"Edge of Doom"

Footage of various downtown L.A. locations appears behind the credits of "Edge of Doom" (RKO, 1950). Behind Samuel Goldwyn's credit we're looking south on Main St. from the middle of the 300 block. That's the Follies on the right. Thanks to Claudia Mullins for spotting the theatre.   

See the Los Angeles Theatres page about the Follies Theatre, 337 S. Main St. It opened as the Belasco in 1904 and was demolished in 1974.  

Mark Robson directed. The cinematography was by Harry Stradling. Farley Granger plays a troubled young guy who can't understand why his ogre of a boss won't give him a discount on flowers for his mother's funeral. And he gets so pissed off at the local priest that he kills him. Dana Andrews plays another priest who tries to help. Joan Evans is Farley's girlfriend. It's all a religious mess. 

 But, 35 minutes into the film we get the Galaxy Theatre. Farley has killed the priest and he's out on the street.

 

Thanks to Claudia for spotting this shot and the later views of the marquee and boxoffice. It's actually the Mason Theatre, 127 S. Broadway. We're looking north toward 1st St. At the time of this film it was a Spanish-language house. Here they've dressed it as a newsreel theatre.  

 

Farley approaches the theatre and notices a commotion. Somehow he's drawn into the crowd and we get this shot of the boxoffice.  

 

 A look over toward the entrance doors.

 

A shot from out on Broadway. It turns out there had been a robbery. 

 

 

A look at the marquee soffit. The Galaxy's robbery is the subject of discussion later in the film and a hood played by Paul Stewart is brought in for questioning by the police. Later he's fingered for the murder of the priest as well. But Farley is "helped" by another priest played by Dana Andrews and later turns himself in because, as Dana tells us, he was troubled by his "immortal soul."  

See the Los Angeles Theatres page about the Mason Theatre. It closed in 1955 and was soon demolished. 

On IMDb: "Edge of Doom   The full film is on Internet Archive.  

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"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"

"Shockproof"

We get a peek at the stagehouse of the Mason Theatre on the right beyond the old City Jail on 1st St. in this promotional still for Douglas Sirk's "Shockproof" (Columbia, 1949) with Cornel Wilde. Patricia Knight and John Baragrey co-star. The Mason's entrance was at 127 S. Broadway. But it was a long building -- the auditorium and stage were almost over on Hill St. That's the L.A. Times building on the left of the photo.

The photo appears in several collections. Thanks to Noirish Los Angeles contributor Nathan Marsak (aka Beaudry) for featuring it along with two images of the jail building in his Noirish post #7413.

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

Although this shot doesn't appear in the film, we get other treats including many scenes up on Bunker Hill with views toward downtown. Wilde's office is in the Bradbury Building so we see a lot of that. Also of interest are scenes near the end in a cabin in the middle of an oil field. 

On IMDb: "Shockproof"

"He Walked by Night"

We're on top of the Hill St. Tunnel looking south near the beginning of "He Walked by Night" (Eagle-Lion Films, 1948). That's the stagehouse of the Mason Theatre and one of its smoke vents over on the left through the trees. The theatre's entrance is actually at 127 S. Broadway -- it had a very long lobby.

See the page about the Mason Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for a history of this 1903 vintage theatre. It was demolished in 1956 for a state office building that has now also been demolished.

The film, directed by Alfred Werker and an uncredited Anthony Mann, stars Richard Basehart as a quirky killer the LAPD is trying to catch. The ending features a terrific chase through L.A.'s storm drains. On the hunt are Scott Brady, Roy Roberts and Jack Webb. The cinematography was by the King of Noir, the great John Alton.

"Clark Gable - Gone With the Wind." A shot with lots of action on the wildly flashing marquee of the Broadway Theatre, 428 S. Broadway.  The vertical for The Broadway, a department store at 4th and Broadway, is on the far left. In the fuzzy distance next to that it's the vertical for the Million Dollar Theatre down at 3rd and Broadway.  

 

A moment later. See the pages on the Los Angeles Theatres site about the poor Broadway Theatre. It opened in 1925 as a conversion from retail space. It's now been converted back.

On IMDb: "He Walked by Night"

"Never Weaken"

We get a view of the stagehouse of the Mason Theatre, 127 S. Broadway, in this publicity still for the Harold Lloyd two-reeler "Never Weaken" (Pathe, 1921). We're looking south on Hill St. The top of the Mason over on Broadway is at the left -- look for the three smoke vents on the stagehouse.

This location on top of the Hill St. tunnel was a favorite filming location as it was easy to build a set there to give the appearance of being up on a tall building downtown. See John Bengtson's Silent Locations post "LA's Early Hills, Tunnels Preserved in Noir-Silent Comedies."

While some shots were from 1st and Hill here the action has moved to7th and Hill looking east at the back of the Loew's State building -- then under construction at 7th and Broadway. This is one of many views of Lloyd and the alley side of Loew's State in "Never Weaken." He has some dazzling scenes up on what appears to be an unfinished building.

A view in the other direction of the newly completed Pantages Theatre at 7th & Hill. In 1929 it would become the Warner Downtown. That's the Los Angeles Athletic Club beyond it on 7th.

See the Los Angeles Theatres pages on the Mason Theatre, the State Theatre and the Warner Downtown for more data and many photos of the buildings.

On IMDb: "Never Weaken"

"The War of the Worlds"

Early in the George Pal production "The War of the Worlds" (Paramount, 1953) we get this shot of a guy up on a ladder changing marquee letters as a Martian spaceship plunges through the atmosphere. Nice, but it's something on the Paramount back lot.  The film, directed by Byron Haskin, stars Gene Barry and Ann Robinson.

Our real theatre views happen much later in the film as the aliens get closer to Los Angeles and we evacuate the city. Here, in a shot looking south on Hill St. taken from atop the Hill St. tunnel we get a bit of the Mason Theatre stagehouse over on the left. It's the structure with the peaked roof and smoke vents atop.

The theatre's entrance was actually over at 127 S. Broadway. See the Mason Theatre page on the Los Angeles Theatres site for many views of the entrance as well as interior shots.  The Mason was demolished in 1956.

As we clear out the city there's this shot looking east on 8th St. At the far right we get some of the signage for the RKO Hillstreet, a building that would be demolished in 1965.

Down between Hill and Broadway is a view of the Olympic Theatre, 313 W. 8th St. Of note here is that this is the first image to surface with the theatre's current vertical sign on the building. Both the style of the sign and its location had been changed.

Previously there had been two verticals, one at either end of the facade.  The marquee we see is a jazzed up version of the one that was on the theatre in 1927. It would get changed out for an angled one sometime before 1970 -- we see the new version in "The Omega Man."

Another shot from near the end of the film showing the Olympic's vertical. Again we're looking west toward Broadway. See the Olympic Theatre pages on the Los Angeles Theatres site for more about the theatre. The building is still around but now converted to retail.

On IMDb: "The War of the Worlds"