The 2024 edition of our annual three-month series recreating the old-fashioned weekend matinee. Each week’s show offers a cliffhanger episode of a movie serial (shown complete and in order), plus a secret classic feature ̵ all on 16mm film.

This year, we presented Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars (1938), shown in “VerdanteVision” — an ultra-rare recreation of the green tinting of some of the original release prints.

Galactic dictator Ming the Merciless has escaped certain death and fled to Mars! Aided by the evil Queen Azura, Ming is destroying Earth as a mere stepping stone in a new war of interplanetary death and conquest! Intrepid Flash Gordon, steadfast Dale Arden, and super-genius Professor Zarkov once again fly between worlds and against all odds in a desperate bid to stop Ming’s ruthless campaign of fascist doom! Rarely screened, this second of the three Flash Gordon serials is considered among the best cliffhangers ever made.

Flash Gordon’s Trip to Mars is “a nearly ideal sequel...it’s also a nearly ideal serial. ...It balances good acting, atmosphere, action, and plotting in such fine style that it would still be a notable achievement if it were the sole entry in the Flash Gordon series.” – The Files of Jerry Blake

“The beauty of the film is that it manages to outshine its extremely primitive background and create a world of pure wonder.” – Moria Reviews

(Previously, we presented Flash Gordon (1936) in 2011. Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940) was shown for the first Secret Matinee series in 2008 and for the 10th anniversary edition in 2018.)

The secret features followed these bi-weekly themes... Jan. 6: Flash vs. Ming: The epic begins! Jan. 13 & 20: Forgotten British Sci-Fi (lost gems from across the pond). Jan. 27 & Feb. 3: Weimar Noir (dark tales from a dark time, by German masters). Feb. 10 & 17: Revenge Westerns (two legendary actors redefining the genre for grown-ups).Feb. 24 & Mar. 2: Deadly Intrigues (life or death plots and thrilling battles in the distant past). Mar. 9 & 16: Pulp Detectives Strike! (dime magazine faves in B-movie mysteries). Mar. 23 & 30: Kookoo for Kaiju (Japanese giant monster classics).