"Oppenheimer"

Florence Pugh and Cillian Murphy stroll by a Berkeley movie theatre in Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" (Universal, 2023). The Sierra Madre Playhouse in Sierra Madre was standing in for a theatre they called the Parkside. It's a shot appearing on IMDb. 

 

The film also stars Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Alden Ehrenreich, Scott Grimes, Jason Clarke, Kenneth Branagh and Tom Conti. Hoyte Van Hoytema was the cinematographer. The production design was by Ruth De Jong. 

See the page about the Sierra Madre Playhouse on the Los Angeles Theatres site for more about the theatre.

 

During prep and filming:

 

The Playhouse dressed for the shoot. Thanks to the the theatre for including this photo in a post about the film on the Sierra Madre Playhouse Facebook page.

 

 

 

Florence and Cillian in front of the theatre. The poster is for "Midnight," a 1939 release with Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche, John Barrymore and Mary Astor. Photo: Sierra Madre Playhouse

 

 

Thanks to Dave Lessig for including this shot in his Facebook post when he shared the images from the Sierra Madre Playhouse. He comments: 

 

"Sierra Madre was also supposed to have been where we were gonna see Tom Shafer driving the Pacific Bus Museum's 1932 Twin Coach, but that footage wound up not making the final cut." 

 

Visit the Facebook page for the Pacific Bus Museum in Sacramento. Also see a page about this particular East Bay Motor Coach Lines vehicle on the PBM website.

 

"The Parkside Theater presents The Best Entertainment in Town - Always a Good Value." Photo: Sierra Madre Playhouse. Thanks!

Other recognizable L.A. area locations used by the film include the Biltmore Hotel, the basement of the Subway Terminal Building, and the Ebell Club on Wilshire for various meeting rooms, a lecture hall, and corridor shots. 

On IMDb: "Oppenheimer" 

"Jail Bait"

We spend a bit of time at the Monterey Theatre in Monterey Park in the Ed Wood film "Jail Bait" (Howco Productions, 1954). They're going to steal the theatre circuit's payroll that they keep in an office backstage.

 

 

A look at the front of the auditorium. The young lady is a casualty of the robbery. Our robber thinks he's going to get his face altered by his plastic surgeon father so he can't be identified. The plot is foiled.

 

Before the robbery we got a clip supposedly earlier in the evening of a minstrel act on stage. It was lifted from "Yes Sir, Mister Bones!" On the version of "Jail Bait" on DVD from Westlake Entertainment this shot to the rear of the auditorium follows that clip but wasn't taken from that film. It's unknown what epic Ed Wood grabbed it from. It's an unknown theatre, not the Monterey. Jack Tillmany comments: 

 

"Of course the whole concept of the robbery in 'Jail Bait' is so insane nobody but Ed Wood would have taken it seriously. The safe at the Monterey is supposedly holding $20,000+ in cash, what we are told is the payroll money for the entire circuit, and the night watchman (aged Bud Osborne) has the combination, etc. 

 

"In the original version of this 'classic' a minstrel show (lifted out of a 1951 movie called 'Yes Sir, Mister Bones!') (yes, really) is inserted as taking place at the Monterey. It was later removed (I can't imagine why?) and replaced with a strip tease number from an earlier film. Mercifully, the version I caught on cable had neither. So we just got to see the empty auditorium, which didn't look like much."

See the page about the Monterey Theatre on the Los Angeles Theatres site for more about the building. It opened in 1924. The site is now a parking lot.  

On IMDb: "Jail Bait"