The Official Blog of Laemmle Theatres.

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The official blog of Laemmle Theatres

Two Courtroom Classics For the Price of One on May 2nd in NoHo, Pasadena, and Beverly Hills

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Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present two acclaimed courtroom dramas celebrating their 60th anniversaries as the second attraction in the popular Twofer Tuesdays program. 12 ANGRY MEN and WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION, both 1957 Academy Award nominees for Best Picture, will be paired as a double bill (two movies, one admission price) on May 2nd at the Ahrya Fine Arts, NoHo 7, and Pasadena Playhouse 7. Presented on Blu-ray.

Click here to buy tickets to the 5:15PM show of 12 ANGRY MEN, admission to the 7:15pm WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION is included. Click here to get tickets to the 7:15PM show of  WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION, admission to the 9:35pm 12 ANGRY MEN is included.

12 ANGRY MEN, about the deliberations of 12 jurors in a murder trial, was adapted by Reginald Rose from his 1954 teleplay, and directed by Sidney Lumet (Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, Network) as his film debut. Henry Fonda, who also produced, heads a formidable cast of award-winning actors including Lee J. Cobb, Ed Begley, Jack Warden, E. G. Marshall, and Jack Klugman. Both Lumet and Rose were Oscar nominated for their work.

The film, as timely as ever, challenges an audience to confront ethnic and social prejudices in considering innocence or guilt based on reasonable doubt.

Roger Ebert called it “a masterpiece of stylized realism,” enhanced by the expert black-and-white photography of Boris Kaufman, making the most of its one set in the jury room. Ebert further opined, “In its ingenuity, in the way it balances one piece of evidence against another that seems contradictory, 12 Angry Men is as meticulous as an Agatha Christie thriller.” The movie was added to the National Film Registry in 2007.

WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION, based on an Agatha Christie play, is a spellbinding courtroom thriller about a murder suspect (Tyrone Power) defended by a wily barrister (Charles Laughton) against the testimony of the suspect’s wife (Marlene Dietrich).

Billy Wilder, collaborating with writers Harry Kurnitz and Larry Marcus, strengthened the characterizations and added a surprise twist at the end, heightening the suspense throughout.

Laughton received one of the film’s six Oscar nominations as Best Actor for his delightfully animated portrayal. Elsa Lanchester as the barrister’s no-nonsense nurse afforded comic relief and copped a supporting actress nod. Wilder nabbed the sixth of his eight career directing nominations.

The film was a critical and commercial hit, with Bosley Crowther of The New York Times applauding “Wilder’s splendid staging of some splintering courtroom scenes and a first-rate theatrical performance by Charles Laughton.”

Audiences at the time were aghast and delighted by the film’s wicked surprise ending, which they were urged to keep secret. Even the film’s cast did not know the ending until the last day of shooting. Both films were later cited in the all-time top ten of the AFI’s Courtroom Dramas category.

The Twofer Tuesdays double feature of 12 ANGRY MEN (shows at 5:15 pm and 9:35 pm) and WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION (shows at 7:15 pm) plays May 2 at three Laemmle locations: Ahrya Fine Arts, NoHo 7, and Pasadena Playhouse 7.

55th Anniversary Screening of Akira Kurosawa’s YOJIMBO on 4/19 in Encino, Pasadena, and West LA

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Kurosawa’s YOJIMBO (1962) screens Wednesday, April 19, at 7PM in West LA, Encino, and Pasadena. Presented on Blu-ray. Click here for tickets.

Laemmle Theatres and Anniversary Classics Abroad present a 55th anniversary screening of Akira Kurosawa’s YOJIMBO, a vivid tongue-in-cheek samurai Western. Kurosawa’s favorite actor, Toshiro Mifune, plays an amoral samurai in 19th century Japan. In a setup reminiscent of many classic Westerns (Shane in particular), Mifune’s Sanjuro strides into town and tries to reconcile a battle between two warring factions. But in this case both of the gangs are equally corrupt, and our hero is no more upright. He eventually wreaks havoc on all the combatants. The swordfights have visceral force, and the violence is always leavened with humor. As Pauline Kael wrote, “Yojimbo is a glorious comedy-satire of force… explosively comic and exhilarating.”

The film also proved to be enormously influential to a later generation of filmmakers. It inspired another perfectly amoral Western, Sergio Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars, in which Clint Eastwood’s The Man With No Name became the spaghetti Western equivalent of the cheeky samurai killer. Later directors Walter Hill and Quentin Tarantino also cited Yojimbo as an influence.

YOJIMBO is the second installment in our Anniversary Classics Abroad series, presented on the third Wednesday of each month. The series continues with Pietro Germi’s DIVORCE ITALIAN STYLE on May 17 and Ingmar Bergman’s SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT on June 21.

For more about our Anniversary Classics Series, visit www.laemmle.com/ac and join our Facebook Group.

TOMORROW Screenings All Over L.A. County Next Week.

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Next week we’ll begin screenings of the César Award winner for Best Documentary, TOMORROW. It is a galvanizing film that showcases alternative and creative ways of viewing agriculture, economics, energy and education and offers constructive solutions to act on a local level to make a difference on a global level. The co-director, Cyril Dion, will be in attendance for a Q&A after the April 18 screening at the Monica Film Center and we’ll begin a limited engagement on April 21 at the Music Hall with Saturday/Sunday morning shows at the Claremont 5 and Playhouse 7. Mr. Dion will participate in a Q&A after the 7 PM screening at the Music Hall on Friday, April 21. TOMORROW tries to encourage local communities around the world to change the way they live for the sake of our planet.
https://vimeo.com/201669535
Mélanie Laurent

TRACKTOWN Q&A’s with Olympian Alexi Pappas Opening Weekend at the Monica Film Center.

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TRACKTOWN co-writer/co-director/star/Olympic athlete Alexi Pappas and co-writer/co-director Jeremy Teicher will participate in a Q&A’s after the evening screening at the Monica Film Center, on Thursday, May 11. Exact time TBA.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA8bZ931IR0

LITTLE BOXES ~ Opening Night Q&A at the Music Hall.

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LITTLE BOXES actor Armani Jackson, costume designer Charlese Antoinette, and composer Kris Bowers will introduce and take questions before the 9:55 PM screening at the Music Hall on Friday, April 14.

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

VINCE GIORDANO: THERE’S A FUTURE IN THE PAST Q&A’s with the Filmmaker and Mr. Giordano.

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We open VINCE GIORDANO: THERE’S A FUTURE IN THE PAST April 14 at the Music Hall. Vince Giordano + filmmakers Dave Davidson & Amber Edwards in person @ Friday, April 14 7:40 show and & Saturday, April 15 2:40pm and 7:40pm shows.

https://vimeo.com/191079446

45th Anniversary Screening of THE RULING CLASS with Director Peter Medak in Person April 25th in West LA.

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Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 45th anniversary screening of THE RULING CLASS starring Peter O’Toole followed by a Q&A with director Peter Medak on Tuesday, April 25th at 7 PM at the Royal Theatre in West Los Angeles. Presented on DVD. Click here for tickets.

This biting black comedy, in the tradition of such British classics as Kind Hearts and Coronets, focuses on a fierce battle for succession within an aristocratic family. Peter O’Toole plays a paranoid schizophrenic nobleman who believes himself to be Jesus Christ. When he is elevated to a top position, his relatives scheme to have him declared insane. O’Toole called the film, adapted from Peter Barnes’ play, “a comedy with tragic relief.” In addition to O’Toole, who earned an Oscar nomination for his vibrant performance, the cast of superb British thespians includes Alastair Sim, Arthur Lowe, Harry Andrews, Coral Browne, and Caroline Seymour.


Leonard Maltin called the film a “hilarious, irreverent black comedy…overflowing with crazy ideas, people bursting into song, boisterously funny characterizations, and one-and-only Sim as befuddled bishop.” Time magazine’s Jay Cocks had high praise for the film’s star: “Funny, disturbing, finally devastating, O’Toole finds his way into the workings of madness.” Over the years since its release, the film has turned into a cult classic.

Peter Medak directed such films as Negatives with Glenda Jackson, A Day in the Death of Joe Egg with Alan Bates and Janet Suzman, The Changeling with George C. Scott, the popular spoof, Zorro: The Gay Blade, and two acclaimed British crime stories, The Krays and Let Him Have It.

For more about our Anniversary Classics Series, visit www.laemmle.com/ac and join our Facebook Group.

Q&A’s with the GOD KNOWS WHERE I AM Filmmakers this Weekend at the Monica Film Center.

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GOD KNOWS WHERE I AM filmmakers Jedd Wider and Todd Wider will participate in Q&A’s at the Monica Film Center after the 7:20 PM shows on Friday and Saturday, April 7 and 8 and after the 4:50 show on Sunday, April 9.

https://vimeo.com/155436707