"The Runestone"

We see lots of the Palace Theatre, 630 S. Broadway, in "The Runestone" (Hyperion Pictures, 1991). Downtown Los Angeles is subbing for Manhattan and MacArthur Park is playing Central Park.

"Some legends must be destroyed." It's all about a Norse runestone discovered in Pennsylvania that portends catastrophe for the world. The film stars Peter Riegert, Joan Severance, Tim Ryan, William Hickey, Chris Young, Mitchell Laurence and Donald Hotton. Willard Carroll directed. The cinematography was by Misha Suslov.

Thanks to Eitan Alexander for spotting the theatre in this epic and getting the screenshots. He notes that the full film is on YouTube. 

 

Panning down the marquee we get the titles "Ordet" and "Gertrud," films by Carl Theodor Dryer.

 

South on Broadway. 

 

A peek toward the ticket lobby with posters up for "Kaos" (1984) and "The Assault" (1986).

 

A sparse crowd watching the show. 

 

Chris Young coming into the theatre office.

 

 

Young in the office with his grandfather, played by Donald Hotton. William Hickey has told them that the stone is in New York. Young had grown up hearing stories, and having nightmares, about the stone.

 

William Hickey out front. Note the reflection in the window of the vertical of the Los Angeles Theatre across the street. Hotton has just been taken to the hospital and the theatre will close.

 

 

 

Young in the theatre with Joan Severance discussing the Norse myths that have been the subject of his nightmares: "Everything that's happened this past week I've dreamed about for years. Forever." Fenrir, the wolf from Norse legend, is on the loose and has caused many deaths. 

 

A view of the closed theatre near the end of the film. Young's grandfather, in his hospital bed, has told him about the missing piece from the nightmares and that the key to what he must do is in the theatre.

 

At the back of the house. 

 

Putting a ladder up against the house left mural. Something necessary for averting catastrophe is in the painting.

 

Climbing up. The real mural is underneath this one put up for the film. 

 

 

Another shot with a bit of the Palace's proscenium. 

 

The mural includes an image of a Norse axe. The actual axe that can vanquish Fenrir is inside the wall behind the mural. They finally get him: "We've got a saying here in Manhattan, asshole. Death is what happens to you while you're making other plans." Thanks, Eitan!

See the pages about the Palace Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site. It opened in 1911 as the Orpheum.

On IMDb: "The Runestone"