"The Couch"

We get some fine noirish shots of downtown in Owen Crump's film "The Couch" (Warner Bros., 1962). During the credits we're across the street from the Los Angeles Theatre, 615 S. Broadway. They're running "The Hunters" with Robert Mitchum and May Britt. It looks like the second feature is "In Love and War" with Robert Wagner and Dana Wynter.  Both were fall 1958 releases.

It's a tale of a young guy with psychological problems who is stabbing people on the streets of dangerous downtown. But those killings are just to throw the police off the trail and make them think a real serial killer is on the loose. The only one he really cares about killing is his psychiatrist, who he has confused with his father. Featured are Grant Williams as the troubled guy, Onslow Stevens as the psychiatrist, and Shirley Knight as a receptionist in the doctor's office.

Another shot at the beginning of the film is this view north on Hill St. toward 6th and the big "P" on the side of the Paramount Theatre. It had opened in 1923 as the Metropolitan.

Walking south on Broadway in search of a victim. In the distance below the bright sign there's a bit of the dark marquee of the Palace Theatre visible at 630 S. Broadway.

We're at 7th and Hill looking out from behind the cashier at the Warner Downtown Theatre.

Thanks to Marlaine Wilson Hysell for spotting the theatres in the film. See the pages on the Los Angeles Theatres site about the Los Angeles, Metropolitan/Paramount, Palace and Warner Downtown for a history of each building along with many photos.

On IMDb: "The Couch"