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35th Anniversary Screenings of THE MAKIOKA SISTERS on Wednesday, August 22 in Encino, Pasadena, and West LA

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Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present the latest offering in our Anniversary Classics Abroad program, Kon Ichikawa’s poignant family drama, THE MAKIOKA SISTERS.

One of the great Japanese masters, Ichikawa is perhaps less widely celebrated than his countrymen Kurosawa, Mizoguchi, and Ozu. He began directing features in the 1940s, and his films The Burmese Harp, Fires on the Plain, Tokyo Olympiad, and others found passionate critical defenders.

One of his later films, THE MAKIOKA SISTERS, is adapted from a popular Japanese novel by Junichiro Tanizaki and follows the fortunes of four sisters from a wealthy family in Osaka. Set in the 1930s on the eve of World War II, the film stars Keiko Kishi, Yoshiko Sakuma, Sayuri Yoshinaga, and Yuko Kotegawa as the orphaned sisters, heirs in a wealthy manufacturing family. Their marriages and romantic relationships are a source of tension and jealousy.

The sumptuous art direction and costume design help to create the lush atmosphere of the film. Reviewing the film at the time of its American release, the Los Angeles Times’s Kevin Thomas called it “exquisitely, subtly sensual.”

John Powers of the L.A. Weekly agreed that “this is an uncommonly vibrant and beautiful film.”

And the New Yorker’s Pauline Kael called it “the most pleasurable movie I’ve seen in several months…the rich colors, the darkness, the low-key lighting—they’re intoxicating.”

THE MAKIOKA SISTERS (1983) screens on Wednesday, August 22, at 7pm in Encino, Pasadena, and West LA. Click here for tickets.

Format: Blu-ray

Cary Grant Double Feature on August 14th in NoHo, Pasadena, and West LA

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Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a tribute to one of most popular stars in Hollywood history, Cary Grant, in two of his most entertaining movies.

The program, part of the Twofer Tuesday series of double bills (two-for-the-price-of one) features a 55th anniversary screening of CHARADE (1963) paired with a 70th anniversary screening of MR. BLANDINGS BUILDS HIS DREAM HOUSE (1948) at three Laemmle locations: the Royal, NoHo 7 and Playhouse 7.

Cary Grant is remembered for his elegance, casualness and charm As writer Tom Wolfe once put it, he is “consummately romantic and consummately genteel.” These two movies showcase all the facets of his timeless appeal.

MR. BLANDINGS BUILDS HIS DREAM HOUSE is a genial comedy adapted from a novel by Eric Hodges (screenplay by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama) about a married advertising executive (Grant) with two daughters in post-WWII Manhattan who decides to leave the crowded city for the country life.

Myrna Loy, one of the popular female stars of Hollywood’s Golden Age, plays his disarming wife and, according to Leonard Maltin, “no one ever described room colors better than Loy!” Melvyn Douglas plays a “friend of the family” who causes comic complications for Grant.

Directed by H.C. Potter (‘The Farmer’s Daughter’) with black-and-white cinematography by the great James Wong Howe, the film was the inspiration for the Tom Hanks’s 1986 comedy ‘The Money Pit.’

CHARADE is a tongue-in-cheek thriller set in Paris with Audrey Hepburn as a recent widow being pursued by villainous thugs for a cache of stolen money involving her murdered husband.

Grant plays an American stranger allegedly “helping” Hepburn. Stylishly directed by Stanley Donen (‘Singin’ in the Rain,’ ‘Two for the Road’) and written by Peter Stone (‘1776,’ ‘The Taking of Pelham One Two Three’) and Marc Behm, the film is a cross between screwball black comedy and Hitchcockian suspense.

Bosley Crowther of the New York Times called it “a fast-moving urbane entertainment,” with Variety citing Grant as the “suave master of romantic banter.” Grant and Hepburn make for a delightful team, and a terrific supporting cast features turns by three future Oscar winners, all in the supporting actor category: Walter Matthau, James Coburn and George Kennedy.

The Oscar-nominated music (Best Song) is by Henry Mancini. The film was a smash hit in 1963, and kept Grant in the top ten box office stars poll that year.

We present the Twofer Tuesday Cary Grant double bill as a refreshing movie tonic to help beat the summer heat. MR. BLANDINGS BUILDS HIS DREAM HOUSE plays at 5:00 pm and 9:30 pm; CHARADE at 7:00 pm on Tuesday, August 14 at the Royal, NoHo 7 and Playhouse 7.

Click here to buy tickets for the 5:00pm MR. BLANDINGS with the 7:00pm, CHARADE included. Click here to buy tickets for the 7:00pm CHARADE with the 9:30pm MR. BLANDINGS included.

CHARADE Format: DCP
MR. BLANDINGS Format: DVD

The Grand Opening of the Laemmle Glendale is Set for Friday, August 3rd!

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Laemmle Theatres is pleased to announce the Friday, August 3rd opening of the Laemmle Glendale, a five-screen movie theater located in a mixed-use project one block off Brand Boulevard behind the historic Alex Theatre. Located at the corner of Wilson & Maryland, the Laemmle Glendale will add to Downtown Glendale’s dynamic arts and entertainment district, home to such local institutions as the Antaeus Theatre Company and the Museum of Neon Art. The neighborhood also includes classic restaurants like Carousel and Porto’s Bakery & Cafe.

The Laemmle Glendale will feature a blend of programming, combining our signature art house cinema with the best of Hollywood. In addition, event cinema including opera, recorded concerts, stage productions, and repertory cinema will be part of the mix.

As Laemmle has been doing since 2014, the Laemmle Glendale will feature an Art in the Arthouse gallery in the theater lobby. The opening artist is local painter Raymond Logan.

The Laemmle Glendale will have stadium seating with ample leg room and all-digital projection. Along with popcorn and soda, the concession stand will serve a robust food menu, along with locally-sourced craft beer and hand-curated wines.

As with all Laemmle venues, the theatre will have reasonable ticket prices and easy access to discounted ticket options.

“We are excited to bring a Laemmle theater to booming Glendale for the first time and offer filmic opportunities to moviegoers of the Jewel City and their neighbors in Atwater Village, Eagle Rock, Los Feliz and Silver Lake,” said Laemmle Theatres President, Greg Laemmle. “As L.A.’s population continues to grow and it becomes more daunting to get from one place to another, we are committed to making it more convenient for people who want to see fine films in a theatrical setting.”


The Laemmle Glendale is part of the “L Lofts” Glendale, which includes 42 units of fully leased housing and the Panda Restaurant Group’s Panda Inn Test Kitchen, a premium Panda experience to augment the neighborhood’s other superlative restaurants.

The Laemmle Glendale will be managed by long-time Laemmle employee Cassie Gratton. After serving as one of the pillars of the Playhouse 7 in Pasadena, she opened the Claremont 5 Theater in 2007 and has served as its GM ever since. She said: “I am excited to meet and share with the community the new direction Laemmle Theatres is headed. I hope this will be a place people will be drawn to for more than a movie experience. Jewel City, here we come!”

After Glendale, the Laemmle circuit will continue to expand with the Laemmle Newhall in 2019 and just beyond that the Laemmle Azusa. Laemmle is also moving ahead with the renovation of the historic Reseda theater at Sherman Way in Reseda. With each of these projects Laemmle continues its commitment to working with local communities, supporting arts and entertainment districts, and catering to L.A.’s discerning moviegoers, something Laemmle has been doing since the founding of the company by brothers Max and Kurt Laemmle in 1938.

Laemmle Glendale
207 N. Maryland Ave.
Glendale, CA 91206

Follow @laemmleglendale on Facebook and Twitter for updates!

BULL DURHAM 30th Anniversary Screening in 35mm with Actor Robert Wuhl In Person on Tuesday, July 10th at the Ahrya Fine Arts

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Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 30th anniversary screening of Bull Durham (1988), widely considered the best sports movie ever made.

Writer-director Ron Shelton made his directorial debut with this semi-autobiographical baseball tale and romantic comedy, and he garnered an Academy Award nomination for best original screenplay. His screenplay was also judged the year’s best by the New York Film Critics, the Los Angeles Film Critics, and the Writers Guild.

At the time the film’s romantic triangle featured three future Oscar winners: Kevin Costner (Best Director, Dances With Wolves), Susan Sarandon (Best Actress, Dead Man Walking), and Tim Robbins (Best Supporting Actor, Mystic River).

Costner stars as a veteran catcher who is sent to a minor league team in Durham, North Carolina to mentor a rookie pitcher played by Robbins. They both encounter a “baseball groupie” and earth mother (Sarandon), who chooses the best player each year as her romantic partner, also acting as an unconventional muse for the team. This arrangement leads to a romantic rivalry when Sarandon selects Robbins as her lover and both she and Costner attempt to season the immature pitcher for the major leagues.

Writer-director Shelton (White Men Can’t Jump, Tin Cup) drew on his own experience as a baseball player in the minor leagues, and that authenticity impressed both the critics and sports fans. In 2003 Sports Illustrated ranked it the greatest sports movie of all time.

Among the critical acclaim, Vincent Canby in the New York Times wrote of tyro director Shelton, “This is one first-rate debut.” Newsweek’s David Ansen said the film “works equally as a love story, a baseball fable and a comedy while ignoring the clichés of each genre.”

Hal Hinson in the Washington Post found the film “limber, funny and in touch with the pleasures of the flesh as it is with the pleasures of the game.” The film co-stars Trey Wilson and, as the pitching coach, Robert Wuhl, our special guest for this screening.

Robert Wuhl is an actor, comedian and writer who was also featured in two other films by Ron Shelton, Blaze and Cobb. In addition he was the creator and star of the TV series Arli$$, and won two Emmys for writing Oscar shows hosted by Billy Crystal.

The 30th anniversary of Bull Durham will be presented in a special 35mm screening on Tuesday, July 10 at 7:30 PM at the Ahrya Fine Arts in Beverly Hills. Co-star Robert Wuhl will participate in a Q&A after the screening. Click here for tickets.

‘Everybody Loves Denzel’ Every Throwback Thursday in July at the NoHo 7!

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Every Throwback Thursday in July, we’re celebrating one of the most critically claimed actors of all time, Denzel Washington! We’re calling it ‘Everybody Loves Denzel!’ His latest film, THE EQUALIZER 2, opens July 19th.

Our Throwback Thursday (#TBT) series is presented in partnership with Eat|See|Hear every Thursday at 7:30pm at the NoHo 7 in North Hollywood. Check out the full schedule below. For tickets and our full #TBT schedule, visit laemmle.com/tbt.

July 5: Glory (1989)

Denzel earned his second Academy Award nomination and first win for this role as a soldier in one of the first all-black regiments in the Union Army. Matthew Broderick, Morgan Freeman, Andre Braugher, and Carey Elwes also star. Format: DCP. Click here for tickets.

July 12: Malcolm X (1992)

MALCOLM X is Spike Lee’s biographical epic of the civil rights leader, from his early life and career as a small-time gangster, to his political awakening in prison, his ministry as a member of the Nation of Islam and his reawakening upon visiting Mecca. Denzel was nominated for his third Academy Award, his first for a leading role. The cast includes Angela Bassett, Albert Hall, Al Freeman, Jr., and Delroy Lindo. Look for cameos by Nelson Mandela and Black Panther Party co-founder Bobby Seale. Format: Blu-ray. Click here for tickets.

July 19: Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)

In this American neo-noir set in post-war Los Angeles, Denzel Washington plays Easy Rawlins, a recently laid off veteran who decides to become a private investigator. Hired to find a missing woman, he gets mixed up in a murderous political scandal. Based on the novel by Walter Mosely. Don Cheadle and Jennifer Beals also star. Format: DCP. Click here for tickets.

July 26: Training Day (2001)

On his first day on the job as a Los Angeles narcotics officer, a rookie LAPD cop (Ethan Hawke) goes beyond a full work day along side a rogue detective (Denzel Washington). Denzel won the Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of Detective Alonzo Harris, earning his fifth, out of eight, acting nominations. The film also stars Eva Mendes, Scott Glenn, Dr. Dre, and Snoop Dogg. Format: Blu-ray. Click here for tickets.

50th Anniversary Screening of OLIVER! with Actress Shani Wallis In Person on July 15 in Beverly Hills

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Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 50th anniversary screening of the Oscar-winning Best Picture of 1968, OLIVER!, the much-loved film version of Lionel Bart’s hit stage musical.

The movie was nominated for 11 Academy Awards and won six, also including Best Director Carol Reed and a special award for choreographer Onna White. Reed, the acclaimed British director of such classic films as The Third Man and The Fallen Idol, had been working since the 1930s and finally received the Academy’s top honor for this late work.

Charles Dickens’ iconic 19th century novel, Oliver Twist, the heart-rending tale of an orphan who falls in with a band of thieves in London, has been filmed many times over the years; the first version was done in the silent era, and David Lean directed a brilliant rendition in 1948, with Alec Guinness as Fagin.

In 1960 Lionel Bart wrote the book, music, and lyrics for a musical theater version of the novel which scored an enormous success in London and later in New York. Ron Moody, who had played the part of Fagin in London, reprised his role for the film version, and the cast also included Shani Wallis as Nancy, Jack Wild as the Artful Dodger, Oliver Reed (the director’s nephew) as the villainous Bill Sikes, Oscar-winner Hugh Griffith as the Magistrate, and charming newcomer Mark Lester as Oliver.

The 1960s was a great decade for movie musicals, with three earlier films—West Side Story, My Fair Lady, and The Sound of Music—scoring Best Picture wins. OLIVER!, however, turned out to be the last musical film to win the Academy’s top award until Chicago took the prize 34 years later. Reed’s film earned outstanding reviews from most critics. Roger Ebert declared, “Sir Carol Reed’s Oliver! is a treasure of a movie.”

Pauline Kael also admired Reed’s achievement: “Oliver! has been made by people who know how; it’s a civilized motion picture, not only emotionally satisfying but so satisfyingly crafted that we can sit back and enjoy what is going on…there’s something restorative about a movie that is made for a mass audience and that respects that audience.”

Kael also had high praise for the performers. “As Nancy,” Kael wrote, “Shani Wallis is an unexpected pleasure—hearty (as Dickens described her), with a tough vitality that brings poignancy to the role.” Wallis got to perform some of Bart’s best songs, including the rousing “It’s A Fine Life” and the romantic ballad, “As Long As He Needs Me.” Wallis has had an extensive career performing in musical theater and in nightclubs, and she also has many credits in British and American television.

Our 50th anniversary screening OLIVER! (1968) plus Q&A with actress Shani Wallis is Sunday, July 15, at 3pm at the Ahrya Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills. Click here for tickets.

Milos Forman’s THE FIREMEN’S BALL Screens Tuesday, June 26 in Encino, Pasadena, and West L.A.! Q&A with Co-Screenwriter Ivan Passer at the Royal.

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In conjunction with an American Cinematheque tribute to the late Oscar-winning director Milos Forman, Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 50th anniversary screening of Forman’s final Czech film, THE FIREMEN’S BALL. The picture, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film of 1968, is part of our popular Anniversary Classics Abroad series. THE FIREMEN’S BALL co-screenwriter Ivan Passer will participate in a Q&A after the screening at the Royal. Laemmle Theatres president Greg Laemmle will moderate. Passer also worked with Forman on LOVES OF A BLONDE and is perhaps best known for directing the 1965 film INTIMATE LIGHTING and the 1981 film CUTTER’S WAY.

Forman was part the Czech New Wave, a group of talented filmmakers (also including Jan Kadar, Jiri Menzel, and Ivan Passer) who emerged during the 1960s. Forman’s 1966 film, Love of a Blonde, was also an Oscar nominee and put him on the map as a director to watch. His wry sensibility received even fuller expression in The Firemen’s Ball, a dark but raucous satire of the chaos that ensues when a group of local firemen try to mount a celebration for their retiring chief. Forman got the idea for the film when he was in a small Bohemian village working on another script, and he happened to attend a real firemen’s ball. The script was co-written by Forman, Ivan Passer, and Jaroslav Papousek. The cast consisted mainly of nonprofessional actors, including Jan Vostrcil, Josef Sebanek, Josef Valnoha, and Vaclav Stockel.

The film, which was widely interpreted as a sly critique of the Eastern European Communist system, was made during a brief period of artistic freedom that came to be known as the Prague Spring. But when the Soviet Union invaded Czechoslovakia in the summer of 1968, The Firemen’s Ball was banned, and Forman and other leading Czech directors fled the country. As TV Guide later wrote of the film, “This ingratiating farce is perhaps the last noteworthy film of the Czech renaissance before the political crackdown forced most filmmakers into exile.” After arriving in America, Forman went on to achieve many Hollywood successes, including One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Ragtime, and Amadeus.

Among the stellar reviews for THE FIREMEN’S BALL, Time magazine acclaimed “a delicious parody-fable of Slavic bureaucracy,” and Variety paid tribute to “a lively, brimming comedy on human conduct and small-town life.” In his four-star review, Roger Ebert added, “This is a very warm, funny movie.”

This Just In: Co-screenwriter Ivan Passer will participate in a Q&A after the June 26 screening at the Royal. Laemmle Theatres president Greg Laemmle will moderate. Passer also worked with Forman on LOVES OF A BLONDE and is perhaps best known for directing the 1965 film INTIMATE LIGHTING and the 1981 film CUTTER’S WAY.

Milos Forman’s THE FIREMEN’S BALL (1968) screens Tuesday, June 26, at 7:00pm in Encino, Pasadena, and West L.A. Click here for tickets.

55th Anniversary Screening of IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD (1963) on Father’s Day in Beverly Hills

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Celebrate Father’s Day at the movies as Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 55th anniversary screening of an all-star comic romp, Stanley Kramer’s IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD.

After making several Oscar-winning and nominated dramas like Judgment at Nuremberg, Inherit the Wind, On the Beach, and The Defiant Ones, Kramer (the winner of the Motion Picture Academy’s prestigious Irving G. Thalberg Award) decided to shift gears and make his first slapstick comedy.

The plot revolves around the frantic and desperate search for a cache of money hidden by an ex-convict. Although the film is basically lighthearted and riotous, Kramer does throw a few pointed barbs at all-American avarice. The director recruited a gigantic cast of comedians from television and theater as well as film; these performers span several decades of Hollywood history. The leading roles are played by Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Jonathan Winters, Dick Shawn, Mickey Rooney, Buddy Hackett, Phil Silvers, Edie Adams, and Ethel Merman, with supporting and cameo roles essayed by everyone from Jimmy Durante, Buster Keaton, Jerry Lewis, and Terry-Thomas to Peter Falk, William Demarest, Barrie Chase, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, and the Three Stooges. Spencer Tracy, who had starred in Inherit the Wind and Judgment at Nuremberg for Kramer, relished the opportunity to bring off a change of pace as the detective with his own devious plans for the hidden cash.

William Rose, who later won an Oscar for writing Kramer’s Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, created the ingenious screenplay. The picture was nominated for six Academy Awards, including nods for cinematographer Ernest Laszlo (Ship of Fools) and composer Ernest Gold (Exodus). It won the Oscar for Sound Effects. Mad World was one of the top grossing films of 1963 and earned mainly positive reviews. Variety observed, “The comic competition is so keen that it is impossible to single out any one participant.” The New York Times’ Bosley Crowther concurred: “So many excellent actors and stunt men do so much in this film.”

Against Kramer’s wishes, the film was edited after its release. The Criterion Collection released a complete, restored version on Blu-ray in 2014, and this is the version that we will be screening.

Before the film, Kramer’s widow Karen and daughter Kat will participate in a Q&A along with actress Barrie Chase. Unfortunately, Chase will not be in attendance.

IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD screens at 4pm on Sunday, June 17th at the Ahrya Fine Arts in Beverly Hills. Click here for tickets.