SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents
Part of our JOHN FORD FUNDAMENTALS Series, Friday, November 18, 2022
LOCATION: The Million Dollar Theater Movie Palace, 307 S Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90013
*Please note, there is parking available at the Grand Central Market Parking Lot at the corner of 3rd and Hill Street (entrance on Hill Street) and at various lots. We have a limited number of $6 all day parking passes available for purchase via add-ons!
7:15pm STAGECOACH (1939, dir. John Ford, AFGA, USA, 96mns, 35mm)
SPECIAL NOTE: At 7:15pm, we'll be playing John Ford's STAGECOACH at the Million Dollar Theater in DTLA. In both that event, and this one, you can purchase a Double Feature ticket that will get you access to both Nov. 18th screenings - STAGECOACH at 7:15pm at the Million Dollar Theater and THE LONG VOYAGE HOME at 10pm at the Secret Movie Club Theater.
We are so excited to announce that we have secured a 35mm Stagecoach print and a 16mm The Long Voyage Home print for tonight’s John Ford double bill. These are two of Ford’s greatest movies, made in consecutive years, during Ford’s untouchable incandescent 1939-1941 run that included other masterworks like Young Mr. Lincoln, The Grapes of Wrath, and How Green Was My Valley as well.
First up, this programmer’s personal favorite John Ford movie (and in this programmer’s top 20 movies of all time) Stagecoach. Stagecoach (based actually on a French short story by Guy du Maupassant) tells the story of a group of strangers who all board a stagecoach, some by choice, some by accident, some because of sinister motives, and some because they are being thrown out of town. But soon, all of them, will have to band together as they encounter hardships, surprises, and life changing experiences on their trip to Lourdsbourg.
This is the movie that made John Wayne a star. He had been toiling for over a decade in minor westerns and had actually gotten his start partially as an assistant prop man to Ford towards the tail end of the silent era. Stagecoach is filled with iconic moments of cinema-from Wayne’s intro as The Ringo Kid (an incredible tracking shot to close up) to the action sequence chase across the desert (with stunts so mind blowing, Spielberg would re-create them in Raiders of the Lost Ark) to a final shoot out in Lourdsbourg at night that rivals the greatest of Hitchcockian sequences of suspense.
Orson Welles famously just watched this movie when preparing to make Citizen Kane. And it makes sense. What else do you need to watch? The movie is also powered by an incredible ensemble of Ford Repertory Players including Thomas Mitchell, Andy Devine, Berton Churchill, John Carradine, Donald Meek. But it is Claire Trevor, as an outcast prostitute, who grudgingly earns the respect of everyone else with her practicality and aid, who shines as the heart of the movie.
We follow this up with Ford’s adaptation of a series of Eugene O'Neill short plays which he wove into a feature called The Long Voyage Home. Also starring Wayne and Thomas Mitchell (along with many other Ford regulars), The Long Voyage Home finds Ford at his most experimental and daring visually with the aid of ace DP Gregg Toland (just about to shoot Citizen Kane). The two of them take wild chances with light, fog, and shadow in this story of a group of sailors transporting weapons and aide to London just before the outbreak of World War II.
The movie is filled with Ford’s trademark boisterous humanity and humor but it also takes a political stand (clearly anti-fascist and anti-Nazi) at a time when a lot of America was still playing footsie with isolationism and pro-Hitler sentiment.
The Long Voyage Home is a beautiful and poetic picture that ends on one of the most bittersweet notes in all of Ford’s canon. So come watch an underrated masterpiece alongside one of Ford’s key all-timers. On film!
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.