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!
Home
Upcoming Films
| DFT | |
| Michigan | |
| Redford |
Detroit Film Theatre
| Essay | |
| Fact Sheet | |
| Website | |
| Blog Entries | |
| Images | |
| Videos | |
| Reviews |
Michigan Theater
| Essay | |
| Fact Sheet | |
| Website | |
| Blog Entries | |
| Images | |
| Videos | |
| Reviews |
Redford Theatre
| Essay | |
| Fact Sheet | |
| Website | |
| Blog Entries | |
| Images | |
| Videos | |
| Reviews |
Lobby
| Blog | |
| Links | |
| Looking Back | |
| Other Venues | |
| Opening Dates | |
| Silent Films | |
| Site Author |
Looking Back
July 1931
Step back in time to see what area movie theaters were presenting in July 1931. Film titles are linked to the Internet Movie Database.
For more information about these theaters, see Cinema Treasures or Water Winter Wonderland.
When
the 1930/31 Academy Awards were announced on November 10, 1931, the lead acting
winners were familiar to visitors to the Michigan Theater on Monday, July
13, 1931. That evening, Lionel Barrymore starred in the drama A
Free Soul, while Marie Dressler lit up the screen in the Guest
Night bonus movie Min
and Bill.
Also
appearing at the Michigan was James Cagney in The
Public Enemy, "a picture so startling in its reality, so
devastating in its truth—it will leave you breathless." Ten
years before Humphrey Bogart appeared in the classic The
Maltese Falcon,
an earlier
version of the film screened at the Michigan, starring Bebe Daniels
and Ricardo Cortez.
At
the Redford, 14 different feature films appeared in 31 days. Enjoying
"long" runs (three days) at the Redford were The
Secret Six,
with Wallace Beery; Laughing
Sinners (which reunited Joan Crawford and Clark Gable); Seed
(with operetta singer John Boles and Bette Davis in her second movie);
and Five
and Ten (Marion Davies and Leslie Howard).
The
Redford was part of the Publix Greater Talkie Theatres chain, which also
included the Annex (Grand River near Joy), Birmingham (Old Woodward near
Maple), Royal Oak (4th St. and Washington Ave.), Alhambra (Woodward and
Kenilworth), Century (14th St. and W. Grand Blvd.); Tuxedo (Hamilton and
Tuxedo); Riviera (Grand River and Joy); and Ramona (Gratiot and Six Mile).
These
neighborhood movie houses showed films that often screened first at the
larger downtown Publix Shows theaters: the Fisher (Grand Boulevard at
Second); Paramount (Broadway at Grand Circus Park); Michigan (Bagley near
Grand Circus Park); United Artists (Bagley at Grand Circus Park); and
State (Woodward near Grand Circus Park).
