SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents

Part of our ALFRED HITCHCOCK DIRECTOR OF 2023 & HALLOWEEN-O-THON 2023 Series, Saturday, October 7, 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.

4pm TORN CURTAIN (1966, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, Universal, 128mns, 35mm)

715pm FRENZY (1972, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, Universal, 116mns, 35mm)

945pm FAMILY PLOT (1976, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, Universal, 124mns, 35mm)

Tonight, we delve into late period Hitchcock, all on 35mm prints. And Hitch's last two movies-FRENZY and FAMILY PLOT are deliciously nasty and spooky enough for our Halloween-o-thon 2023 as well.

Hitch's late period (which also includes 1969's Cuban Cold War fiction thriller TOPAZ) saw him deliver some of his best ever sequences while simultaneously showing him struggle and work to remain relevant during the inevitable changing of the guard.

Yet, Hitch was able to pull off some of his most interesting ideas in this period.

First up is the cold war thriller TORN CURTAIN starring Paul Newman and Julie Andrews. The movie is a series of double crosses, twists, and turns as Newman's US physicist doctor at first appears to DEFECT to the Communist East Germans only for it to be revealed that he's actually an American spy working to get the secrets of anti-missile systems. But his wife, Julie Andrews, doesn't know that, and much of the tension of the general story resides in if Newman can accomplish his mission, save his marriage, and get back to the west.

TORN CURTAIN found Hitchcock in flux. He had a final break with his long-time brilliant tempermental composer Bernard Hermann who wrote a tremendous score for the picture that Hitchcock threw out. Hitch was trying to adapt to changing 60's. He wanted the look of the movie, the sound of the movie, even the performances in the movie to be very modern. He and Paul Newman clashed constantly.

Yet, Hitch delivered one of the best sequences of his entire career in a midpoint sequence where Newman and another fellow spy have to kill a Communist agent with their bare hands and any tools they can find in a country kitchen. The sequence goes on for minutes and really shows what a horror it is to kill another human being. It is one of Hitch's most effective and terrifying sequences.

1972's FRENZY found Hitch, like many smart moviemakers, re-setting by making a movie that could utilize the storytelling and filmmaking tools most comfortable in Hitch's wheelhouse. Here Hitch returns to London to tell the triplicate stories of a serial killer, the innocent man on the run accused of the horrific murders, and the British investigators trying to figure out what's actually going on. In a way, FRENZY is a combination of 1930's British Hitchcock with 1950's/60's American Hitch.

FRENZY is generally considered Hitch's greatest late period film. Even in his 70's, Hitchcock manages to shock the audience with the violence, sex, and perversion of the killer and his methods. FRENZY in some ways presages the next wave of horror just a few years away in movies like Tobe Hooper's THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE. The movie also contains a classic shocking Hitchcock shot that still unsettles fifty years later.

The finale of the evening is also Hitchcock's feature finale, 1976's dark comedy of twists and turns FAMILY PLOT. Starring a who's who of mid-70's new American wave stars including Bruce Dern and Karen Black, FAMILY PLOT, scripted by NORTH BY NORTHWEST'S Ernst Lehman, it tells the story of two couples each scheming and deceiving to get their hands on inheritance and gems.

This also marks the only collaboration ever between Hitchcock and film composer John Williams (hot off JAWS). Williams has said his experience working with Hitchcock was tremendously satisfying and that even at 77, Hitch still had forward ideas about the use of music that were progressive at the time.

FAMILY PLOT is a deliciously nasty dish full of double crosses, disguises, shocking reveals that Hitchcock still managed to keep wildly entertaining. Since its release, many Hitch afficionados have come to recognize it as one of the master's most fun entertainments. Even Richard Linklater paid homage to it in DAZED AND CONFUSED by devoting his movie's one movie marquee to the Hitchcock film.

FAMILY PLOT also represents the end of an era and the beginning of a new period. A young Steven Spielberg had just broken out with a monster hit called JAWS (1975) that many recognized as owing a tremendous amount to the Hitchcock style and 1963's THE BIRDS. Spielberg's rise during Hitchcock's sunset showed that the filmmaking genius of the master would continue on in the apprentice.

As long as there are talented moviemakers who believe and commit to cinema, each generation of moviemakers will be able to pass the torch to the next generation of talent and keep the flame of cinema lit.

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?

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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.