"Witch Hunt"

We get a shot of the September 18, 1951 "A Streetcar Named Desire" premiere at the Warner Beverly Hills in the faux 50s Warner-Pathé newsreel that opens Paul Schrader's "Witch Hunt" (Pacific Western/HBO, 1994).  A clip of the premiere footage can be seen on YouTube from British Pathé.

Once a grand first run theatre, the Warner was demolished in 1988 for a parking lot. See the Los Angeles Theatres page on the Warner Beverly Hills, called "The Pride of Beverly Hills." Well, it called itself that on the side of the building.  

The witches that a Joseph McCarthy-like senator is hunting in the film are not Communists but actual witches -- practitioners of magic. The film stars Dennis Hopper, Penelope Ann Miller, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Eric Bogosian, Julian Sands, Valerie Mahaffey and John Epperson. The cinematography was by Jean-Yves Escoffier. 

Epperson, better known as a drag queen called Lypsinka, runs a brothel in the Ennis House for an upscale clientele. He takes ordinary looking girls and using magic customizes them to cater to the desires of his clients. John Vogel comments on IMDb about the storyline:

"Detective Philip Lovecraft [Dennis Hopper] lives in Los Angeles in the 1950s when an ambitious senator {Eric Bogosian] is holding hearings, on magic. Magic is the new influence in Tinsel Town. Lovecraft is unique in that he is the only one who refuses to use magic in his work. 

 

"Shortly after he is hired, he finds his client, Kim Hudson [Penelope Ann Miller], accused of the murder of her husband, a film executive. Philip uses the talents of a local witch, Kropotkin [Sheryl Lee Ralph], to explain what is happening only to see her accused of the murder and sentenced to be burnt at the stake. Reminiscent of 'Roger Rabbit,' without the toons."

 

We get a nice scene at the El Monte Drive-In when Dennis follows the movie star played by Penelope. Thanks to Rio Dylan Hernandez for spotting the theatre in the film and getting this shot of the screen tower. 

 

 

 

A look toward the screen. 

 

 

Dennis finds Penelope's pink convertible and hops in. Also see the wider version that's on IMDb. 

 

She's watching one of her films, the 1955 Allied Artists release "The Big Combo" with Cornel Wilde and Richard Conte. They've cut Penelope into the film to replace Jean Wallace. 

 

 

They're soon joined by Marie, a friend of of Penelope's played by Jill Pierce.

 

All is well until the characters on the screen start shooting at them. Here one of the shots has hit the windshield. 

 

 

They run. The friend takes off with the car. The car and the girl are later fished out of the water. 

 

 

 

Later Dennis goes to see the crusading senator, played by Eric Bogosian. His his anti-magic rally will be held at the Pilgrimage Theatre, a 1931 venue now known as the John Anson Ford Amphitheatre.

 

Eric walking up the aisle. 

 

A look toward the back of the house. 

 

 

A night view of the "No More Magic In Hollywood" rally.

The film also makes nice use of the exterior of the Stahl House, the Millard House in Pasadena and Union Station. 

The full film can be seen in a low-res version on You Tube from Lost Jukebox. There's also a post of it on the site from New Movie Archives.

On IMDb: "Witch Hunt"