Tropic Sprockets / Only in Theatres

By Ian Brockway

Actor Rafael Sbarge directs the affecting documentary “Only in Theaters” about the well-known Laemmle family and their four generations in the business of owning movie theaters.[See Tropiccinema.com for showtimes and a trailer.]

The film is brisk, informative and surprisingly poignant. At times it unfolds like a suspense film as Greg Laemmle,the story’s main focus, is faced with COVID closure and hovers between great optimism and crushing sadness.

Carl Laemmle founded Universal Pictures and fought with Thomas Edison who had a monopoly on the production of film in the early 1900s.

The company was started by Kurt and Max Laemmle, Carl’s nephews. The current Laemmle company is headed by Greg passed down from his father Robert.

Greg is under the gun right from the start with talk of streaming services. Martin Scorsese, Leonard Maltin, Kenneth Turan and Nicole Holofcener appear earnestly saying with gravity and heart that there is no substitute for a film on the big screen. 

The concept of a streaming film is ever present in this documentary, similar to a virus. 

The usually ebullient Greg tells of the heyday of the 1980s and 90s when business boomed. The Laemmle Family hosted many filmmakers including Ingmar Bergman. Alyse Laemmle cooked gourmet meals on those occasions fit for an upscale restaurant. She is now 106 and still going.

In 2018, the art house business started to slide. Streaming services like Netflix and Amazon became ubiquitous. Then came 2020. 

The pandemic closed the Laemmle group of theaters for a year. The documentary follows Greg as he frantically searches for information and updates, trying to find any way to open his theaters. He becomes exhausted and stricken by stress, coming down with hives.

By 2021, Greg was forced to move to Seattle.  But the Laemmle Theater name lives on as a chain.

This film will make you nervous as you hope for Greg and the theaters best outcome. Despite wars, the Kennedy Assassination, and 9/11, Laemmle theaters stayed open and never closed becoming an iconic lighthouse for quality escape and cultural exchange. 

Throughout the film, Greg’s wife Tish is a rock forcing him to accept the changes of life.

The scarlet scourge of Netflix is the red square you’ll love to hate.

Write Ian at [email protected]

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