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Looking Back

May 1957

Step back in time to see what our movie palaces were presenting in May 1957. Also included is interesting history about other area movie theaters. Film titles are linked to the Internet Movie Database.

For kids, the Redford was the place to be on Saturday afternoons. The Children's Matinee included Here Come the Marines, with the Bowery Boys (May 4); the Three Stooges and a "Big Tom and Jerry Cartoon Jamboree" (May 11); and the Little Rascals and Aladdin and His Lamp (May 25). Young fans also enjoyed a Walt Disney package of Westward Ho the Wagons! (with Fess Parker); Disneyland, U.S.A.; and Secrets of Life.

Adults flocked to the Redford for The Teahouse of the August Moon (Marlon Brando and Glenn Ford), on double bills with Gun for a Coward (Fred MacMurray and Jeffrey Hunter) and The Iron Petticoat (Bob Hope and Katharine Hepburn). John Wayne, John Ford and Maureen O'Hara teamed up in The Wings of Eagles. The Korean War, only four years in the past, was the setting for Men in War (Robert Ryan and Aldo Ray). And the walls shook for a double feature of Don't Knock the Rock (Bill Haley and the Comets) and Rumble on the Docks (James Darren).

Friday, May 10, brought a unique variety of films to the Butterfield Theatres in Ann Arbor. At the Michigan, Ben Gazzara ("The New Rage of the Teen-Agers") starred in The Strange One. The State hosted a science fiction double bill of Attack of the Crab Monsters and Not of this Earth (both directed by Roger Corman). The Campus presented an English language version of the Oscar-winning Italian film La Strada.

Also at the Michigan were both of the famous Hepburn ladies. Audrey and Fred Astaire appeared in the musical comedy/romance Funny Face, while Katharine and Spencer Tracy made their latest appearance together in Desk Set. Another crowdpleaser was The Bachelor Party (Don Murray). Cartoon fun came from Barbecue Brawl (Tom and Jerry), Boyhood Daze, Red Riding Hoodlum (Woody Woodpecker), and Matador Magoo.

Several now-classic movies opened in Detroit, including: Funny Face (Krim), 12 Angry Men (Michigan), Richard III (World and Studio), Desk Set (Fox), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (Palms) and A Face in the Crowd (Michigan).

Art film lovers flocked to the Coronet and Surf for "Detroit's Own and First" Internationale Film Fair, where the movies included double bills of The Bed (1954) and House of Pleasure (Le Plaisir) (1952); The Trouble with Harry (1955) and Trouble in Store (1953); Doctor in the House (1954) and Doctor at Sea (1955); and I Am a Camera (1955) and Sextette (1948).

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