Flick flock

Alex Coolman

It’s hard to picture Peter Lorre and Cary Grant hanging around

together on the beach, but that’s what happened last weekend when Newport

Dunes showed Frank Capra’s “Arsenic and Old Lace” at the sandy edge of

the Back Bay.

The 1944 movie of grandmotherly poisoners and their unwitting

Brooklynite victims flickered on the Dunes’ waterside screen as part of

an ongoing series of Saturday evening films. It’s a program of screenings

that started as a treat for long-term motor home residents of the resort,

said Michele Butterworth, activities coordinator for the area’s RV park.

But the screenings, which have been running for about five years, have

gradually become more popular than organizers originally expected,

drawing in residents from surrounding neighborhoods with the lure of

entertaining drama and the Dunes’ tranquil beaches.

“It was just kind of something that we wanted to be able to offer to

the RV guests,” Butterworth said. “It just kind of spread out. We started

getting so many people that were having fun and enjoying it.”

The movies are shown at dusk, the small screen on which they are

played glowing brightly as the light of the sky fades into darkness.

Attendance varies from week to week, but has been as high as 130 people,

Butterworth said.

“It’s like going to the drive-in,” she said. “You just bring you lawn

chair. You sit down on the sand.”

For the viewer, the outdoor screening adds an extra dollop of drama to

the overall moviegoing experience. Not only is the movie on display, but

the other people in the audience are part of the show as well. The

silhouettes of parents and children and the occasional pet stand out

against the backdrop of water, sky and palm trees.

The movies that are shown are often fairly light entertainment.

Earlier in the summer, titles like “Operation Dumbo Drop” and “Willy

Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” greeted beachside cinephiles.

For the Halloweenish month of October, though, Butterworth has put

together a special program of movies that are appropriately frightening.

Last week’s showing of “Arsenic and Old Lace” is merely the tip of the

the iceberg of terror, with “Dial ‘M’ for Murder” coming Saturday, the

truly scary “Wait Until Dark” showing the following week and “Rear

Window” slated for the final Saturday of the month.

“I thought I’d theme the whole month around Hitchcock and suspenseful

movies,” Butterworth said. “I thought, ‘Let’s give it a try.”

Michele Sinagra, who is visiting Newport Dunes from Las Vegas along

with her husband, Daniel, and her 8-year-old daughter, Gabriela, wandered

into last week’s screening while walking her dog. Sinagra watched a few

minutes of the movie, but felt certain that this week’s offering would

probably be more compelling than what she saw.

“When I saw ‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ I thought ‘Oh, [Gabriela] would

never go for that,” Sinagra said.

“It’s something for the retirees to watch during the week.”

But if Peter Lorre’s acting didn’t prove particularly thrilling for

Sinagra, the backdrop was something she nevertheless found impressive.

“It was nice,” she said. “You can see the water and you’re sitting on

the beach.”

Diane Peterson, who usually stays at Newport Dunes for four or five

months at a time along with her husband, Dan, has attended a number of

the screenings the resort has held through the summer.

“We enjoy it,” Peterson said. “It’s a fun family time.”

Peterson has taken her 10-year-old and 9-year-old grandchildren along

to the screenings, but leaves her 3-year-old grandson with his parents.

“He doesn’t go to the movie, because he won’t sit there that long,”

Peterson said.

This month’s creepy programming will conclude Newport Dunes’ season of

movies as the resort scales back its activities for the winter months.

But Butterworth has saved the best for last: where “Operation Dumbo Drop”

had little more to recommend it than the appearance of Ray Liotta, the

final movies in her series are classics of scary cinema.

“I’m looking forward to this month, because I want to see how these

movies are received,” Butterworth said.

None of the final flicks is rated beyond PG-13, but they all manage to

be quite spooky within the limitations of their ratings. Less of a family

movie than what the Dunes’ screened in summer but an unquestionably

exciting offering is Terence Young’s 1967 thriller “Wait Until Dark.” The

film features Audrey Hepburn as a blind woman who is terrorized in her

apartment by the psychotic Alan Arkin.

The movie is horrifying enough when viewed in the comfort of a theater

or a living room. In the context of the outdoor showing, where mysterious

shadows lurk in the distance, Arkin’s performance should have Dunes

visitors seeing ghosts between the motor homes.

Fright fans need only bring their beach chairs and their courage.

Then, of course, they’ll need to wait until dark.

WHAT: “Family Flicks” at Newport Dunes Resort

WHERE: 1131 Backbay Drive, Newport Beach

WHEN: Saturdays in October. Movies start at dusk.

HOW MUCH: Parking is $7 per car. The movies are free.

PHONE: (949) 729-DUNE