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 Filmgoing!
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Explore
theater history Gaylord Carter Plays at Redford (May 1981) |
Look What's Coming!
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Get
a world of laughs at the Alliance
Francaise Comedy Film Shorts Series at the DFT
May 31.
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Learn more about the grieving process in the documentary Transforming
Loss at the Michigan
May 30.
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The renovated Redford re-opens with Julie Andrews flying high as Mary Poppins July 12-13. |
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Looking Back
October 1931
Step back in time to see what area movie theaters were presenting in October 1931. Film titles are linked to the Internet Movie Database.
For more information about these theaters, see Cinema Treasures or Water Winter Wonderland.
"The
1931 Nut Crop is Ready!" shouted The Ann Arbor Daily News
about the Oct. 18 Michigan opening of Monkey
Business, with The 4 Marx Brothers (Groucho, Harpo, Chico and
Zeppo). "The plot, to be sure, is warped and twisted around the fantastic
capers of the riotous brothers until it looks as though it had been put
through a wringing machine," wrote Allison Ind in the Oct. 17
News (video courtesy of TCM).
The
Michigan also had stage shows with its movies, including a twin bill of
New York musical comedy star Roy Cummings live in One Afternoon
and Joe E. Brown in the movie Broadminded.
Comedian Frank Libuse, "The Colonel of American Nuts in Command of
a Regiment of Laughs!" shared the spotlight with the film Guilty
Hands (Lionel Barrymore). And movie star Fifi D'Orsay used her
time between films to include the Michigan on a personal tour.
"The
composite heroine of the confession films of the early Thirties was a
woman who gave up her chastity in cold blood," wrote Richard Griffith
and Arthur Mayer in the 1957 book The Movies. The Redford twice
presented the Queen of the Confession Film, Constance Bennett, in The
Common Law and Bought.
Other popular Redford movies were The
Smiling Lieutenant (Maurice Chevalier and Claudette Colbert) and
Bad Girl
("A Human Life Story!"), with Sally Eilers and James Dunn.
On
Oct. 1, the Publix theater chain that included the Redford opened its
newest neighborhood theater—the Eastown (Harper at Van Dyke). Sporting
Blood, with Clark Gable, was the opening night attraction. "Three
New Shows Every Week!" read the Detroit News ad for the theater.
"Tremendous multi-featured shows that have made Publix entertainment
famous the world over! At new low prices!" (15 cents afternoons,
25 cents weekday evenings, 35 cents weekend evenings, and always 10 cents
for children).
In
downtown Detroit, the Paramount hosted two of the most publicized movies
of the month. Oct. 8 saw the world premiere of Susan
Lenox (Her Fall and Rise), with Greta Garbo and Clark Gable ("The
Stars of the Hour in the Year's Greatest Screen Event!"). Three weeks
later, this film gave way to Frank Capra's Platinum
Blonde, starring Loretta Young and Jean Harlow.
