SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents
Part of our THE MASTER-DISCIPLES Series, Thursday, May 11, 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 THE WAGES OF FEAR (1953, dir. Henri-Georges Clouzot, France, 153mns, 35mm)
One of the greatest filmmakers to work in a Hitchcockian style was French filmmaker Henri-Georges Cluzout.
Cluzout and Hitchcock were actually involved in a kind of ongoing 1950’s competition as Cluzout got the rights to Diabolique just moments before Hitchcock was able to secure them. The resulting French classic so stewed Hitchcock that he made sure to get the rights to the authors’ next work which would become the basis of Hitchcock’s Vertigo.
So maybe we have Cluzout to thank for one of Hitchcock’s greatest ever movies.
Tonight, we screen another Cluzout. 50’s classic, The Wages of Fear, which plays like a kind of suspense-thriller version of Howard Hawks’ 1930’s classic Only Angels Have Wings.
If you’ve never seen The Wages of Fear, buckle up. It is one of the great movies of the 1950’s. We start in a middle of nowhere South American bar/roadside store where adrift French and Italian alike look for work when the only game in town are the American Oil Fields.
As desperation increases, our main characters agree to transport two trucks full of explosive nitro-glycerin through the South American jungle for a promised big payday.
The problem is that event the slightest bump, turbulence, or obstacle could prove the match that explodes the trucks.
The two teams keep thirty minutes apart to try and minimize disaster as they drive through the dangerous, uneven, unpaved roads and bridges of the jungle.
Their own mental instability adds to powderkeg of impending disaster.
If you’ve never seen this movie, take a chance for this rare 35mm screening. It’s a text book on how to keep the audience on the edge of their seat until the very last moment.
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.