SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents
Part of our JOHN FORD FUNDAMENTALS series! Saturday, April 9, 2022
LOCATION: The Secret Movie Club Theater, 1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90021
*Please note entrance/parking is actually in the back of the building. Make a right on Wilson Street, then a right behind the building. We’re the first set of black steps after the big gate. We’ll have staff to help guide/park you.
730pm THE GRAPES OF WRATH (1940, dir by John Ford, Fox, 121mns, 35mm presentation)
10pm TOBACCO ROAD (1941, dir by John Ford, Fox, 84mns, 35mm presentation)
IMPORTANT NOTES:
***ALL AUDIENCE are still required to show proof of vaccination at the door. PLEASE HAVE YOUR VIRTUAL OR PHYSICAL VACCINATION CARD READY BEFORE ENTERING THE THEATER. If you have an exemption, please have proof of a negative PCR level COVID test within 3 days of the screening.
***As of April 1, 2022, masks are now optional for indoor theater events if you're fully vaccinated. Anyone with a vaccination exemption can still attend as long as they have proof of a RT-PCR level negative Covid test ( within 72 hours of the event) but will be required to wear a mask. We will continue to update our protocols with the dynamic situation.
HOW TO:
1)PLEASE BRING YOUR VACCINATION CARD (digital cards accepted).
2)PRE-ORDER ANY CONCESSIONS OR MOVIE MERCHANDISE you would like from the additional Add-Ons. You can pick up all concessions & merchandise at our tables in our lobby prior to the screening.
We will be able to sell concessions & merchandise at the theater. But it will make everything much quicker and easier if you pre-order!
3)PLEASE BE AWARE THAT ANYONE EXHIBITING COVID OR FLU LIKE SYMPTOMS AT THE DOOR, WILL BE OFFERED COMPLIMENTARY TICKETS TO A FUTURE SHOW AND ASKED TO RETURN WHEN HEALTHY. So please, if you’re feeling sick, just write us at community@secretmovieclub.com and we’ll offer your complimentary tickets to a future screening when you’re healthy. Let’s all do our part to beat this thing so we can go back to the complete movie going experience!
Tonight we screen two fascinating Fords. Both on 35mm!
First up is an all-timer. Probably Top 3 John Ford in many folks' estimation (including this Programmer's). Ford's adaptation of John Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath.
Telling the story of the Joad family, kicked off their land by the banks during the Depression, forced to migrate to California looking for work, The Grapes of Wrath focuses primarily on the two pillars of strength of the family, returning criminal son trying to go straight, Tom Joad (played by Henry Fonda in one of his all time great performances), and Ma Joad (Ford Stock Company regular and incredible talent Jane Darwell), the Matriarch of the family.
Ford was at the very top of his game here and pushed even further by the incredible story and editing contributions of Fox mogul Daryl Zanuck and the stunning cinematography of ace DP Gregg Toland (Citizen Kane).
Many have pointed out that Ford clearly feels an affinity to this clan and in many ways, may have seen his own large Irish family, born poor, hard working, in the Joad trials and tribulations.
There are sequences here that are as good as any Ford, or any American director, ever caught on celluloid.
We follow this with a picture on similar themes, though done in a very different tone, just a year later, Tobacco Road. Here Ford adapted a controversial play about dirt poor Georgia farmers and their family and turned it into something of an earthy, broad, yet always humane and poetic comedy.
Tobacco Road tends to divide folks with many considering it an example of Ford giving in to his excesses (biographer Joseph McBride said it felt like the movie was directed by Ford's evil brother). But this Programmer (along with Steven Spielberg no less! Yes, Mr. Spielberg, I'm using you as back-up) is a huge fan of the movie. It has an earthiness, sexuality, and unpretentious empathy that offers a kind of welcome comedic mirror reflection to the sublime poetic intensity of The Grapes of Wrath.
Regardless, Ford was still in his incandescent period when he made Tobacco Road and the movie is filled with signature poetic shots and sequences and heart rending moments acknowledged as superior by even the movie's detractors (including McBride who acknowledges the movie in many ways is still a superior picture).
We get to show both on 35mm prints. So take this opportunity to watch the master at work. . .at the height of his powers.
Best always,
Craig Hammill
35mm Secret Movie Club Founder.Programmer
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS FOR OUR IN-DOOR THEATER SCREENINGS
REFUNDS:
We can offer refunds up to 24 hours before showtime. Please request a refund through Eventbrite and we will process ASAP. After that, no refunds. Sorry.
However if something last minute comes up and you can’t make the screening, for whatever reason, just write us at: community@secretmovieclub.com and we’ll offer you complimentary tickets to a future screening.
HELPFUL SECRET MOVIE CLUB (1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, LA, CA 90021) THEATER PARKING TIPS:
We recommend that you park just outside our theater. Remember our theater is actually in a beautiful street art alleyway in the back of the 1917 Bay Street building. You get to our entrance by taking a right on Wilson, then a right behind the building. We are the first set of black steps on the right after the big gate.
We will have a staff member on duty to monitor all cars parked in the street-art alleyway at our entrance.
There is also a parking lot at the corner of Mateo and Violet Street, just 2 blocks from our theater, which costs $7 per car.
HOW CAN WE STAY ON TOP OF NEWLY ANNOUNCED 35MM SCREENINGS, EVENTS, ETC?
You can follow us on Facebook: @secretmovieclub35mm or Instagram/Twitter: @secretmovieclub
You can also subscribe to our weekly email newsletter by writing us at community@secretmovieclub.com and using the header “SUBSCRIBE ME TO NEWSLETTER”.
HOW CAN I CONTACT YOU IF I HAVE OTHER QUESTIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS:
You can always email us at community@secretmovieclub.com with any other questions, concerns, thoughts, recommendations.