SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents
Part of our THE LANG CONNECTION/HITCHCOCK'S HITCHCOCK Series, Thursday, June 8, 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.
7:30pm M (1931, dir. Fritz Lang, Germany, 111mns, 35mm)
9:50pm THE TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE (1933, dir. Fritz Lang, Germany, 124mns, Digital)
In the early 1930’s, Fritz Lang made two movies that would forever change cinema and the trajectory of his life: M -still considered one of the greatest movies of all time and The Testament of Dr. Mabuse which the Nazis realized was a veiled criticism and which precipitated Lang’s fleeing Germany for the United States.
First up, we screen the immortal, all-time world cinema classic M starring Peter Lorre on 35mm. If you’ve never seen M. . .even if you have. . .nothing can quite prepare you for the modern power and possibly never equalled insight into human psychology and societal systems as this movie about a panicked city’s hysteria during a spate of child serial murders.
Lang uses a number of devices that Hitchcock himself would come to master in ensuing decades: Lang reveals the identity of the killer very early in the movie so that the emphasis shifts on “whodunit” to “will they catch him?”. It also ups the suspense and tension as we are forced to watch the child killer wander the streets looking for his next victim.
Lang and his co-writer Thea Von Harbou go a step further though and make the sublime decision to explore the effect of the murders on all levels of society from the families terrorized to the Police trying to catch the killer to the criminal underground who chafe at the increased curfews and restrictions.
Ultimately, it is the criminals and beggars of the city’s underbelly that take matters into their own hands in a final hour where they employ all their skills to track, catch, and try (in a never equalled kangaroo court sequence) the murderer.
Anchoring the entire movie is Peter Lorre’s tremendous performance as the killer. He and Lang accomplish the near impossible by humanizing the murderer without ever excusing or exonerating him. Instead, one comes to understand-horrifically-the compulsion that drives the murderer to hunt and kill.
Made early in the sound era, M still stands as a beacon of cinematic technique rarely equalled, even 90 years later. A shocking, masterful movie, we show it on a rare 35mm print.
We follow this with the last movie Lang made in Germany before fleeing for the United States: The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, the second in his Mabuse trilogy.
Lang firmly had the rise of Adolf Hitler on his mind when he made Testament. Here we pick up a decade later from the original movie and find Dr. Mabuse raving in an insane asylum writing his ravings down as a kind of “master plan” for a future “reign of crime”.
When Mabuse dies, his spirit guides his followers from beyond the dead and soon the city is heading back to the lawless days of rampant crime that reigned when Mabuse was the criminal mastermind of the city.
It didn’t take geniuses to see that this story of a lunatic whose ravings begin to infect German society as a whole was really a brilliant veiled swipe at the rise of Adolf Hitler.
As the story goes, when Hitler became chancellor in 1933 (the movie had already been shot and had just been released), Hitler’s minister of propaganda, Goebbels, banned the movie but invited Lang to join the ministry to make propaganda for the Fuhrer.
That night, Lang fled Germany and his wife, Thea von Harbou (who stayed to aid the Nazi effort) and came to America where he would continue to make movies that examined the violence latent and waiting in even the most seemingly normal of human minds.
These two movies together show a dark insight into not only the individual but the collective human soul’s capacity to hysteria, fascism, and violence if not checked by the self-discipline of humility and self-control.
Join us for two masterpieces that would have profound effects on the world and on filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock.
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.