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Looking Back

April 1958

Step back in time to see what area movie theaters were presenting in April 1958. Film titles are linked to the Internet Movie Database.

For more information about these theaters, see Cinema Treasures or Water Winter Wonderland.

The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific with Rossano Brazzi and Mitzi Gaynor opened in Detroit at the United Artists on Wednesday, April 9, 1958. It had earlier opened in New York City on March 19, 1958.

At the United Artists, South Pacific succeeded The Gift of Love (Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack). The Detroit premiere of South Pacific benefited the Boys Town of Italy. It was attended by South Pacific star Mitzi Gaynor, who grew up in Detroit.

Other downtown Detroit movies when South Pacific opened were Raintree County (Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift, Eva Marie Saint) at the Adams; Touch of Evil (Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Orson Welles) and Day of the Badman (Fred MacMurray, John Ericson) at the Broadway Capitol; The Young Lions (Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift, Dean Martin) at the Fox; and The Bridge on the River Kwai (William Holden, Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins) at the Madison.

Also downtown were Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and The Missouri Traveler (Brandon De Wilde, Gary Merrill) at the Michigan; the Cinerama Search for Paradise at the Music Hall; Run Silent, Run Deep (Clark Gable, Burt Lancaster) and Fort Bowie (Kent Taylor, Jan Harrison) at the Palms; The Golden Age of Comedy at the Telenews; and Forbidden Desires at the Bijou.

Art house films included The Ladykillers and To Paris with Love at the Coronet and Surf; And God Created Woman (Brigitte Bardot) at the Trans-Lux Krim; and Razzia at the Studio and World.

The Redford was screening Peyton Place (Hope Lange, Lee Philips, Lana Turner) and the "People and Places" featurette Portugal. The Senate was showing The Enemy Below (Robert Mitchum, Curt Jurgens) and The Big Heat.

South Pacific played 47 weeks at the United Artists until March 2, 1959, before being replaced with Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty.

South Pacific began its second run on June 24, 1959, when it opened at the Birmingham, Circle, Fisher, Harper, Jewel, Mercury, and Wyandotte.

Ann Arbor audiences were treated to the opening of South Pacific at the State in September 1959.

Also playing in Ann Arbor when South Pacific opened were Middle of the Night (Kim Novak, Fredric March) at the Michigan and One Step to Eternity (Corinne Calvert, Danielle Darrieux, Michel Auclair) at the Campus.

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