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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 1931/1956/1981

Step back in time to see what our movie palaces were presenting in March 1931, 1956, and 1981. Also included is some interesting history about other area movie theaters and the Detroit Institute of Arts. Film titles are linked to the Internet Movie Database.

* 1931 * 1956 * 1981 *

1931

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 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).

In the Detroit Institute of Arts auditorium, Curator of Music Frank Bishop gave a series of Tuesday night concerts of music by composers like Frédéric Chopin and César Frank. In the galleries, the DIA exhibited drawings and paintings by Diego Rivera, who in 1932 would begin work on his Detroit Industry murals in the DIA.

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1956

Popular movies at the Redford included the melodramatic All That Heaven Allows (with Jane Wyman and Rock Hudson), The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (Gary Cooper), and The Rains of Ranchipur (Lana Turner). On Saturday afternoons, Special Kiddie Cartoon Parties promised "Loads of Cartoons...Lots of Fun!"

On March 1, the Fox Theatre presented the musical Carousel, which will get a 50th anniversary showing at the Redford on March 17 and 18, 2006. Carousel was described as the first motion picture in the new "richer, deeper, clearer" CinemaScope 55 format. Interestingly, another Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, Oklahoma! (1955) continued at the United Artists as "the first motion picture produced in Todd-AO [a 70-mm widescreen format]...the most revolutionary of all screen inventions!"

The auditorium of the Detroit Institute of Arts hosted a 1955 German film about World War II, The Devil's General. Also in the auditorium was the premiere of Summer Cinderella by the Grass Roots Opera group. Pro Musica Antiqua performed medieval, renaissance and baroque music on period instruments.

The Michigan Theater had the good luck to be showing The Rose Tattoo the week that the film's star, Anna Magnani, won a Best Actress Oscar for her performance. A week later, the Michigan hosted the other Oscar-winning lead performance of 1955—Ernest Borgnine in Marty. Meanwhile, Ann Arbor area moviegoers got an early start on summer with the opening of the Ypsi-Ann and Scio Drive-In Theatres on March 16.

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1981

The Detroit Film Theatre spanned the globe with films from Japan (Empire of Passion), Germany (The Left-Handed Woman) and Brazil (Bye Bye Brazil). Movie critic Jack Mathews of the Detroit Free Press described Bye Bye Brazil as "uplifting, life-affirming and frequently very funny in the midst of its melancholy tale."

The DFT also showed Tristana, directed by Spanish surrealist Luis Buñuel. On Sundays, DFT visitors enjoyed a series of 3-D movies, including Phantom of the Rue Morgue, Creature from the Black Lagoon, and a martial arts film, Dynasty.

The Classic Film Theatre of the Michigan Theatre (not yet "er") treated Ann Arbor audiences to such films as Jules and Jim (1962, France), The Quiet Man (1952), The Godfather: Part II (1974) and George (Star Wars) Lucas's 1971 science fiction film, THX 1138. The CFT also presented a feature length package of Warner Brothers Cartoon Comedies on Saturday, March 7.

The Michigan provided space for other film organizations, including the Motor City Theatre Organ Society (A Streetcar Named Desire), the Michigan Community Theatre Foundation (On the Town), the Cinema Guild (The Pink Panther) and the Ann Arbor Film Co-op (Rebecca).

At the Redford, film lovers admired Busby Berkeley's dramatic choreography in Gold Diggers of 1933. With the Academy Awards show coming up, Redford audiences enjoyed Humphrey Bogart's Oscar-winning performance in The African Queen (1951). In between the movies, internationally known organist Hector Olivera performed on March 14.

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