Cine Marilia & Cine São Luiz ads - 1935 & 1962

Theatro São Luiz, owned by Empreza Cinematographica de Marília in an ad at 'Correio de Marília' announces the projection of Cecil B.De Mille's 'Cleopatra' with Claudette Colbert playing the title-role on Saturday, 25 May 1935. The Hollywood super-production opened in New York on 16 August 1934. On 1st May 1935, Cine São Luiz showed Raoul Wash's 1933's 'Sailor's luck' (Sorte de marinheiro); on 2nd May, it showed 'We're not dressing' (Cupido ao leme) a pre-Code screw-ball comedy with Carole Lombard & Bing Crosby (26 April 1934); on 4 May it showed RKO's 'Son of Kong' (O filho de King Kong) which opened in the USA on 22nd December 1933; on 5 May 1935, Cine São Luiz showed 'Baby, take a bow' (A queridinha da família) with Shirley Temple (opened in the US on 30 June 1934); on 6 May it showed a pre-Code crime-film, UFA's 'The Crosby case' (Quem matou o Dr. Crosby?); on 7 May 1935 it showed 'Gold' (Ouro), a German science-fiction flick which was hailed as 'bigger than 'Metropolis'); on 8 May 1935, Cine São Luiz showed MGM's 'Hell below' (Além do inferno) with Roberto Montgomery, Walter Huston & Jimmy Durante, which opened in the USA on 9 June 1933; on 9 May 1935, it showed Randolph Scott in Paramount's 'Last round-up' (Último assalto); on 12 May 1935, it showed Richard Barthelmess in 'Massacre' which opened in the US on 20 January 1934.

Marilia-SP in June 1962 had two movie-theatres. 

Cine Sao Luiz showed pictures every day at 2:00, 7:30 and 10:30 PM. On Sundays, Cine S.Luiz's sessions were at 2:00, 4:00, 6:00, 8:00 and 10:00 PM. 

On week-days Cine Marilia's only session started at 7:00 PM - on Tuesdays and Fridays it had a 2nd session starting at 9:00 PM. Cine Marilia's sessions were half-an-hour earlier than Cine S.Luiz's for a reason: the same 'national-complements' made up of Brazilian newsreels, trailers and short documentaries were shown first at one cinema (at the corner of Avenida Sampaio Vidal and rua Campos Salles) and then rushed off to the other theatre (S.Luiz) on rua 9 de Julho to be projected once again. 

Fourteen-year-old Mauricio Diniz who used to work as a factotum at both cinemas told us how he got hold of those just-projected-reels at Cine Marilia that were as-hot-as-fire, put them on a trolley and hushed them down Rua 9 de Julho to get to Cine S.Luiz on time for them to be projected again at 7:30.

As Marilia is located 500 km away from the capital-city of Sao Paulo it wasn't able to get TV signals broadcast from the metropolis that only reached a 90-km-radius around it. So the only way of nightly entertainment for Marilienses - apart from going to church, visiting relatives and friends or staying home to listen to Rio de Janeiro radio stations or the 3 local broacasters - was to go to the movies. And Marilienses went to the movies in droves. Both theatres were usually packed nightly. 

Going to the movies in Marilia in 1962 - and up to the advent of TV - was almost like a religious ritual. People would meet neighbours, acquaintances and even relatives at the cinema. They waved to each other nodding their heads just before the lights went out. Some people started relationships at the movies, others ended long-engagements and so on. 

Marilia, being a small city in the 1950s and 1960s with around 60,000 inhabitants had only 2 regular movie theatres which regularly packed to capacity almost daily. Maybe Mondays were not so hot but Sundays were their best day starting at 1:00 PM with a double-featured session plus a serial for kids who stamped the grounds of the theatre when the bell sounded announcing the start of Sunday's programme.

Actually, there was smaller outfit called Cine Juventude Católica located on Rua Sergipe, a side street running on the side of Sao Bento's Cathedral but that had an erratic programming and its premisses were really modest and the quality of film-projecting was not the best.

As to the movie-programming Marilia was a typical small city market. Few of them were first-release but most of the flicks were 'reprises'; films already seen a couple of years back. Some - like 'Brutalidade' (Brute Force) was 15 years old. Brazilian films - 'O palhaço, o que é?', 'Quanto mais samba melhor' and 'Com a mão na massa' - were shown almost on a weekly basis maybe to comply with a Federal law that made it compulsory for theatres to show a certain amount of local production yearly. 

Japanese films were more numerous than Brazilian - maybe 3 Jap flicks a week - because there had been a huge Japanese migration to that part of the State of Sao Paulo. Marilia was a magnet for people of Japanese descent who lived in rural areas or next-door towns and cities.

Italian and French films were quite prominent then. Mexican films were still popular circa 1962. They were actually living their onset because Brazilian society would suffer a new process of Anglo-Americanization soon after the April 1964 coup d'etat.         

 June 1962 monthly film programme posted at Facebook's Memoria de Marilia by Cirilo Tosin.

Programação do Cine Marilia de Junho 1962 – Sessões diárias às 19:00 e 21:00 horas.

4 (2ª) -  ‘Vicio maldito’ (Le désordre et la nuit) 1958 – Jean Gabin (18 anos)

5 (3ª)  – 1ª sessão: ‘O modelador de almas’ (Piel canela) 1953 – Sara Montiel  (18 anos); 2ª sessão: ‘Historia da Policia Japonesa’

6 (4ª) – ‘O palhaço, o que é?’ – Fred & Carequinha – produção nacional 1960

7 (5ª) – ‘Mercadora de felicidade’(The matchmaker) – Anthony Perkins  1958

8 (6ª)  1ª sessão: ‘Madrugada de sangue’ (Os 5 ladrões) – Ralph Zumbano 1956 (filme nacional) 2ª sessão: filme japonês

9 (Sab)  ‘Crepúsculo de uma paixão’ (Middle of the night) – Kim Novak - August 1959 - (18 anos)

10 – domingo vesperal: ‘Galope selvagem’ (Strange gamble)  1948  – William Boyd (14 anos)

10 – domingo à noite: ‘Marcados pelo destino’ (Tiger Bay) 1959 – John Mills (14 anos)

11 (2ª) – ‘Sanha diabólica’ (Curse of the undead) 1959 – Eric Fleming (18 anos)

12 (3ª) – 1ª sessão: ‘Quanto mais samba melhor’ – Cyl Farney – filme nacional (16 anos) – 2ª sessão: filme japonês: ‘Os duelos de Shingo’ (Shingo Nijuban Shobu) 1961 (10 anos)

13 (4ª) – ‘Dilema de um médico’ (The doctor’s dilemma) 1958 – Dirk Bogarde e Leslie Caron  (14 anos)

14 (5ª) – ‘A cucaracha’ 1959 – Maria Felix e Pedro Armendariz (18 anos)

15 (6ª) – 1ª sessão: ‘Foguete errante’ August 1959 (Have rocket, will travel)  – Três Patetas; 2ª sessão: filme japonês: ‘Ladrões engraçados’

16 (Sab) – ‘Sem familia’ (Sans famille) 1958 – Pierre Brasseur e Gino Cervi

17 - domingo vesperal: ‘Foguete errante’ – 3 Patetas;

17 – domingo à noite: ‘Os cossacos’ (I cossachi) – Edmund Purdom 1958 (14 anos)

18 (2ª) –  ‘Gangsters em fúria’ (The Bonnie Parker Story) – Dorothy Provine & Jack Hogan (1958)(14 anos)

19 (3ª) – 1ª sessão: ‘Férias em Majorca’ (Brevi amori a Palma di Maiorca) 1959 – Belinda Lee e Alberto Sordi; 2ª ssessão: filme japonês

20 (4ª) – ‘O nosso homem em Havana’ (Our man in Havana)1960 – Alec Guinness e Maureen O'Hara  (18 anos)

21 (5ª) – ‘A bela adormecida’ (Sleeping Beauty) 1959 – desenho de Walt Disney colorido

22 (6ª) –  1ª sessão: ‘Porto de furias’ (Sea Fury) 1958 – Stanley Baker  (14 anos); 2ª sessão:  ‘Chuji, o justiceiro’ (14 anos)

23 (Sab) – ‘Furia negra’ (King of the wild stallions) 1959 – George Montgomery

24 – domingo vesperal: ‘Furia negra’ – George Montgomery

24 – domingo à noite: ‘Peregrino da esperança’ (The Sundowners) – Deborah Kerr e Robert Mitchum (1960)

25 (2ª) – ‘Amarás o teu proximo’ (Ama a tu prójimo) – Elza Aguirre 1958 (10 anos)

26 (3ª) – 1ª sessão: ‘Com a mão na massa’ – Iris Del Mar - filme nacional 1953; 2ª sessão: filme japonês: ‘Bisturi, contra corrupção Shochik'  (18 anos)

27 (4ª) – 1ª sessão: ‘Entrevista com a morte’ (Blind date / Chance meeting) – Hardy Krüger 1959 (18 anos)

27 (4ª) vesperal gratuita: ‘Rancho alegre’ – Jack Haley

27 (4ª) – 2ª sessão: filme japonês: ‘Tempestade no Pacifico’ (Storm over the Pacific / I bombed Pearl Harbor) - Toshiro Mifune 1960 (10 anos)

28 (5ª) – ‘Brutalidade’ (Brute force) – Burt Lancaster (18 anos)

29 (6ª) – 1ª sessão: ‘O teto’ Il tetto) 1956 – Grabriela Pallotti; 2ª sessão: filme japonês

30 Sábado vesperal: ‘A viagem do balão’ (Le voyage en ballon) 1960 – Pascal Lamorisse

30 (Sab) – ‘A viagem do balão’ – Pascal Lamorisse

1 Julho – domingo à noite: ‘Romance no inverno’ – Alberto Sordi (16 anos)

Jean Gabin, Danielle Darrieux & Nadja Tiller in 'Vicio Maldito' (1958)

'O palhaço, o que é?' com Carequinha & Fred, Zumby & Zumbizinho, Meio-Quilo, Sonia Mamede, Nancy Wanderley, Hamilton Ferreira, Fabio Sabag, Jayme Filho, Francisco Anisio, Castro Baptista etc. 

Shirley Booot, Anthony Perkins & Shirley MacLaine in 'Mercadora de felicidade'. 

Kim Novak & Fredric March in 'Crepusculo de uma paixão'

William Boyd was a middle-aged cowboy in 'Galope selvagem' (1948).

Horst Buchholz & Hayley Mills.

'Marcados pelo destino' (Tiger Bay) Horst Buchholz & Hayley Mills

Eric Fleming in 'Sanha diabólica'; Maria Felix in 'La cucaracha'

Erick Fleming in 'Curse of the Undead' (Sanha diabólica).

'Quanto mais samba melhor' com Cyll Farney , Vagareza, Jayme Costa - 1960.

 'Os duelos de Shingo' Shingo’ (Shingo Nijuban Shobu) 1961 

Leslie Caron & Dirk Bogarde in 'Dilema de um médico'; Gino Cervi & Pierre Brasseur in 'Sem familia'.

Os Três Patetas in 'Foguete errante' (1959); 'Os cossacos'

Linda Christian & Edmund Purdom in 1962.

Dorothy Provine is Bonnie Parker in 'Gangsters em fúria' (1958).

Maureen O'Hara, Fidel Castro & Alec Guinness in 'O nosso homem em Havana' (1959).

Alec Guinness at Sloppy Joe's Bar while filming Graham Greene's 'Our man in Havana'.

'A bela adormecida' (Sleeping Beauty) 1959.

'Furia Negra' (King of the stallions) com George Montgomery (1959).

Robert Mitchum & Deborah Kerr in 'Peregrinos da esperança' (The sundowners).

Iris Delmar (right) & Waldyr Calmon at the piano in 1953's 'Com a mão na massa'.

'Com a mão na massa' had singers Agostinho dos Santos & Elizeth Cardoso as special attractions.

Hardy Krüger, Stanly Baker & Micheline Presle in 'Entrevista com a morte' (Blind date).

'Tempestade no Pacifico' (Storm over the Pacific) 1960.

Toshiro Mifune

Burt Lancaster broods (and smokes) at his cell...

Howard Duff & Yvonne De Carlo 

 
Burt Lancaster in 'Brutalidade' (Brute Force) 1947.

working hard to make dreams come true...

look at the size of those light bulbs...

Chico, Mauricio, Moacir & Zeca. Mauricio Diniz is the boy who worked at Cine Marilia we talked about in the text beginning this post.