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Jean-Luc Godard’s ALPHAVILLE Screens February 19th in Glendale, Pasadena, and West L.A.

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Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present Jean-Luc Godard’s cult favorite from 1965, the sci-fi neo-noir satire, Alphaville.  This screening is part of our popular Anniversary Classics Abroad program; this is our first tribute to the controversial but always provocative French auteur, one of the founders of the French New Wave and still something of an enfant terrible at the age of 89.

Our screening is dedicated to the memory of the incandescent star of the film, Anna Karina, who was married to Godard during the 60s and starred in many of his most popular and influential movies, including A Woman Is A Woman, Band of Outsiders, and Pierrot le Fou.

American-born Eddie Constantine plays the character of Lemmy Caution, a hard-boiled detective who had been featured in a series of European B-movies.  Godard borrowed the actor and the character for his vaguely futuristic portrayal of a mechanized society in thrall to a giant computer.

Working with the great cinematographer Raoul Coutard (who photographed many films of Godard and Francois Truffaut), Godard evoked a future world utilizing modernist glass and concrete buildings that already existed in Paris in the 1960s.

The film was compared by many critics to George Orwell’s classic dystopian novel, 1984, with allusions to Orwell’s Big Brother and misinformation campaign, Newspeak.  The dictatorial computer, Alpha 60, prefigured the sinister HAL in Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.  Other dark-tinged sci-fi movies like Blade Runner and The Terminator also demonstrated a debt to Alphaville.

In addition to Constantine and Karina, the cast included Howard Vernon and Akim Tamiroff, with cameo appearances by Christa Lang and Jean-Pierre Leaud, a key figure in the French New Wave.

The film won the top prize, the Golden Bear, at the Berlin Film Festival.  Reviews were mixed at the time, with some critics bewildered and others praising the film’s style and originality.  Over the years it has been recognized as a prophetic work in its protest of the growing dehumanization of modern life.  As the Boston Globe’s Ty Burr wrote, “Alphaville moves closer to relevance with every passing year.”  The New Yorker’s Richard Brody called it “one of the great cinematic works of romanticism.”  Time Out’s Keith Uhlich added, “Karina proves to be the beating heart of the movie.”

Our 55th anniversary presentation of ALPHAVILLE screens Wednesday, February 19 at 7pm in Glendale, Pasadena, and West L.A. Click here for tickets.

99 minutes * NR * DCP * 1965

Fellini, Godard, and Renoir Begin Our Anniversary Classics Abroad Series for 2020.

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We are delighted to announce the first four films of 2020 in our Anniversary Classics Abroad series! A companion to our American repertory film series Anniversary Classics, our Abroad program screens great foreign films one Wednesday every month at three venues simultaneously: the Royal in West L.A., the Glendale, and the Playhouse 7 in Pasadena.

Laemmle patrons with a Premiere Card save $3 on tickets and receive 20% food and drinks! Learn about the perks of our Premiere Card here.

January 22: FELLINI SATYRICON
Federico Fellini’s surreal depictions of ancient Rome is loosely based on Petronius’s Satyricon, written during the reign of the Nero and set in imperial Rome. The film is divided into nine episodes and follows the scholar Encolpius and his friend Ascyltus as they try to win the heart of the young boy Gitón, whom they both love. Roger Ebert said, “It is so much more ambitious and audacious than most of what we see today that simply as a reckless gesture, it shames these timid times.” Click here for tickets.

February 19: ALPHAVILLE
In ALPHAVILLE, Jean-Luc Godard’s hard-boiled detective/science fiction fusion, Lemmy Caution (Eddie Constantine), comes to Alphaville, the capital of a totalitarian state, in order to destroy its leader, an almost-human computer called Alpha 60. While on his mission, Lemmy meets and falls in love with Natacha (Anna Karina), the daughter of the scientist who designed Alpha 60. Their love becomes the most profound challenge to the computer’s control. Click here for tickets.

March 18: EAST/WEST
EAST/WEST, French director Regis Wargnier’s (Indochine) romantic period drama, is set in 1946 when Stalin launched a propaganda campaign offering amnesty to Russians who had settled in the West. Alexei Golovin (Oleg Menshikov) decides to takes his young French wife Marie (Sandrine Bonnaire) and son Serioja with him on the long journey back to his homeland but Stalin’s offer is not what it appeared. This 1999 Best Foreign Language nominee also stars Catherine Deneuve and Bohdan Stupka. Click here for tickets.

April 22: FRENCH CANCAN
Jean Renoir’s musical dramedy chronicles the revival of Paris’ most notorious dance as it tells the story of a theater producer who turns a humble washerwoman into a Moulin Rouge star. The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw said, “The glorious final sequence, in which the cancan is finally unveiled to the rowdy audience, is some kind of masterpiece, perhaps the equal of anything Renoir ever achieved: wild, free, turbulent, exhilarating.” Click here for tickets.

Again, we will show all Anniversary Classics Abroad films at three venues, the Royal, Playhouse, and Glendale, at 7pm. Come experience these classics of world cinema as they were intended to be experienced, on a big screen in a dark auditorium full of fellow cinephiles. Click here for full details.

Midsommar Scary Movies Every Throwback Thursday in July at the NoHo 7!

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On July 2nd we open Ari Aster’s (HEREDITARY) latest horror film MIDSOMMAR in Pasadena, Claremont, North Hollywood, and Glendale. In it an American couple discovers the horrors of a small Swedish village’s Midsommar festival held once every 90 years. We invite you to discover some midsummer scares of our own this July in North Hollywood!

Our Midsommar Scare Fest features a classic scary movie every Throwback Thursday in July at the NoHo 7! Doors open at 7pm, trivia starts at 7:30, and movies begin at 7:40pm. More details at www.laemmle.com/tbt!

You can save $3 with our EARLY BIRD SPECIAL! Tickets are only $9 (or $6 for Laemmle Premiere Card holders) if you buy them at least one week before the date of the screening!

Midsommar Scare Fest Schedule:

I Know What You Did Last Summer, July 4: Four young friends bound by a tragic accident are reunited when they find themselves being stalked by a hook-wielding maniac in their small seaside town. Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe, and Freddie Prinze Jr. star. Format: DCP.

Jaws, July 11: When a killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community, it’s up to a local sheriff, a marine biologist, and an old seafarer to hunt the beast down. Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, and Richard Dreyfuss star. Format: DCP.

Friday the 13th, July 18: A group of camp counselors are stalked and murdered by an unknown assailant while trying to reopen a summer camp which, years before, was the site of a child’s drowning. Format: DCP.


The Wicker Man, July 25: A police sergeant is sent to a Scottish island village in search of a missing girl who the townsfolk claim never existed. Stranger still are the residents’ pagan rites. Edward Woodward and Christopher Lee star. Format: DCP.

Jarmusch in June Every Throwback Thursday Next Month at the NoHo 7!

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Excited about Jim Jarmusch’s new zombie-comedy THE DEAD DON’T DIE opening June 14th in Pasadena, NoHo, and Claremont? We are, too! So much so that we’re diving into the iconic filmmaker’s back catalog for June’s Throwback Thursday series!

Our Jarmusch in June Throwback Thursday series screens every Thursday evening at our NoHo 7 theater. Doors open at 7pm, trivia starts at 7:30, and movies begin at 7:40pm. More details at www.laemmle.com/tbt!

You can save $3 with our EARLY BIRD SPECIAL! Tickets are only $9 (or $6 for Laemmle Premiere Card holders) if you buy them at least one week before the date of the screening!

Jarmusch in June Schedule:

Stranger Than Paradise, June 6: A low-key avante-garde comedy about a trio of misfits — an everyday guy, his Hungarian cousin, and his geeky best friend — and their misadventures in New York, Cleveland, and Florida. John Lurie, Eszter Balint, Richard Edson, and Cecillia Stark star. The National Society of Film Critics voted Stranger Than Paradise Best Picture of 1984. Format: DCP.

Down by Law, June 13: Jarmusch followed up Stranger Than Paradise with another rambling, character-driven film with a twisted sense of humor. Set in a seedy New Orleans summer, Down By Law details the meeting of three unlikely convicts and their just-as-unlikely escape. Starring Tom Waits, John Lurie, Roberto Benigni, Nicoletta Braschi, and Ellen Barkin. Format: DCP.

Mystery Train, June 20: This deadpan triptych takes place over the course of an evening in a tacky, low-rent Memphis motel dedicated to Elvis Presley visited by Japanese tourists, criminals on the run, and the spirit of the King himself. Youki Kudoh, Masatoshi Nagase, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Cinqué Lee, Nicoletta Braschi, Elizabeth Bracco, Rick Aviles, Joe Strummer, and Steve Buscemi star. Format: DCP.


Dead Man, June 27: In Jarmusch’s psychedelic western, an accountant on the run for murdering a man encounters a strange North American man named Nobody who prepares him for his journey into the spiritual world. The cast includes Johnny Depp, Gary Farmer, Crispin Glover, Iggy Pop, Billy Bob Thornton, Gabriel Byrne, John Hurt, Alfred Molina, and Robert Mitchum. Neil Young improvised the soundtrack while watching the freshly edited film. Format: DCP.

Sixtieth Anniversary Screenings of Ingmar Bergman’s WILD STRAWBERRIES on May 15 in Glendale, Pasadena, and West LA.

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Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present this month’s installment in our Anniversary Classics Abroad program: one of the most revered of all foreign films, Ingmar Bergman’s WILD STRAWBERRIES. Indeed, Leonard Maltin hailed the film as “Still a staple of any serious filmgoer’s education,” and he added, “Superb use of flashbacks and brilliant performance by (Victor) Sjostrom make this Bergman classic an emotional powerhouse.” It was nominated for the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay of 1959 and also earned the top prize, the Golden Bear, at the Berlin Film Festival.

Sjostrom, a revered Swedish actor and also an acclaimed director who helmed memorable silent films with American stars Lon Chaney and Lillian Gish during the 1920s, capped his career with his moving performance as Professor Isak Borg, a distinguished physician who re-evaluates his life while driving from Stockholm to Lund to receive an honorary degree. On his journey he is haunted by memories and dreams that illuminate his inner life with trenchant insight. Indeed Wild Strawberries was one of the seminal films that changed cinematic grammar by introducing non-linear storytelling to discriminating audiences during the late 1950s.

The supporting cast includes many of Bergman’s favorite actors, including Bibi Andersson (in a dual role as a hitchhiker and as Isak’s first love), Gunnel Lindblom, Gunnar Bjornstrand, and Max von Sydow in a cameo role. Reviews of the film were enthusiastic at the time, and critics continued to exalt Bergman’s achievement in later years. Variety raved, “It’s a personal and profound work.” Tom Dawson of the BBC said, “This is one of the truly outstanding works of post-war European cinema.” And Pauline Kael commented, “Few movies give us such memorable, emotion-charged images.”

This film also had a strong influence on other directors. In a 1963 interview with Cinema magazine, Stanley Kubrick listed Wild Strawberries as his second favorite film of all time. Woody Allen paid homage in several of his movies, including Stardust Memories and Crimes and Misdemeanors.

WILD STRAWBERRIES screens at 7 PM on Wednesday, May 15 at Laemmle theaters in Glendale, Pasadena, and West LA. Click here for tickets.

Format: DCP

‘After Death April’ Every Throwback Thursday in April at the NoHo

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Spring. A time of rebirth. But not at the NoHo 7! Join us as we explore the great beyond with four tales of the hereafter each Throwback Thursday in April!

Our Throwback Thursday series screens every Thursday evening at our NoHo 7 theater. Doors open at 7pm, trivia starts at 7:30, and movies begin at 7:40pm. More details at www.laemmle.com/tbt!

Defending Your Life, April 4: Albert Brooks wrote, directed, and stars in this philosophical comedy about a man having a hard time making a case for himself in the afterlife. Co-starring Meryl Streep. Format: DVD.

Beetlejuice, April 11: Newlyweds killed in a freak auto accident employ the help of shady “bio-exorcist” to scare away the living occupants of their former home. Starring Michael Keaton, Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, and Winona Ryder. Format: DCP.

The Sixth Sense, April 18: An eight-year-old cursed with the ability to see ghosts is paired with a child psychologist determined to bring him peace. Directed by M. Night Shyamalan and starring Bruce Willis and Haley Joel Osment. Format: Blu-ray.


The Crow, April 25: Musician Eric Draven (Brandon Lee) and his fiancé are brutally murdered the day before their Halloween wedding. One year later, a crow taps on Draven’s grave stone awakening him to seek vengeance on the gangsters responsible. Format: DCP.

March Melness: A Mel Brooks Favorite Every Throwback Thursday in North Hollywood

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Some things just go together—like peanut butter and jelly, rum and coke, rama lama lama ka dinga da dinga dong. And, of course, who could forget the classic pairing of college basketball and Mel Brooks? Unlike March Madness, you won’t need to track 68 NCAA teams. In our March Melness Throwback Thursday series we’ve already narrowed it down to our Final Four: The Producers on March 7, Blazing Saddles on March 14, Young Frankenstein on March 21, and Spaceballs on March 28.

Our Throwback Thursday series screens every Thursday evening at our NoHo 7 theater. Doors open at 7pm, trivia starts at 7:30, and movies begin at 7:40pm. More details at www.laemmle.com/tbt!

The Producers, March 7: Failing producer Max Bialystock and his accountant, Leo Bloom, scam a group of elderly women out of their nest eggs by convincing them to invest in a horrendously offensive Third Reich-themed musical secretly intended to bomb the moment it opens. But when high-brow Broadway audiences mistakenly assume “Springtime for Hitler” is a satire, Bialystock finds himself with the critical acclaim that has long eluded him… and the biggest hit of his career. Format: DCP.

Blazing Saddles, March 14: Vulgar, crude, and occasionally scandalous in its racial humor, this hilarious bad-taste spoof of Western features Cleavon Little as the first black sheriff of a stunned town scheduled for demolition by an encroaching railroad. Format: DCP.

Young Frankenstein, March 21: In this spoof of Mary Shelley’s gothic novel, the grandson of Victor Frankenstein, a neurosurgeon, has spent his life living down the legend of his grandfather, even changing the pronunciation of his name. When he discovers his grandfather’s diary, he begins to feel differently, and returns to the family castle to satisfy his curiosity by replicating his ancestor’s experiments. In the process, he creates one very unique monster. Format: DCP.


Spaceballs, March 28: In a distant galaxy, planet Spaceball has depleted its air supply, leaving its citizens reliant on a product called “Perri-Air.” In desperation, Spaceball’s leader President Skroob orders the evil Dark Helmet to kidnap Princess Vespa of oxygen-rich Druidia and hold her hostage in exchange for air. But help arrives for the Princess in the form of renegade space pilot Lone Starr and his half-man, half-dog partner, Barf. Format: DCP.

It’s Time for Our Annual Predict the Oscars Contest!

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With the 91st Academy Awards right around the corner, it’s time for our annual Predict the Oscars Contest! The person who most accurately predicts the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science’s choices in all 24 categories, from the shorts to Best Picture, will win fabulous prizes (free movies and concessions at Laemmle)!

First place wins a Laemmle Premiere Card worth $150. Second place wins a Laemmle Premiere Card worth $100. Third place wins a Laemmle Premiere Card worth $50. Entries are due by 10AM the morning of the awards ceremony on February 24th.

prem-blogNot sure what a Laemmle Premiere Card is? Think of it like a prepaid gift card for yourself! Use it to pay for movie tickets and concessions. Plus, Premiere Card holders receive $3 off movie tickets and 20% off concessions. To find out more, visit www.laemmle.com/premiere-cards.

We’ve got some smart cookies for customers so we have a tie-breaker question: you also have to guess the show’s running time. Take the tie-breaker seriously! In 2016, the running time question broke a tie between five entrants who correctly predicted 19 out of 24 categories!

We’ll announce the winners right here on our blog by February 26th. Good luck!

*One entry per person. One winner per household.

Click Here to Enter