Location: Old St. Mary’s Church. Malcolm McDowell plays English writer H.G. Wells as he uses a time machine to travel into the future in pursuit of Jack the Ripper. The details of how they both end up in San Francisco in 1979 are complicated and not all that important. But the film takes advantage of the fact that they are there with location shots throughout the city, including Old St. Mary’s Cathedral, which dates to 1854 and was San Francisco’s first Catholic cathedral. An inscription on the clock tower reads, “Son, observe the time and fly from evil”—perhaps referring to the brothels that were across the street when the church was built. The traditional Red Mass for lawyers was held at Old St. Mary’s in 2010, when the ABA last met for an Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

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