SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents
Part of our JOHN FORD FUNDAMENTALS Series, Friday, November 4, 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.
7pm THE IRON HORSE (1924, dir. John Ford, Fox, USA, 150mns, *35mm being sought with DCP backup if necessary)
10pm THREE BAD MEN (1926, dir. John Ford, Fox, USA, 92mns, *35mm being sought with DCP backup if necessary)
The Iron Horse and Three Bad Men mark several of John Ford’s first major works. They are seminal in seeing and understanding his style before he was introduced to FW Murnau’s Sunrise in 1929 (and whose influence would solidify the Ford style from that point on).
Along with being great movies, they also show that Ford, from the very beginning, always placed his empathy with immigrants, social outcasts, and minorities in American society who were often looked down upon or outright ostracized by the Anglo-Saxon rich and powerful.
First we start with the Ford silent film that most likely insured Ford would have a lifelong career in cinema: The Iron Horse. An epic based on the building of the first trans-continental railroad, The Iron Horse (and Three Bad Men) stars George O Brien who, interestingly, would go on to become the star of Murnau’s Sunrise.
Many of Ford’s lifelong preoccupations are already here in their rough draft versions: Abraham Lincoln appears, the notion that peoples and communities are what make America, and concerted screen time devoted to African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and other marginalized immigrants while pointing out the hypocrisy of Anglo-Saxon racism all are woven throughout the picture.
Ford made The Iron Horse on location and the stories of the cast & crew fighting the elements to make this epic silent western already establish the Ford mythos of preferring the wild landscapes of America for his stories instead of being studio stage bound.
The movie was a monster hit and Ford became one of the very top directors at Fox (at the age of twenty eight). Still, it would be another eleven years before Ford would really solidify his reputation as the greatest director in American cinema with his first Oscar win for The Informer.
We follow The Iron Horse with the silent movie most consider Ford’s greatest accomplishment in the silent era: Three Bad Men. Many speculate that Akira Kurosawa may have titled his famous movie Three Bad Men in a Hidden Fortress (known to us simply as The Hidden Fortress) after his love and affection for this movie. Kurosawa was, after all, a Ford devotee who wore sunglasses as a nod to his hero. Three Bad Men follows three outlaws who take it upon themselves to protect a woman during a gold rush in a boom town run by an unscrupulous sheriff. Ford again makes clear his sympathies are with those society tends to judge. There is an epic land rush sequence in this movie that stands as one of Ford’s absolute greatest.
Interestingly, Ford would not make any westerns in the early sound period until he returned to the genre in 1939 with Stagecoach (more on that later). But one can see in these two early works all the raw material and talent that would mature across Ford’s career. Come for the rare chance to see these works on the big screen.
Best always,
Craig Hammill
Secret Movie Club Founder.Programmer
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.