Footage from Rudolph Maté's "D.O.A" (Cardinal Pictures/United Artists, 1950) showing the Orpheum and other Broadway theatres is used in the title sequence of Thom
Andersen's "Los Angeles Plays Itself" (2003), an epic exploration of how
the city has been portrayed in the movies.
Thom's opener also features shots of the Burbank Theatre on Main St. taken from A view of the Burbank Theatre facade early in Samuel Fuller's Columbia Pictures epic "The Crimson Kimono" (1959).
"Los Angeles Plays Itself" repeatedly comes back to shots from Kent MacKenzie's "The Exiles" such as this view of the Arcade, Cameo and Roxie theatres on Broadway.
Thom gives lots of coverage to Billy Wilder's "Double Indemnity" (Paramount, 1944). In this shot we're looking north on Olive toward the Philharmonic Auditorium.
The Bradbury Building gets lots of discussion, including mentions of its appearances when it's supposed to be in other cities. This scene showing the Million Dollar Theatre from "Murder in the First" (Warner Bros., 1995) has Christian Slater crossing a San Francisco street to go into the Bradbury.
And, of course, no survey of the Bradbury's film career is complete without including Ridley Scott's "Blade Runner" (Ladd Company/Warner Bros., 1982) and this shot of the added columns at the entrance.
A c.2001 "Lion King" shot of the Pantages Theatre. Kurt Wahlner notes that a fiberglass mini-Brown Derby behind the left
palm tree and the strange marquee and limo-in-the-air on the right were
part of the initial look for the Metro station. The film notes that unlike the many times L.A. locations are used to represent other cities, some L.A. landmarks like the Capitol Records building or the Hollywood Sign actually play themselves.
Later in the film we get the drive-by of the Gilmore Drive-In from Woody Allen's "Annie Hall" (United Artists, 1977).
We get a shot of the Palace Theatre marquee from Gregory Nava's "El Norte" (Cinecom Pictures, 1984). Also included are several scenes from the film with newcomers from Mexico talking about their strange new life in Los Angeles.
On IMDb: "Los Angeles Plays Itself"
The full film is on YouTube in a somewhat cropped version -- and with Arabic subtitles.
No comments:
Post a Comment