January 1958
Step back in time to see what area movie theaters
were presenting in January 1958. Film titles are linked to the
Internet Movie Database.
For more information about these theaters,
see Cinema
Treasures or Water
Winter Wonderland.
"Look
to The Giant Screen For The Finest Entertainment You'll See in 1958!"
read the Butterfield theaters ad in the January 3, 1958 Ann Arbor News.
The Butterfield chain included the Michigan, whose top attraction in January
was Pal
Joey, starring Rita Hayworth, Frank Sinatra, and Kim Novak.
Also
popular at the Michigan was Don't
Go Near the Water, with Glenn Ford. The month began with Legend
of the Lost (John Wayne, Sophia Loren, and Rossano Brazzi). It
ended with the Walt Disney movie Old
Yeller (Dorothy McGuire, Fess Parker), which enjoyed critical
and financial success and was "the first of innumerable Disney projects
about a boy and his dog." (The Disney Films, Leonard Maltin).
On January 13, the Michigan hosted José
Greco and his company of Spanish dancers.
At
the Redford, the first week of 1958 brought the final days of a three-week
run of the 1956 blockbuster The
Ten Commandments. Patrons then enjoyed a
midwinter taste of April
Love (Pat Boone, Shirley Jones). Two future
television stars (Robert Wagner and Joan Collins) headlined Stopover
Tokyo, on a double bill with Joanne Woodward's Oscar-winning lead
performance in The
Three Faces of Eve.
Other
attractions at the Redford were Operation
Mad Ball (Jack Lemmon, Mickey
Rooney, Ernie Kovacs); The
Hunchback of Notre Dame (Gina Lollobrigida, Anthony Quinn); The
Tin Star (Henry Fonda, Anthony Perkins); The
Sad Sack (Jerry Lewis, Phyllis Kirk); and a star-studded double
feature of My
Man Godfrey (June Allyson,
David Niven) and Man
of a Thousand Faces (James
Cagney, Dorothy Malone). The Saturday children's matinee included an afternoon
of the science fiction movie Conquest
of Space (1955) and three cartoons each starring Popeye, Bugs
Bunny, and Tom & Jerry.
"Don't
look for Gallic subtlety here," wrote Detroit News movie reviewer
Al Weitschat on January 19 about ...And
God Created Woman, starring Brigitte Bardot. "The idea is
to exploit sex and it's done relentlessly and obviously." This film
was the first feature at the re-named Trans-Lux Krim, which had been purchased
by Trans-Lux Theaters (Detroit News, January 12, 1958).
In
Detroit theaters, Peyton
Place (Fox) and Sayonara
(Michigan) continued strong runs after opening at the end of 1957. And
ads announced that very long runs would soon end for the 1956 movies Around
the World in 80 Days (United Artists) and
the Cinerama feature Seven
Wonders of the World (Music Hall).
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