SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents

Part of our ALFRED HITCHCOCK DIRECTOR OF 2023 2023 Series, Saturday, December 23, 2023

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.

IMPORTANT SPECIAL NOTE: For all DIRECTOR OF THE YEAR 2023 SEASON PASS HOLDERS & TRIPLE FEATURE ticket holders, we will be screening a bonus "Secret" Hitchcock at 9am free of charge as a private thank you to all who made this year such a wonderful experience.

9am "Secret" HITCHCOCK FEATURE (free of charge; Season Pass and Triple Feature ticket holders only)

1115am I CONFESS (1953, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, Warner Brothers, 96mns, DCP)

130p THE WRONG MAN (1956, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, Warner Brothers, 105mns, DCP)

4p STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, Warner Brothers, 101mns, DCP)

Today is our penultimate event of Hitchcock screenings as we head into the final lap of THE MASTER: ALFRED HITCHCOCK DIRECTOR OF 2023. And boy do we have a chock full line-up of Hitchcock corkers.

First, actually at 9a, and open only to season pass holders and triple feature pass holders for today, we offer, free of charge, a screening of a "Secret" Hitchcock feature. We can't tell you more but if you hold either of the above named passes, come and watch a Hitch on us. It's one of his key interstitial movies that served as a rough draft for greater things to come. But it's also a dynamite movie in its own right.

Then at 1115am, we kick off the official event with 1953's I CONFESS starring Montgomery Clift and Anne Baxter. One of Hitch's more openly Catholic movies, I CONFESS follows Father Logan (Clift) who hears the confession of a murderer but refuses to divulge the killer's identity to the police.

One of Hitchcock's more fascinating complicated works, I CONFESS deals with the Catholic sacrament of confession in which priests hear the sins of parishoners and are bound by vow to keep these revelations secret no matter what.

Filmed in Quebec City, I CONFESS plays as a kind of fascinating sibling movie to Powell and Pressburger's BLACK NARCISSUS which dealt with Nuns struggling with their all too human desires. Hitch works to explore the secular, the spiritual, and the complicated.

We follow this with one of the master's most unrelenting nightmares, 1956's Henry Fonda starring THE WRONG MAN. Based on the actual story of New York musician Manny Balastrero who was accused of robberies he clearly did not commit, THE WRONG MAN is Hitchcock's "innocent man on the run" taken to its nightmarish limits. One of the director's unsung masterpieces, THE WRONG MAN plays more like Bresson than Hollywood matinee. No matter what Balastrero tries to do, he can't convince anyone he's innocent. And the ordeal and stress caused by the slander, accusations, jail time, undoes Balastrero's mental health and that of his family.

A horrific inditement of what happens when the system gets it wrong, THE WRONG MAN is one of the times Hitchcock played one of his worst fears (police, incarceration) completely straight. The result is a movie more horrific than PSYCHO grounded by dynamite performances from Fonda and Vera Miles as his long suffering wife.

We come back into the light (kind of) with our final feature of the night, and one of Hitchcock's key movies, Strangers on a Train. When tennis star Guy happens to fall into conversation with co-train traveller Bruno, they find themselves talking about how the perfect murder would be if two people swapped murders so there was no traceable motive back to either. While Guy doesn't take the conversation seriously, unhinged Bruno does and goes through with killing Guy's estranged wife who won't grant Guy a divorce. When all the evidence and motive points to Guy, Guy finds himself trying to clear his name, while an increasingly unhinged Bruno demands Guy perform his murder-the killing of Bruno's mother.

Here Hitchcock so relishes the twists and turns of such a premise that each scene delights as Hitch expertly turns and tightens the screws on Guy. The movie also contains several of Hitchcock's greatest sequences including a phantasmagoric Carnival sequence when Bruno tails Guy's wife and a hilarious shot at a tennis match that only a movie genius like Hitchcock could pull off.

Join us for an incredible day of Hitch at the Secret Movie Club Theater.

Best always,

Craig Hammill

Secret Movie Club Founder.Programmer

*Please note that though we strive to always show titles on 35mm film if advertised, we may have to screen digitally if the print we receive is in such bad shape or if we don't receive the print in time because of a shipping delay. We will do our best to alert the audience. When this does occur, we will offer each ticket holder who chooses not to attend a complimentary ticket to a future event in exchange. (Disclaimer: Good for 90 days – Future screening must have available tickets, cannot be a fundraiser, and must be comparably priced)

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

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 to us before showtime: community@secretmovieclub.com and we’ll offer you complimentary tickets to a future screening, good for 90 days. (Disclaimer: Future screening must have available tickets, cannot be a fundraiser, and must be comparably priced)

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.

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 Instagram/Twitter: @secretmovieclub or Facebook: @secretmovieclub35mm

You can also subscribe to our weekly email newsletter at secretmovieclub.com or by writing to 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.