Detroit
Movie Palaces
The Film Programs of the Detroit
Film Theatre, Michigan Theater and Redford Theatre
The Film Programs of the Detroit Film Theatre, Michigan Theater and Redford Theatre
Your Guide to Classic Movie Theater Fun!
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Looking Back
March 1931
Step back in time to see what our movie palaces were presenting in March 1931. Also included is interesting history about other area movie theaters. Film titles are linked to the Internet Movie Database.
The
Michigan Theater showed new movies every Thursday and Sunday, including
the gangster thriller Little
Caesar. Also appearing were movies with silent film stars whose
fame faded in the new world of Talkies, like Buster Keaton (Parlor,
Bedroom and Bath), Clara Bow (No
Limit) and John Gilbert (Gentleman's
Fate).
A night at the Michigan included music
by organist Bob Howland, whose picture
now appears among the historical photos in the Grand Foyer of the Michigan.
You can read more about Howland on the web
site of current Michigan organist Steven Ball.
At
the Redford, audiences enjoyed The
Bat Whispers, an early widescreen film that influenced the Batman
comic book, and which was revived at the Detroit Film Theatre in 2000.
Redford visitors also saw 1924 and 1928 Olympic swimming champion Johnny
Weissmuller in a "Swimming Novelty" film, one year before he hit the big
screen as Tarzan
the Ape Man.
"During the last few weeks, Detroit audiences
have witnessed initial attempts to inject national advertising into motion
picture programmes," wrote M. W. Mountjoy of the Detroit Times
on March 8. "This reporter saw two [in the form
of cartoons]. In both cases the reaction of the audience was obvious disapproval."
Mountjoy also noted that product placement in movies was increasing.
Opening in Detroit on March 20 at the RKO
Downtown was the horror
classic Dracula
("Gasping Heights of Passion and Thrills"). Visitors to the Michigan Theater
in Detroit (Bagley near Grand Circus Park) were treated to double bills
of movies and live music (Duke Ellington, Rudy Vallee).
