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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

April 1932/1957/1982

Step back in time to see what our movie palaces were presenting in April 1932, 1957, and 1982. Also included is some interesting history about other area movie theaters. Film titles are linked to the Internet Movie Database.

* 1932 * 1957 * 1982 *

1932

Rising Paramount Studios star Claudette Colbert made two stops at the Michigan, in The Wiser Sex and Misleading Lady. Patrons who saw George Arliss in The Man Who Played God also heard a live performance by the University of Michigan Glee Club. The ad for the movie Play Girl (starring Loretta Young) asked, "Could the Sin that Wrecked Our Marriage Save My Baby's Life?" Ernst Lubitsch directed Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald in One Hour with You. Spencer Tracy ("Screen's New Comedy Sensation") appeared in Sky Devils.

The Saturday morning children's programming at the Michigan on April 2, 1932 included the movie Alice in Wonderland, along with Charley Chase in The Nickel Nurser, the comedy Hollywood Luck, and a Flip the Frog cartoon. "...it would seem that parents may feel assured it [Alice in Wonderland] is just the sort of thing for which they have been calling," wrote Allison Ind in the April 1, 1932 Ann Arbor Daily News. "The picture completely passed the local school committee censorship board and has its unqualified approval."

Hollywood families were a big part of the Redford schedule. Joan Bennett starred with Spencer Tracy in the drama She Wanted a Millionaire, while sister Constance played a Lady with a Past. Brothers John and Lionel Barrymore headlined the mystery Arsène Lupin, with Jack Dempsey and Laurel & Hardy movies also on the bill. Detroit area families enjoyed the Big Children's Party on Saturday, April 9, which included a circus on the Redford stage and the feature Behind the Mask (starring Jack Holt).

Other top Redford attractions included the adventure Hell Divers (Wallace Beery and Clark Gable) and Shanghai Express, which was star Marlene Dietrich's "biggest American success with a gross of over $3 million" (David Shipman, The Great Movie Stars). Patrons didn't wait until the next day to see Tomorrow and Tomorrow (Ruth Chatterton and Paul Lukas) or After Tomorrow (Charles Farrell). The bargain evening price of 15 cents from 6:15 to 6:45 p.m. gave patrons relief from the Great Depression with comedies like Business and Pleasure (Will Rogers) and Fireman, Save My Child (Joe E. Brown).

The United Artists theater in Detroit hosted the openings of Tarzan the Ape Man (April 2) and Scarface (April 22). About Scarface, movie critic Ella H. McCormick of The Detroit Free Press wrote (on April 22, 1932), "Judged as a motion picture production, and not as a social preachment, it is acted with a high degree of talent, is keenly and effectively directed, splendidly photographed and produced with every regard for the utmost in realism."

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1957

Fans of Rock Hudson and Yul Brynner had much to enjoy at the Redford. April started with a held-over run of Giant, starring Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean. Next up was Brynner in his Oscar-winning Best Actor performance in the The King and I (also at the Redford in October 1956). Then came Hudson's latest movie, the drama Battle Hymn, with Martha Hyer. Brynner later co-starred with the other lead acting Oscar winner of 1956—Ingrid Bergman in Anastasia.

Also earning long runs at the Redford were the western The Big Land (Alan Ladd and Virginia Mayo) and The Girl Can't Help It, with Jayne Mansfield, Tom Ewell and Julie London (along with music from Fats Domino, Little Richard, Gene Vincent and The Platters). Children enjoyed the Easter Fun Show, which included Tarzan's Hidden Jungle (1955) and five Bugs Bunny cartoons. Kids also flocked to a Saturday matinee of The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (1946) and Fangs of the Arctic (1953, with Chinook the Wonder Dog).

In Ann Arbor, the Butterfield Theatres movie chain of the Michigan, State and recently opened Campus promoted itself with advertising like "A Shower of Hits as Bright and Fresh as Spring Itself" and "Go Modern...Go Movie! See a New 1957 Movie at Its Best in a Motion Picture Theatre!"

The Michigan had films for both ladies (Designing Woman, with Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall) and gentlemen (Men in War, starring Robert Ryan and Aldo Ray). Children enjoyed a re-release of Walt Disney's Cinderella (1950), which opened a few days after a TV version of the same story with Julie Andrews. The 30th anniversary of Charles Lindbergh's famous Atlantic flight was marked by The Spirit of St. Louis, which starred Jame Stewart and was directed by Billy Wilder.

Art film in the Detroit area included the Detroit premiere at the Surf and Coronet of Gina Lollobrigida in Woman of Rome (1955). The World and Studio showed Akira Kurosawa's The Magnificent Seven (1954, now called The Seven Samurai). At the Krim, Jose Ferrer starred in The Great Man. Also on the bill were the 1956 Academy Award-nominated cartoons Magoo's Puddle Jumper (the winner), Gerald McBoing! Boing! on Planet Moo and The Jaywalker. The Temple Art Cinema hosted the midwest premiere of Golden Demon (1953). The Campus in Ann Arbor showed Diabolique (1955).

The Ten Commandments finished its fifth month at the Madison in Detroit with extra Easter Week showings at 10 a.m. to go with the daily 2:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. screenings.

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1982

The Detroit Film Theatre presented The Aviator's Wife (1981), from French director Eric Rohmer, "who likes to listen to his clusters of human, flirtatious, usually inquisitive but often perplexed characters" (Lawrence DeVine, Detroit Free Press, April 16, 1982). Also at the DFT were two performance films—The Hungry i Reunion (1981), about comics in San Francisco in the 1950s and 1960s, and The Last Waltz (1978), which immortalized the last concert of The Band.

Other foreign language films at the DFT included the Japanese/Portuguese Gaijin (1980); The Bridge (1959, Germany);and Camouflage (1977, Poland). On Sundays, Alfred Hitchcock directed Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Lifeboat (1944), Spellbound (1945) and Notorious (1946). The always popular 3-D process was featured in Gun Fury (1953). The Japanese film series of the Afternoon Film Theatre included Yasujiro Ozu's The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice (1952) and Keisuke Kinoshita's Twenty-Four Eyes (1954).

On April 2-3, Redford visitors enjoyed an early spring Picnic (1955) with William Holden, Kim Novak, Rosalind Russell and Susan Strasberg. Two weeks later (April 16-17), Holden appeared again, in Born Yesterday (1950), with Judy Holliday, who earned a Best Actress Oscar. That same award went to Claudette Colbert in It Happened One Night (April 30 and May 1). This 1934 comedy also won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director (Frank Capra) and Best Actor (Clark Gable). On April 24, organist Dennis James accompanied the silent film Wings (1927).

With another University of Michigan school year winding down, the Classic Film Theatre at the Michigan showed a double bill of The Graduate (1967) and The Paper Chase (1973). The Michigan also hosted the Netherlands America University League, which screened Tiro (1979), Charlotte (1981), and Martin and the Magician (1979). The Michigan Nuclear Weapon Freeze Campaign presented a double bill of Fail-Safe (1964) and The War Game (1965).

Live events at the Michigan included the University of Michigan Mime Troupe and bluegrass music from The McLain Family Band. On Friday April 16, the Spring "Radio City at the Michigan" show included society music from the Ann Arbor Chamber Orchestra, comedian Michael Tait, organist Henry Aldridge and the movie The Shop Around the Corner (1940).

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