Tuesday, June 14, 2016

"Devil In a Blue Dress"


We get a fine view of the Regent Theatre, 448 S. Main St., in Carl Franklin's film version of Walter Mosley's novel "Devil In a Blue Dress" (TriStar Pictures, 1995). The film, with Jennifer Beals and Tom Sizemore, features Denzel Washington as Easy Rawlins. Easy is just a guy trying to get along who finds himself as an amateur detective who gets wrapped up in a murder case investigation. The south side of the 400 block of S. Main St. is all dressed up to stand in for S. Central Ave. in the post-war 40s.



A moment later with the light changed to red. Thanks to Ken McIntyre for this screenshot, a post on the Facebook page Photos of Los Angeles.

About ten seconds of this footage is seen again in "Cadillac Records" (2008) where it's labeled as being in Chicago.



Another look south on Main as people cross the street. 



The 400 block at night.



A detail from the night shot above. Thanks to R. Emmet Sweeney for the image that appears on his Films In Films website.



Another angle looking south on Main St. 

The Regent opened in 1914 as the National Theatre. After a hard life as a grind house and then a porno theatre it's been reborn as a music venue, bar and restaurant. See the pages about the Regent Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for a history of the venue along with photos inside and out.

On IMDb: "Devil in a Blue Dress"

No comments:

Post a Comment