"The Turning Point"

We get this great shot looking east from the top of the 2nd St. tunnel in William Dieterle's "The Turning Point" (Paramount, 1952)  It's one of many terrific Bunker Hill shots in the film. On the left, walking up the incline in the shadows, is Matt Conroy, playing a crooked cop who will get bumped off a moment later. His father is played by Edmond O'Brien, heading a prosecution team trying to get the mob out of town. O'Brien's character doesn't know that his father has been on the take.

 

Panning to the left we get this view. Across Hill St. we see the house right side of the auditorium of the Mason Theatre. The Mason's entrance was at 127 S. Broadway but with a long, long lobby and its location back behind an office building the auditorium was almost at Hill St. Note the ramp just beyond that billboard. The theatre was on a steep lot. You could walk up that ramp to get to the 2nd balcony.

 

Moments later we get a view of not only the cop lying dead but the mob boys, hiding in a delivery truck, also bumping off the guy who killed him. Later they'll go after his wife, a lady who knew too much. Here the police have arrived to survey the damage.

From this angle we get the Mason's auditorium again but also, toward the right, the side of the stagehouse. The painting on the side says "Frank Fouce's Mason Theatre." That's the Times building beyond at 1st and Spring.

See the Mason Theatre page on the Los Angeles Theatres site for many photos. The theatre was demolished in 1956.

 

William Holden plays an altruistic reporter who was a college buddy of O'Brien's character. Here he's leaving a rooming house where he's been looking for the wife of the guy who killed O'Brien's crooked father. In the distance we get a nice view of the 3rd St. side of the Million Dollar Theatre. 

 

 

Another view from the scene. The Belmont Apartments was at 251 S. Hill St. $6.00 a week, $22.50 a month. Holden, of course, falls for O'Brien's girlfriend, played by Alexis Smith. The film also features Ed Begley, Adele Longmire, Danny Dayton, Ray Teal, Neville Brand and Howard Freeman. The cinematography was by Lionel Lindon. It ends with a shootout at the fights at the Olympic Auditorium.

See the Million Dollar pages on the Los Angeles Theatres site for a history and many, many photos. This 1918 vintage theatre, still at 3rd and Broadway, was Sid Grauman's first Los Angeles operation.

On IMDb: "The Turning Point"