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ROOM AT THE TOP 60th Anniversary Screening and Q&A with KCRW Art Critic Edward Goldman

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Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 60th anniversary screening of one of the most influential of all British films, the Oscar-winning ROOM AT THE TOP. The film was one of the five nominees for Best Picture of 1959, and also earned nominations for director Jack Clayton, actor Laurence Harvey, and supporting actress Hermione Baddeley. Surprising some of the pundits, Simone Signoret was named Best Actress of the Year, besting Hollywood favorites Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, and Katharine Hepburn. The film also won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay.

Neil Paterson adapted the acclaimed novel by John Braine that told the story of a young working-class upstart who aims to defy the British class system and rise to the top ranks of society. The novel had evoked comparisons to Theodore Dreiser’s classic novel of ambition and murder An American Tragedy, which was turned into George Stevens’ award-winning 1951 film ‘A Place in the Sun.’ In the story that Braine and Paterson told, Harvey plays Joe Lampton, who decides that the best way to the executive suite is to seduce the boss’s daughter, played by Heather Sears. Complications arise when he meets an unhappily married older woman, played by Signoret, and falls in love with her. But he is reluctant to allow romance to jeopardize his larger game plan. The cast also includes Donald Wolfit as the tycoon and Donald Houston as Joe’s friend and roommate. Esteemed cinematographer Freddie Francis (‘Sons and Lovers,’ ‘The Elephant Man,’ ‘Glory’) contributed vivid black-and-white photography.

At the time, the film was considered groundbreaking in part because of its adult language and themes. As the Los Angeles Times noted, the film was “laced with earthy dialogue and a very frank approach to sex.” It received an X rating on its initial release in England. Outstanding reviews complemented the sexual explicitness to make the movie one of the first major arthouse hits in America. As Pauline Kael wrote, “The movie helped bring American adults back into the theatres… mostly because of the superb love scenes between Harvey and Simone Signoret. She’s magnificent.” The New Republic’s Stanley Kauffmann concurred:“Miss Signoret is so heartbreakingly effective in the role that it is now inconceivable without her,” and he concluded his review by writing, “as a drama of human drives and torments told with maturity and penetration, it is a rare event among English-language films.”

Joining film critic Stephen Farber for a discussion after the screening will be renowned cultural critic Edward Goldman, who has been the host of KCRW’s popular Art Talk program for more than 30 years. Goldman also contributes weekly art reports to the Huffington Post, and he has written for many other publications. He first discovered foreign films (including several starring Simone Signoret) while he was growing up in Russia; one of his early jobs was at the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

Our 60th anniversary screening of ROOM AT THE TOP (1959) featuring a Q&A with KCRW art critic Edward Goldman and film critic Stephen Farber screens Thursday, June 13, at 7pm at the Laemmle Royal in West LA. Click here for tickets.

Format: DCP.

Doris Day Tribute: LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME and CALAMITY JANE Double Feature on June 5th in North Hollywood.

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Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a tribute to America’s most spirited sweetheart, Doris Day, who died on May 13 at the age of 97. We have screened some of Day’s best-loved movie— The Man Who Knew Too Much, Pillow Talk, and Lover Come Back — in our Anniversary series over the last few years. Join us as we remember her with a double feature of two of her very best musical films—the Western romp Calamity Jane and the dramatic story of 1920s torch singer Ruth Etting, Love Me Or Leave Me. Both films demonstrate that Day was a pioneer in portraying strong-willed female characters during the conformist 1950s. Enjoy both of these entertaining movies for one low price!

After a stellar career as a big-band singer, Day started in movies in 1948 and she made a number of lighthearted musical programmers before starring in ‘Calamity Jane’ in 1953. This sagebrush musical comedy marked a change of pace for her and catapulted her to full-fledged movie stardom. She later cited it as her personal favorite of all the films she made.

Warners admitted they made the film to cash in on the enormous success of ‘Annie Get Your Gun,’ another musical tale of Western gunslingers. In Calamity Jane, Day plays the real-life Deadwood sharpshooter, paired with Howard Keel as Wild Bill Hickok. During most of the film, they are sparring partners and friendly antagonists, and it is not until the climax that Jane recognizes her true feelings for Bill. That transformation comes when Day croons “Secret Love,” the song by Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster that won the Oscar as best song of the year and also became a #1 hit on the pop charts. The film also earned Academy Award nominations for best scoring of a musical and for best sound.

Kate Muir of the British Times wrote of Calamity Jane, “As a pistol-packin’ cowgirl in fringed leather trousers, Day is terrific.” Leonard Maltin concurred: “Doris is irresistible as the bombastic, rootin’-tootin’ title character in this lively musical.”

Love Me Or Leave Me, made two years later, was nominated for six Oscars, including one for the screenplay by Daniel Fuchs and Isobel Lennart. It won the Oscar for the original story by Fuchs. Other nominations included one for a new song, “I’ll Never Stop Loving You,” which became another of Day’s most popular romantic ballads. James Cagney also earned a nomination for best actor for his electrifying portrayal of Etting’s husband and manager, gangster Marty Singer. Although he helped to advance Etting’s career, he was often brutally domineering in their personal relationship, and this hard-edged portrayal of an abusive marriage was ahead of its time in the 1950s and gave Day a vivid opportunity to essay a dramatic role. She brought it off with skill, while at the same time performing several of Etting’s signature songs, including “Ten Cents a Dance” and “Shaking the Blues Away.” Cameron Mitchell and Tom Tully co-star in the film, which was directed by Charles Vidor.

Variety called the film “a rich canvas of the Roaring 20s with gutsy and excellent performances.” Pauline Kael added, “The script by Daniel Fuchs and Isobel Lennart is several notches above the usual, and James Cagney brings frightening strength to his role as the singer’s vicious lover.” It was reportedly Cagney who suggested casting Day as Etting, and she rewarded her co-star’s instinct with one of the strongest performances of her career.

Our Doris Day tribute screens on Wednesday June 5th in North Hollywood. CALAMITY JANE screens at 5 and 9:30 PM. LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME screens at 7 PM. Click here for tickets to the 5pm CALAMITY JANE with the 7 PM LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME included. Or, click here for tickets to the 7 PM LOVE ME OR LEAVE ME with the 9:30pm CALAMITY JANE included.

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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.

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THE TERMINATOR 35th Anniversary Screening with Co-star Michael Biehn In Person.

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Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a 35th anniversary screening of one of the most popular sci-fi films of all-time, THE TERMINATOR, the movie that spawned one of the screen’s most profitable film franchises.

Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger in his most iconic role, Linda Hamilton, and our special guest, Michael Biehn, THE TERMINATOR screens on Saturday, May 11th at 7:30pm at the Ahrya Fine Arts in Beverly Hills. Click here for tickets.

Writer-director James Cameron and Producer Gale Ann Hurd had both apprenticed at Roger Corman’s low-budget factory, New World Pictures, in the late 1970s and early 1980s when they joined forces to create THE TERMINATOR.

Their original screenplay (with co-writer William Wisher, inspired by works of Harlan Ellison) chronicles the battle for the survival of the human race against Skynet, a synthetic intelligent machine network of the future. In 2029, an automaton killer (Schwarzenegger) is dispatched through time to assassinate an unsuspecting waitress (Linda Hamilton) in 1984, who turns out to be the future mother of the 21st–century human Resistance leader, John Connor. To protect her, Connor sends guerrilla fighter Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn). The ensuing chase through the streets of Los Angeles, with the seemingly unstoppable and leather-clad Schwarzenegger, is a model of low-budget efficiency and resourcefulness.

Contemporary critics embraced the sci-fi suspense thriller, with Kirk Ellis of The Hollywood Reporter calling it “a genuine steel metal trap of a movie.” Dave Kerr of Chicago Reader characterized its “almost graceful violence…(has) the air of a demented ballet,” and Janet Maslin in The New York Times cited it as a “B-movie with flair.”

The film was a genuine sleeper hit, and its success led to several sequels, a television series and video games. The latest incarnation of the series, TERMINATOR: DARK FATE, with Cameron returning to a creative role, is set to open theatrically later this year. The film that started it all, THE TERMINATOR, was added to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry in 2008.

Cameron, of course, became one of the most sought-after filmmakers in Hollywood, staying in the sci-fi world for several landmark films (Aliens, The Abyss, Avatar) and winning Oscars for a venture into the past, Titanic, the biggest box-office hit of the twentieth century.

Schwarzenegger went on to movie superstardom and political success. His terse line reading in the film, “I’ll be back,” is ranked 37th of AFI’S all-time movie quotes, and his character Terminator is ranked as the 22nd greatest movie villain.

Gale Ann Hurd emerged as one of the most successful female producers of the era, with Aliens, Alien Nation, and Armageddon among her hits.

Our special guest, Michael Biehn, has enjoyed a long career, primarily in action roles (Aliens, The Abyss, Tombstone, The Rock, The Art of War) into the 21st century.

Saturday, May 11th at 7:30pm at the Ahrya Fine Arts in Beverly Hills. Click here for tickets.

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La-Di-Da: A Tribute to Diane Keaton Every Throwback Thursday in May at the NoHo 7!

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The sui generis actress (and photographer, real estate developer, author, and singer) Diane Keaton has a new movie coming out on May 10 called Poms, providing us with a nice excuse to screen five of her best films in our Throwback Thursday series.

From Annie Hall and Looking for Mr. Goodbar in 1977, to Reds in 1981, Baby Boom in 1987 and The First Wives Club in 1996, Ms. Keaton, born Diane Hall here in L.A. in 1946, is funny and charming, haunting and heartbreaking, exuding an intelligence and wit, a je ne sais quoi unlike any other performer.

We’ll screen one of these movies each Thursday in May at the NoHo 7. It’s by necessity a brief look at her 50-year career, leaving out gems like Manhattan (’79), Shoot the Moon (’82), Mrs. Soffel (’84), Marvin’s Room (’96), Something’s Gotta Give (’03) and of course The Godfather movies (’72, ’74 and ’90), but la-di-da.

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!

Looking for Mr. Goodbar, May 2: A schoolteacher begins cruising bars for romance, sex and escape from her repressive home life, seeking out progressively more risky one night stands. Diane Keaton, Richard Gere, Tuesday Weld, and William Atherton star. Format: Blu-ray.

Annie Hall, May 9: Neurotic New York comedian Alvy Singer falls in love with the one-of-a-kind aspiring actress-singer Annie Hall. The cast includes Keaton, Woody Allen, Tony Roberts, Carol Kane, Paul Simon, and Christopher Walken. Format: DCP.

Reds, May 16: This historical drama directed by Warren Beatty follows on the life and career of John Reed, the journalist and writer who chronicled the Russian Revolution in his book Ten Days That Shook the World, and his tempestuous relationship with feminist writer Louise Bryant, played by Diane Keaton. Jack Nicholson co-stars as Eugene O’Neill. Format: Blu-ray.


Baby Boom, May 23: The life of super-yuppie J.C. is thrown into turmoil when she learns that her long-lost cousin has died and given her custody of her 14-month-old baby daughter. Co-starring Harold Ramis and Sam Shepard. Written by Nancy Meyers and Charles Shyer. Format: Blu-ray.


The First Wives Club, May 30: Reunited by the death of a college friend, three divorced women seek revenge on the husbands who left them for younger women. Starring Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, and Diane Keaton. Format: Blu-ray.

French Farce THE MAD ADVENTURES OF RABBI JACOB April 17th in Encino, Pasadena, and West LA

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Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present screenings of the raucous comedy, THE MAD ADVENTURES OF RABBI JACOB, on the 45th anniversary of its US release as part of the popular monthly Abroad program. The French farce, directed by Gerard Oury, will screen April 17 at three Laemmle venues: Royal, Town Center, and Playhouse.

This madcap movie draws upon time-honored comedy tropes of frantic disguises and mistaken identities. The story, written by Oury, Daniele Thomsom, Josy Eisenberg, and Roberto de Leonardis, involves the return of beloved Rabbi Jacob (Marcel Dalio) from the United States after thirty years to his hometown in France. He is waylaid at the Paris airport by a bigoted French businessman, Victor Pivert (Louis de Funes) and an Arab rebel leader fleeing the police and assassins. Pivert and the Arab then impersonate Rabbi Jacob and his companion in their escape. Other characters, including Pivert’s daughter (Miou-Miou), jealous wife , and Jewish driver, join the pursuit in a hodgepodge of plot twists and slapstick shenanigans culminating in a chaotic, fun climax.

The movie is a showcase for Louis de Funes, a popular French comic actor of the era, who topped French moviegoing polls several times in the 60s and 70s. With his high-energy acting style and wide range of facial expressions and tics, he was known in Europe as “the man with forty faces per minute,” but remains relatively unknown to American audiences. Filmmaker Gerard Oury, who had a long career in France, co-wrote a film there in 1958 that Barbra Streisand later adapted as the basis for her 1996 movie, The Mirror Has Two Faces.

Leonard Maltin found THE MAD ADVENTURES OF RABBI JACOB to be “Often quite funny, with echoes of silent-screen humor.” The National Board of Review proclaimed it, “The funniest picture of the year,” with kudos to Louis de Funes as “in a class with Woody Allen. The best slapstick in years.” The Hollywood Foreign Press endorsed the acclaim with a Golden Globe nomination that year for Best Foreign Film.

THE MAD ADVENTURES OF RABBI JACOB screens on Wednesday, April 17 at 7pm in Encino, Pasadena, and West LA. Click here for tickets.

‘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.