GREAT PRODUCTION DESIGN #4: Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 masterpiece REAR WINDOW was built by art director Joseph MacMillan Johnson & shot on Paramount's Stage 18. What's amazing is how an NYC apt is SUGGESTED but not completely shown. We fill in the gaps with our imagination.

GREAT PRODUCTION DESIGN #3: TWIN PEAKS' red room came to David Lynch in a vision when he puts his arms on a hot car roof. What it shows is that even a relatively simple design (curtains, floor, couches, stature, lamp) guided by subconscious vision can evoke entire other worlds.

GREAT PRODUCTION DESIGN #2: Powell & Pressburger's 1947 masterpiece BLACK NARCISSUS focuses on nuns in a Himalayan pleasure palace turned convent. The ENTIRE movie was shot on London soundstages with matte paintings and model work. One of the greatest movie magic tricks ever.

SMC Pod #214: Casablanca-A Case Study. Today we take a deep dive into the pre-production, production, and release of an all-time classic that shows what the studio systems could produce at their best: secretmovieclub.podbean.com/e/casablanca...

AMAZING PRODUCTION DESIGN: Akira Kurosawa's 1963 crime thriller classic HIGH AND LOW is a master class in how to use sets, locations, production design to externalize psychology. What's one of your favorite examples of art direction?

SMC 2026 NEW WEBSITE LAUNCH: secretmovieclub.com Sign up for a free account & help us beta-test ahead of our 2026 ticket launch! If you catch a glitch, email us at [email protected] & get free ticket to upcoming event. Because cinema is better together.

TOMORROW 10a (for newsletter subscribers) 1p for social media, we make our 1st big announcement. 2026 is our 10th year anniversary. And we want to do something big with cinema and dare we say it: fellowship. Sign up for newsletter to get first chance: lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/u3kseHu/s...

Rest in peace Hindi musical superstar Asha Bosle (1933-2026). If you've seen a classic "Bollywood" movie, you've probably heard Ms. Bosle's singular voice. She recorded over 12,000 songs (!!!). Check out this all-timer from 1971 "Dum Maro Dum". Cinema and Asha Bosle forever!

MOVIE MEME MONDAY: There's logic to this science. At the same time, it points out just how powerful the LORD OF THE RINGS story is that we don't notice.

GREAT DIALOGUE: CASABLANCA (1942) In just over one minute, there are multiple lines of truly sparkling dialogue. Courtesy here of twin screenwriters Julius & Phillip Epstein (with assists from others who worked on different aspects of the script). An art to be rediscovered.

ANNOUNCEMENT NEXT WEEK, SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTER! lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/u3kseHu/s... It's always an adventure. We have announcements. Our 10th anniversary season. Edge of your seat. Sign up for newsletter here. Then check your inbox Tues 4/14/26 @ 1p PDT. More to come.

SMC Notebooks Thursdays: When sexual yearning meets fatalistic politics. Andrzej Wajda's 1958 masterpiece ASHES & DIAMONDS: boxd.it/djby8F

GREAT EDITING PART #2: Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein produced editing effects rarely equalled. His "Odessa Steps" sequence BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (1925) cross cuts from macro to detail shots across 2-3 planes of action to vividly communicate state violence against the innocent

Movie Meme Monday April 6, 2026: This review of MIDSOMMAR speaks volumes...

GREAT CINEMATOGRAPHY PART #3: Michael Ballhaus THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST (1988). Scorsese & Ballhaus shot 3 page days across a break-neck 58 day schedule. Still they produced expressive, powerful shots. Proving determination & craft can produce art on a low budget. youtu.be/lZ_r2Q0FQ1A?...

NEW MOVIE NOTEBOOK WRITING THURSDAY! In the mood for some late 1970's new wave Estonian sci-fi noir? Of course you are. Check out our thoughts on DEAD MOUNTAINEER'S HOTEL: boxd.it/dekMbh

GREAT CINEMATOGRAPHY PART #1: Check out this short William Wyler 1946 classic THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES clip shot by all-time ace DP Gregg Toland. The dynamic shot selection, lighting, subjective POV makes the psychology come alive. What's your favorite Toland movie?

Monday Movie Meme: We have to admit. . .we've seen both these movies. So maybe Netflix's algorithm isn't totally off...

THE WELLES "ONER": Another amazing practitioner of the movie "oner" is Orson Welles. Check out this CITIZEN KANE oner. Welles and cinematographer Gregg Toland use deep focus and theatrical overlapping dialogue to keep pace propulsive. The power is in the simplicity and strength.

THE SPIELBERG ONER: Possibly our favorite director when it comes to "oners" (single shots that cover pages of a scene) is Steven Spielberg. Watch this famous oner from 1981's RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. You never realize it's a single shot. And yet the choreography is stunning.

New movie writing Thursday: Who do you love? THE SECRET AGENT (wri & dir by Kleber Mendonça Filho, w/ Wagner Moura, Brazil, 161mns, 2025): letterboxd.com/secretmoviec...

WHAT ANIME MOVIE DO YOU WANT TO SEE ON THE BIG SCREEN? We're working to launch new events asap and some may be anime movies. We'd love to hear the ones you need to see on a big screen with a theater full of people. Deep cuts welcome!

MOVIE QUESTION: What movie hits were 1st thought disasters? 1977's STAR WARS had a horrible rough cut screening leaving everyone but Steven Spielberg thinking the movie would fail. Lucas & his editors Marcia Lucas & Paul Hirsch solved it by cutting 22mns & focusing on emotion.

Movie quote Mondays: William Wyler on what makes a great director they "must have in order to make a good film...two things...a passion for [their] subject and a knowledge of [their] craft."

Sunday Classics: Great 27mn William Wyler interview from the 1970's. Wyler talks about what it takes to make great movies and be a great director: youtu.be/T-AilT6gkPA?...

Saturdays "How to": create amazing on-screen chemistry. John Goodman talks about how he and Jeff Bridges used different acting techniques to create the relationship between Walter Sobchak and the Dude in THE BIG LEBOWSKI: youtu.be/fIn__-kfa0E?...

New Movie Pod Fridays! SMC Pod #213: Ken Loach & his 1969 masterpiece KES: secretmovieclub.podbean.com/e/kes-ken-lo...

NEW MOVIE WRITING THURSDAYS! Film as poetic diary. DIARIES, NOTES, AND SKETCHES aka WALDEN (shot, edit by Jonas Mekas, 1968, 177mns, USA): boxd.it/cVLYol

What does everyone think of the DUNE 3 trailer? We've never read DUNE: MESSIAH. But we've heard it's a kind of "anti-epic" that dispels all the messiah myths that often take over books, movies. We're excited to see that as a big movie. Here's trailer: youtu.be/3_9vCamtuPY?...

WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE PEDRO ALMODOVAR MOVIE & WHY? With Almodovar's BITTER CHRISTMAS around the corner, we think about our favorites. While we have several, his 2004 BAD EDUCATION (starring a daring Gael Garcia Bernal) still feels like a bracing, dark, honest masterpiece.

Normally we post a Monday movie quote. But this meme feels like truth:

Classics Sunday: Great 6mn interview with one of the great actors of all time, Toshiro Mifune. Here Mifune (through an interpreter) explains the key to playing any character-hero, anti-hero, villain. Finding the element that brings out their humanity youtu.be/4hLfxFj8iIY?...

MOVIE "HOW TO" SATURDAYS: David Lynch explains the "Eye of the Duck" scene necessary and found in all great movies. Stick with this because at first it sounds confusing and then you realize he's absolutely right: youtu.be/N-OeCYaZgT4?...

New movie podcast Fridays! SMC Pod #212: Luis Buñuel, L'Age d'Or secretmovieclub.podbean.com/e/luis-bunue...

New movie writing Thursdays: Ingmar Bergman's 1966 PERSONA, the revolutionary movie that launched a thousand variations from THREE WOMEN to MULHOLLAND DRIVE: boxd.it/cCJ2Sn

ANIMATED MOVIE QUESTION: What other animated movies are as emotionally devastating and profound as Isao Takahata's 1988 GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES?

Upcoming podcast movie question: What are your thoughts on Spanish moviemaker Luis Buñuel, often considered one of the great directors? We'll be releasing a podcast on him this Fri 3/13/26 and we want to hear your thoughts. We'll read and discuss many of your comments on pod.

Movie Quote Monday: Chantal Ackerman "I went at 4:30 in the morning to a café...And it was another city... Totally different than where I go every day....It's my street, suddenly different at 5:00 in the morning. I can shoot for one week. That's enough to make a movie."

Classic Sundays: Great Martin Scorsese intro to the shocking 1945 technicolor noir LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN starring Gene Tierney. A discovery for any movie lover: share.google/K2Xqosuo58N4...

ARTICLE ABOUT MOVIES & AI: Here's a quick read and interesting @TheWeek article on how moviemakers are using AI in interesting creative ways. And if you're still interested in the topic, check out our podcast on AI which just posted yesterday: theweek.com/culture-life...

New movie podcast Fridays! SMC Pod #211: Movies & AI: secretmovieclub.podbean.com/e/will-ai-ki...

Movie writing Thursdays! A 1950's genre look at American racism in John Sturges' BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK (1955): boxd.it/czsr1d

NEW MOVIE QUESTION: Are you looking forward to PROJECT HAIL MARY and why/why not? We've been impressed with Chris Lord and Phil Miller ever since 2009's CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS. Auteurs we say. What say you?

UPCOMING PODCAST QUESTION: What are your thoughts on what AI means for the movie industry? A recent AI deepfake of Brad Pitt fighting Tom Cruise caused a lot of chatter. We'll include many of your comments in our podcast which comes out this Fri 3/6/26. We value your takes.

MOVIE QUOTE MONDAYS: Paddy Chayevsky "My rage isn't against television; it's against the dehumanization of people. People say to me, 'Jesus, you moved into some pretty surreal stuff', and I say 'No, I still write realistic stuff. It's the world that's turned into a satire."

Classic Movie Sunday: Trailer from the very funny and sadly prescient WAG THE DOG (1997) about how a president caught in a sex scandal starts a war to distract from his own problems: youtu.be/steA_PZPkc8?...

Rolling Stone's Top 20 movies about politics. They're all US made so missing essentials like BATTLE OF ALGIERS, Z, FOUR LIONS, SALVATORE GIULIANO, etc. But still great recs to watch. Hal Ashby's & Peter Seller's BEING THERE is always a brilliant gem: www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv...

NEW COEN BROTHERS INTERVIEW! Here's an 8mn excerpt from a new Joel & Ethan Coen Criterion interview about THE MAN WHO WASN'T THERE (2001). For all of us praying for a new Coen Brothers' movie this feels like a good omen: youtu.be/lZsFA8-ypBU?...

New movie writing Thursdays: SENTIMENTAL VALUE (co-wri & dir by Joachim Trier, w/Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skaarsgard, Elle Fanning, 133mns, Norway/France/Germany/Denmark/UK, 2025): boxd.it/cqZB0p

New Movie question: Should we get our hopes up for Spielberg's DISCLOSURE DAY? There is a lot of movement to disclose more about UAP's & extraterrestrial life at this moment. Thoughts?! Spielberg says there's a "guarantee" there's life off this planet: youtu.be/cYXOEjB85HQ?...