘Westworld,’ and ‘The Sunshine Boys,’ Richard Benjamin made a successful transition to directing with the film. He went on to direct such others as ‘Racing with the Moon’ with Sean Penn, Elizabeth McGovern, and Nicolas Cage, ‘The Money Pit’ with Tom Hanks, ‘Little Nikita’ with Sidney Poitier and River Phoenix, and ‘Mermaids’ with Cher and Winona Ryder.

Lainie Kazan has had a long career as a singer as well as an actress. Her feature films include ‘One from the Heart,’ ‘Beaches,’ and the smash hit comedy ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding.’ She co-starred in the TV series ‘The Paper Chase,’ ‘The Nanny,’ and ‘Desperate Housewives.’ She was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance in ‘My Favorite Year,’ and Newsweek’s David Ansen wrote of her performance, “Lainie Kazan as Benjy’s mother poses a serious threat to Shelley Winters in the funniest-Jewish-Mama sweepstakes.”

Joseph Bologna has worked as an actor, writer, and director. He earned an Academy Award nomination for co-authoring the screenplay of ‘Lovers and Other Strangers,’ which was adapted from the play he wrote with Renee Taylor. He and Taylor co-starred in other films they wrote, ‘Made for Each Other’ and ‘It Had to Be You.’ Bologna has also co-starred in such films as Neil Simon’s ‘Chapter Two,’ ‘Blame It on Rio,’ ‘The Woman in Red,’ and ‘Boynton Beach Club.’

Michael Gruskoff produced ‘Young Frankenstein,’ ‘Silent Running,’ and ‘Pink Cadillac.’ He won Cesar Award for ‘Quest for Fire’.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioyAJUCTCkQ

Fourth Annual Tour de Laemmle is Sunday, July 23rd, 2017!

by

Don’t be surprised if you see Greg Laemmle and 100+ other cyclists clip-clopping through a theater lobby this Sunday. They’re just rehydrating and taking a well-deserved break in the middle of their epic 135-mile bicycle tour of all eight Laemmle venues!

Our Fourth Annual Tour de Laemmle starts bright and early this Sunday, July 23rd. Participants leave the Monica Film Center in Santa Monica at 7:00AM before making their way to Beverly Hills, Claremont, Pasadena, Glendale, NoHo, Encino, West LA, and back to Santa Monica.

You can follow along from the comfort of your chair by visiting tourdelaemmle.com/share where riders will share their Instagram photos and tweets.

Our involvement with cycling events such as CicLAvia and Climate Ride stems not just from our love of the sport, but as a way to encourage alternative transportation and inspire creative thinking about our traffic and environmental challenges. In 2014, we stepped up to the plate by creating our own event.

As an avid cyclist and sustainability advocate, Greg Laemmle had always dreamed of traveling to each of his venues by bike in a single day. After researching the route, he soon recognized the cultural and historical import of many of the roads, pathways, and landmarks he discovered along the way. Realizing the potential value extended far beyond his original vision, he opened up the ride and invited the community to join him “on a 2-wheeled tour of L.A.’s richly diverse neighborhoods.” Find out more at tourdelaemmle.com!

25th Anniversary Screenings of INDOCHINE on Wednesday, July 19th in Encino, Pasadena, and West LA

by

For this month’s screening in our Anniversary Classics Abroad program, Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 25th anniversary screening of the Oscar-winning French film, INDOCHINE.

This sweeping epic about France’s troubled history in Southeast Asia was named best foreign language film of 1992, and Catherine Deneuve received an Oscar nomination (her only one) for her portrayal of a wealthy landowner who adopts a Vietnamese orphan.

TIME Magazine’s Richard Corliss wrote, “INDOCHINE sprawls and enthralls. It has the breadth and intelligence of the David Lean epics,” and he added, “In Catherine Deneuve, INDOCHINE has a star of epic glamour and gravity.”

The film spans 30 years from 1930 through the war of independence in the 1950s. Director Regis Wargnier brought impressive visual flair to the evocation of this society in transition.

Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called the film “awesomely gorgeous, both in its landscapes and in its period-perfect settings and costumes.”

Wargnier filmed on location in Vietnam and Malaysia. The cast includes Vincent Perez, Jean Yanne, Dominique Blanc, and newcomer Linh Dan Pham.

INDOCHINE screens at 7pm on July 19th at the Royal in West L.A., the Town Center in Encino, and the Playhouse in Pasadena. Presented on DVD. Click here for tickets.

This screening is the latest installment of our Anniversary Classics Abroad series, presented the third Wednesday of each month. Louis Malle’s MURMUR OF THE HEART is coming up on August 16th.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FxMoREEix6Q

PEYTON PLACE 60th Anniversary Screening and Q&A with Co-Star Terry Moore on July 12th in West LA

by

60th Anniversary Screening of PEYTON PLACE (1957)
Followed by a Q&A with Co-Star Terry Moore
Wednesday, July 12, at 7:00 PM at the Royal
Presented digitally

Click here for tickets.

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 60th anniversary screening of PEYTON PLACE, the smash hit movie version of Grace Metalious’s best-selling novel. The film earned nine top Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay. It also tied the all-time record of five acting nominations from a single film: Lana Turner as Best Actress and 4 supporting nods, for newcomers Diane Varsi and Hope Lange, along with Arthur Kennedy and Russ Tamblyn.

Metalious’s novel exposed the steamy shenanigans in a small New England town, and even in a slightly toned down version, the film tackled such once forbidden topics as rape, incest, sexual hypocrisy and repression. It opened in December of 1957 and became the second highest grossing film of 1958 after going into wide release. It spawned a sequel and a popular TV series in the 1960s.

Leonard Maltin summed up the critical consensus when he wrote, “Grace Metalious’s once-notorious novel receives Grade A filming.” Producer Jerry Wald (whose credits included Mildred Pierce, Key Largo, Johnny Belinda, An Affair to Remember, The Long Hot Summer, and Sons and Lovers) bought the rights to the novel for $250,000 and hired a classy team to bring it to the screen. Screenwriter John Michael Hayes wrote many of the best Alfred Hitchcock movies of the 1950s, including Rear Window, The Trouble with Harry, and The Man Who Knew Too Much. Director Mark Robson started as an assistant editor on Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane and The Magnificent Ambersons, then directed such successful films as Champion, The Bridges at Toko-Ri, and Inn of the Sixth Happiness. Oscar winning composer Franz Waxman provided the memorable musical score. The cast also includes Mildred Dunnock, Betty Field, Lloyd Nolan, David Nelson, Terry Moore, and Barry Coe.

The Hollywood Reporter praised all the performances but singled out co-star Terry Moore, who “shows what a forceful and moving actress she can be.” Moore made a vivid impression in 1949’s Mighty Joe Young, then earned an Oscar nomination for Come Back, Little Sheba in 1952. Her other films include Man on a Tightrope with Fredric March, King of the Khyber Rifles with Tyrone Power, Beneath the 12-Mile Reef with Robert Wagner, and Daddy Long Legs with Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron. She made 77 feature films over the course of her career and also appeared in many TV series and movies.

LAEMMLE LIVE: presents Sound Roads Music – Sunday July 23

by

RSVP USING EVENTBRITE
This is a Free Event

Join us once again at the Monica Film Center Sunday, July 23 for a fun summer twist on our chamber music series. Our July Laemmle Live concert features the fresh interplay of multiple music genres by the talented young musicians of  Sound Roads Music.  Students will perform original works, discuss how songwriting changed their relationship with music and present  a reinvention of a Bach concerto with a swing feel.

Sound Roads Music is a collective of like-minded professional educators and students who bring quality music education to our community. With an emphasis on performance, competition and leadership, this innovative music school creates an environment for young musicians to thrive. Teaching artists welcome all who are dedicated and excited about learning music. Sound Roads Music founders and directors Tom Farrell and Reiko Nakano believe that a performance-based approach mixed with a healthy dose of competition and peer support motivates students to strive for a higher level of musicianship and understanding.

EVENT DETAILS
Sunday, July 23, 2017
11:00 AM
Monica Film Center

RSVP USING EVENTBRITE
This is a Free Event