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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.

LAEMMLE LIVE presents Musicians of Orchestra Santa Monica July 15

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Join us as LAEMMLE LIVE proudly presents musicians from Orchestra Santa Monica at the Monica Film Center July 15. Lisa Kohorn-clarinet, Larry Kohorn and Cindy Bandel-violins, Brooke Wharton-viola, Eran Marcus-cello perform Alexander Krein Jewish Sketches #1, op. 12 and Johannes Brahms Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115  for clarinet in A with String Quartet.

Founded in 2012, Orchestra Santa Monica (OSM) has already established itself as an important civic institution, providing Santa Monica and its surrounding communities with a first-class orchestra which presents accessibly-priced concerts. In addition to innovative programming and compelling interpretations of the classical and contemporary repertoires, outstanding local composers and soloists are featured in OSM’s programs and reflect the musical diversity of the cultures present in Los Angeles County. Beyond its regular full orchestra concert programming, OSM brings musical outreach to the community through performances by smaller music ensembles at venues like the Miles Playhouse and the Laemmle. Furthermore, educational outreach to young people is an especially important OSM priority. Each year the OSM Woodwind Quintet plays in local Title I schools where the children have little access to classical music. Tom O’Connor is Executive Director and Julia Tranner is Communications Coordinator.  www.OrchestraSantaMonica.org

Event Details
Sunday, July 15, 2018
11:00 am
Monica Film Center

This is a Free Event
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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.

THE DEER HUNTER with Actor John Savage In Person on Tuesday, May 29 at the Ahrya Fine Arts in Beverly Hills

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On the day after Memorial Day, Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present one of the greatest of all war films, Oscar’s Best Picture of 1978, THE DEER HUNTER.

Actor John Savage will participate in a Q&A at the 40th anniversary screening on Tuesday, May 29th at 7:15pm at the Ahrya Fine Arts theater in Beverly Hills. Click here for tickets.

The film won four other Oscars, including Best Director for Michael Cimino and Best Supporting Actor for Christopher Walken. Robert De Niro earned a nomination for Best Actor, and Meryl Streep earned her very first nomination for her performance in the film. Deric Washburn wrote the screenplay from a story that he created with Cimino, Louis Garfinkle, and Quinn Redeker. Master cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond shot the film, and Peter Zinner was the editor.

This epic vision of working class America follows three steelworkers from Pennsylvania as they journey halfway across the world to fight in Vietnam. De Niro, Walken, and John Savage play the three best friends. The first hour of the film immerses us in the routines of their lives as they prepare for the wedding of Savage’s character.

In the second section the three friends find themselves in a North Vietnamese prison camp, where they endure horrific physical and psychological torture before making a heroic escape.

In the third section, they try to readjust to life back home but find this re-entry just as traumatic as their wartime experiences. George Dzundza and John Cazale (who played Fredo in the first two ‘Godfather’ films and who died before the release of THE DEER HUNTER) round out the cast.

Roger Ebert praised “one of the most emotionally shattering films ever made.” In Newsweek Jack Kroll wrote, “THE DEER HUNTER is a film of great courage and overwhelming emotional power, a fiercely loving embrace of life in a death-ridden time.” The Wall Street Journal’s Joy Gould Boyum declared, “It is one of the boldest and most brilliant American films in recent years.”

Frank Rich, then the critic for Time magazine, added, “De Niro, Walken, John Savage…and Meryl Streep are all top actors in an extraordinary film.” In addition to its Oscars, the film was named best picture of the year by the New York Film Critics Circle.

The film was also greeted by protests by some activists who felt that the movie falsified the complexities of the Vietnam War and demonized the North Vietnamese. But Cimino argued persuasively that the film was intended to belong to an antiwar tradition that went back to one of the very first Oscar-winning films, ‘All Quiet on the Western Front.’ The film was added to the National Film Registry in 1996, an honor reserved for films deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.”

John Savage had his first important screen role in THE DEER HUNTER, and he went on to star in Milos Forman’s film of the classic counterculture musical, ‘Hair,’ in the film version of Joseph Wambaugh’s best-selling novel, ‘The Onion Field,’ Richard Donner’s ‘Inside Moves,’ Oliver Stone’s ‘Salvador,’ ‘The Godfather Part III,’ Spike Lee’s ‘Do the Right Thing’ and ‘Summer of Sam.’ He also distinguished himself in the theater, playing in the original production of David Mamet’s ‘American Buffalo,’ among other roles. In addition to many TV appearances, he has worked as a producer and composer as well as an actor.

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LAEMMLE LIVE presents Los Angeles Youth Orchestra Chamber Players June 3

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Join us on June 3 as LAEMMLE LIVE proudly presents chamber players from The Los Angeles Youth Orchestra at the Monica Film Center. LAYO is comprised of pre-college age musicians from greater Los Angeles who rehearse and perform classical symphonic masterworks and contemporary music. Collective talent, intellectual curiosity, and discipline are key to student performances of programs that model professional orchestras, more than conventional youth orchestras.

Each season, the Los Angeles Youth Orchestra serves over 120 student musicians, ages 8-18, who hail from 60 different public and private schools. In addition to studying privately and attending weekly orchestra rehearsals, many of these students give back to their communities by teaching music to younger students, volunteering at hospitals, writing columns for their school and local newspapers, and excelling in their academic and athletic pursuits. LAYO rehearses at the Encino Community Center on Sunday afternoons and regularly performs at UCLA Schoenberg Hall and Ambassador Auditorium. LAYO has also appeared at Walt Disney Concert Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, and Carnegie Hall. The orchestra toured internationally to Vienna and Prague in 2015 and in June 2017, completed a nine-day performance tour to Italy, presenting concerts at the Arvedi Auditorium in Cremona; Terme Tettuccio in Montecatini; and Sant’Agnese in Agone in Rome. Many of the orchestra’s alumni have gone on to prestigious universities including Juilliard, Cornell, Berklee College of Music, UCLA, USC, Harvard and New England Conservatory. For more information regarding auditions and concerts, visit our website at www.losangelesyouthorchestra.org.

Event Details
Sunday, June 3, 2018
11:00 am
Monica Film Center

This is a Free Event
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TWOFER TUESDAY: 65th Anniversary Screenings of Two Marilyn Monroe Classics June 5th in Pasadena, North Hollywood, and West LA

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Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics series present a tribute to one of the greatest stars in film history, Marilyn Monroe, during her birthday month of June. The program, part of our Twofer Tuesday series, features two of Monroe’s most popular movies—GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES and HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE, both from 1953.

‘Blondes’ is an adaptation of the 1949 stage musical by Anita Loos and Joseph Fields, based on a 1925 novel by Loos, one of the first women writers to score a success in Hollywood as well as on Broadway. It tells the story of two showgirls and best friends, played by Monroe and fellow screen siren Jane Russell. Marilyn plays the endearing gold-digger, Lorelei Lee.

Master director Howard Hawks, who excelled in several genres, proved just as adept in his first and only screen musical. Charles Lederer, the writer of such films as Hawks’ ‘His Girl Friday’ and ‘I Was a Male War Bride,’ freely adapted the stage play. Hawks retained some of the songs by Jule Styne and Leo Robin, especially the show’s signature number, “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend,” choreographed by Jack Cole and sizzlingly performed by Monroe in a bright pink dress. But he added new songs by Hoagy Carmichael and Harold Adamson, including a classic campy number (also choreographed by Cole) with muscle-bound athletes around a swimming pool. Monroe and Russell are ably supported by Oscar winner Charles Coburn (as a lecherous diamond magnate), Tommy Noonan and Elliott Reid.

According to Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian, “Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell make a fantastic double act in Howard Hawks’ sparkling 1953 comedy.” The New Yorker’s Richard Brody wrote, “Jack Cole’s choreography offers some of the most incisively swinging musical numbers ever filmed.” Dave Kehr of The Chicago Reader added, “The opening shot—Russell and Monroe in sequins standing against a screaming red drape—is enough to knock you out of your seat, and the audacity barely lets up from there… a landmark encounter in the battle of the sexes.”

‘How to Marry a Millionaire’ opened later in 1953 and teamed Monroe with two other screen bombshells, Betty Grable (the top pin-up girl of the 1940s), and Lauren Bacall, who seared the screen when she co-starred with her husband-to-be, Humphrey Bogart.

In this picture three working girls set their sights on snaring a rich tycoon, but their plans go awry when true love enters the picture. Jean Negulesco directed the script by Nunnally Johnson, and the men in their lives are portrayed by Cameron Mitchell, Rory Calhoun, David Wayne, Fred Clark, and screen veteran William Powell. Leonard Maltin hailed the “terrific ensemble work in dandy comedy of three man-hunting females pooling resources to trap eligible bachelors.” ‘Millionaire’ was the second movie shot in 20th Century Fox’s new Cinemascope format, following the studio’s Biblical breakthrough, ‘The Robe.’ It incorporated Alfred Newman’s memorable score, presented in stereoscopic sound.

At the Royal Theatre only, Debra Levine, the editor of the popular online arts journal arts•meme and the author of several articles about choreographer Jack Cole, will introduce the 7 o’clock screening of ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.’

Our Marilyn Monroe double feature screens Tuesday, June 5th at the Royal, NoHo 7, and Playhouse 7.

Click here to buy a ticket to the 7:00pm show of GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES with admission to the 9:00pm show of HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE included. Or, click here to buy a ticket to the 5:00pm show of HOW TO MARRY A MILLIONAIRE with admission to the 7:00pm show of GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES included.

LAEMMLE LIVE presents ACADEMY PHILHARMONIC May 6

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LAEMMLE LIVE proudly presents the Academy Philharmonic, Sunday, May 6, 2018. Middle school students from the woodwind and brass sections of Elemental Music perform chamber music from different genres. Sunday’s program will include Fire Dance by David Shaffer, March (from Second Suite in F) by Gustav Holst, arr. Scott Stanton, Amparito Roca by Jaime Texidor, arr. James Curnow, and additional selections announced from the stage.

Academy Philharmonic is a program of Elemental Music, created to inspire, train, and nurture young musicians in Santa Monica. The organization began in 2004 by a SMMUSD music teacher who wanted to create an opportunity for elementary students to play in an orchestra throughout the school year, make new friends, and get excited about music. Since then, more than 1,000 students have participated in Elemental Music. Initially serving only 25 elementary school students, programs now serve nearly 300 elementary and middle school students in seven different programs this season.

Academy Philharmonic is one of Elemental Music’s newest programs. Comprised of six, seventh, and eighth graders, Academy Philharmonic provides new opportunities for middle schoolers in Santa Monica to experience the thrill of playing in a full orchestra, learning how to listen and blend with new instrument groups, and rehearsing and performing exciting new repertoire selections – all while being coached by some of the best teachers on the westside! Our students work with expert teaching artists to polish their technical skills and dig into the joys of music-making, all in a social setting. We offer many opportunities for student performances throughout the year at three different Elemental Music concerts plus various public events in the Santa Monica community. Elemental Music’s young musicians blossom in their own ways, both socially and musically. This vibrant program inspires a love of music in the hearts of some of the westside’s youngest artists.

Event Details
Sunday, May 6, 2018
11:00 am
Monica Film Center

This is a Free Event
RSVP on Eventbrite