1 9 6 0 - July to December - 'City of fear' / German & Japanese movies

3rd July 1960 - at Cine Art Palacio, 'A viuva Valentina', the latest comedy by Dercy Gonçalves with Jayme Costa, Catalano, Herval Rossano, Mara Di Carlo and Trio Irakitan. 

Wilson Grey, Francisco Dantas, Mara Di Carlo, Dercy Gonçalves, Herval Rossano & Jayme Costa.

7 July 1960 - At Cine Maraba, 'Pintando o sete' (Painting the town red) the latest Oscarito comedy. Even though Oscarito was 54 years old (he was born in 1906) he still played relatively young characters and was still the best Brazilian comedian by far. OESP columnist praises the director Carlos Manga plus the screenplay & scenography done by Cajado Filho who staged José Lewgoy's  famous dream sequence in 1952's 'Carnaval Atlantida'.

7 July 1960 - Mexican cinema was King in Latin America. Mexico has lost a lot of ground since then. Mexican presence in Brazil today is mainly on TV with 'El Chavo' and some Thalia's soap operas. 'Musica de siempre' (Musica inolvidavel) had Argentinian Libertad Lamarque, French sparrow Edith Piaf, song-writer Agustin Lara, comedian Tin Tan, Miguel Aceves Mejia etc.

10 July 1960 - a great part of the modern French & German cinema was shown in 'adults-only' cinema-houses considered 2nd or 3rd class like Cine Aurea, Cine Jussara, Cine Apolo etc. Hans  H. Koenig's 'Heisse Ernte' (Paixões selvagens) was one of them; British 'Look back in anger' (Odeio essa mulher) based on John Osborne's play with the same name was released at Cine Paulista.

One could easily see that the Brazilian film-distributor did not even know that Osborne's play was being shown at Teatro Cultura Artistica at Rua Nestor Pestana bearing the name 'Geração em revolta'. It is plain to see that general information did not circulate as it should in Brazil then. Even OESP columnist noticed that when he commented about the film 'Odeio essa mulher': 'Poderia ter sido lançada com uma publicidade mais elucidativa - e portanto, mais comercial - baseada na peça de John Osborne, que por sinal, sob o título 'Geração em revolta', está sendo representada no Teatro Cultura Artistica com Jardel Filho, Nidia Licia e Maria Fernanda nos papeis aqui interpretados por Richard Burton, Claire Bloom and Mary Ure'. Even the OESP columnist knew better than the film distributors. 

10 July 1960 - Mexican bombshell Maria Antonieta Pons and comedian Tin-Tan (real name: Germán Valdés) star in 1958's 'Las mil y una noches' (As mil e uma noites) in MexiScope distributed by PelMex. Mexicans, no doubt, ruled South America culturally. 

24 July 1960 - 'Pânico que emudece' or 'City of fear' is a black-and-white 1959 noir film directed by Irving Lerner starring Vince Edwards that would become really popular portraying brooding Dr. Ben Casey as of 2 October 1961 on ABC TV.

Vince Edwards & Patricia Blair in 'City of fear';

Vince Edwards had appeared in 3 other film-noire: Stanley Kubrik's 'The killing' (1956), Irving Lerner's 'Murder by contract' (1958) and John Cromwell's 'The scavengers' (1959).

24 July 1960 - at Cine Marrocos 'O palhaço, o que é?' (What's a clown?) with an all-clown cast headed by Carequinha and Fred, an older clown; with Sonia Mamede, Hamilton Ferreira, Nancy Wanderley, Fabio Sabag and others. 

30 July 1960 - 'Carmen de Ronda' was filmed in 1959, a year after Sarita had conquered the world with 'La violetera'. 

24 July 1960 - German movies invade S.Paulo: 'Der Artz von Stalingrad' (O médico de Stalingrado) was one of more than 10 flicks spoken in German.  

Horst Buchholz

Horst Buchholz was Germany's James Dean.

31st July 1960 - At Cine Boulevard, on Rua Antonio de Godoy, Horst Buchholz & Barbara Frey make up the romantic pair in 'Endstation Liebe' (Nem sempre o amor é mentira).

31st July 1960 - It looked like Brazilians went crazy for German culture... but looking back - it was only a passing 'wave' that didn't mean much. Romy Schneider who had reigned as Sissi, the Empress for the last 2 years suddenly appeared in 20th Century clothes by Karlheins Boehm side again...

31st July 1960 - Brazil's leading commediene Dercy Gonçalves with yet another movie: 'Dona Violante Miranda' written by playwright Abilio Pereira de Almeida especially having her in mind; Spanish sensation Sara Montiel's great hit 'La violetera' in its 2nd smashing week.

Celly & Tony Campello German style: Conny Froboess & Peter Kraus.

Conny Froboess was Germany's Celly Campello. 

4 August 1960 - All of a sudden it seemed like there had never been a World War II that had ended only 15 years before. German cinema was as strong as ever  In the space of 2 weeks one could see 1958's 'Der Arzt von Stalingrad' (O médico de Stalingrado) at Cine Maraba; 1958's 'Endstation Liebe' (Nem sempre o amor é mentira) with Horst Buchholz at Cine Boulevard; 1958's 'Wenn die Conny mit den Peter' (Peter entre os brotos) with teen-age sensations Peter Kraus und Conny Froboess at Cine Republica; 1959's 'Verbrechen nach schulschuluss' (Crime depois das aulas) with Christian Wolff  at Cine Maraba, Romy Schneider, her mother Magda Schneider & Hans Moser in 1955's 'Die Deutscher Meister' (O imperador e a padeira) at Cine Olido plus Ruth Leuwerik starring in 1958's 'Die Trapp-Familie in Amerika' (Familia Trapp na America) und 1957's 'Aufwiedersehen, Franziska' (Francisca).

spunky Christian Wolff was back on the silver screen...

Ruth Leuwerik with Carlos Thompson.

3 August 1960 - at Cine Ipiranga and Cine Astor, 'A summer place' (Amores clandestinos) with Richard Egan & Dorothy McGuire. It made a star of Troy Donahue and confirmed Sandra Dee as a box-office drawer. But what made 'A summer place' really unforgettable was Max Steiner's music 'Theme from 'A summer place' which Percy Faith recorded in the Columbia 30th Street Studio in New York and spent  an staggering 9 weeks  at #1 on Billboard Hot 100. It still remains the #1 instrumental hit in the history of the chart. Billboard ranked Faith's version as the No. 1 song for 1960. In Brazil 'Theme from A Summer Place' went to #1 with Billy Vaughn & His Orchestra, but the radio and the movie house I used to patron actually played Percy Faith's version.

7 August 1960 - actress Dorothy McGuire could be seen in 2 movies: as lead-female role in 'A summer place' at Cine Ipiranga or as a supporting at 'This earth is mine' (O vale das paixões) with Rock Hudson and Jean Simmons. 

7 August 1960 - OESP cinema columnist writes: 'Idolo do pecado' (Das Mädchen Rosemarie) gira em torno da escandalosa e triste trajetória de Rosemarie Nitribitt, mundana que pôs em pratica os mais audaciosos casos de chantagem com um sem-numero dos mais influentes homens na Alemanha do pós-Guerra. Seu assassínio em 1957, agitou a imprensa e as organizações policiais europeias. Mas o mistério até hoje perdura. In other words: Miss Nitribitt was a German hooker who was murdered in mysterious circumstances that was never solved. 

Nadja Tiller plays hooker Rosemarie Nitribitt

Christian Wolff & Sabine Sinjen 

14 August 1960 - Germans kept on coming strong... especially the youth set with teen-stars like Christian Wolff, Sabine Sinjen and Heidi Bruhl.

7 August 1960 - at Cine Nippon 'As aventuras de Jiro'; at Cine Joia 'Amoravel lar de Sazae San'  and at Cine Niteroi 'Cereja amarela'. Note that Japanese films were mostly coloured by 1960 and in Cinemascope.

14 August 1960 - at Cine Joia, Hideo Suzuki's 'Kyal su o Nigasuna' (A um segundo da morte); at Cine Nippon, Nobuo Aoyagui's 'Hatsukoi Sannin Mussuko' (Amor para três folgazões), a comedy; at Cine Niteroi, 'Amor infinito' which seems to be a love story or tragedy. Unfortunately it is really hard to get information about those films in the internet so I'll leave it at that. 

21 August 1960 - 'Nobre plebeu' at Cine Niteroi, 'Hibana, os azes do trapézio' at Cine Nippon & 'A Rosa de Shangai' at Cine Joia. 

21 August 1960 - More Germans are coming! Ruth Leuwerik stars in 2 more films: 1953's 'Ein Herz spielt falsch' (Um coração traído) and 'Franziska'.

28 August 1960 - Hungarian director Géza von Cziffra's 'Mädchen mit schwachem Gedächtnis' (Sonhando com a felicidade) with Germaine Damar, Peter Weck, Rudolf Platte; music by Michael Jary. 

3rd September 1960 - 'Senhoritas de uniforme' (Mädchen in Uniform) opens in Rio de Janeiro.

3rd September 1960 - Rio de Janeiro daily 'Correio da Manhã' advertises 'Europa di notte' featuring Domenico Modugno, The Platters, Carmen Sevilla & transexual Coccinelle who turned into a Brazilian obsession.

3rd September 1960 - Sara Montiel reigned supreme in Rio de Janeiro with 'La violetera' in its 8th spetacular week. 

11 September 1960 - second full-length film released by the Walt Disney studio Buena Vista 1959's 'Zorro, the avenger' starts where 1958's 'The sign of Zorro' left off. Guy Williams plays the handsome Zorro/Don Diego de la Vega, Henry Calvin plays fatso Sgt. Garcia, Gene Sheldon plays the ever faithful Bernardo who's dumb but not deaf... and Hungarian Charles Korvin plays the evil Eagle.

19 September 1960 - Herbert Richers latest movie, 'Vai que é mole' with Ankito & Grande Otelo plus great Renata Fronzi as their sidekick. Old timer Linda Baptista sings the theme song.

1st October 1960 - remake of Hollywood's 1932's 'Grand Hotel' based on 1929's 'Menchen im Hotel' the best selling book of Vicki Baum. This time 1959, German actors played the main characters. Michele Morgan did Greta Garbo's original role, O.W.Fischer played what John Barrymore did,

1st October 1960 - gorgeous Cine Coral on Rua 7 de Abril shows an Italian Festival with 11 different movies: Alessandro Blasetti's 'Europa di notte'; Luigi Comencini's 1958's 'Mogli pericolose' (Esposas perigosas); Damiano Damiani's 'Il rossetto' (O baton); Edoardo De Filippo's 'Fortunella'; Luigi Zampa's 'Il magistrato' (Somos todos culpados); Mauro Bolognini's 'Il bello Antonio' & 'La notte brava' (A noite longa de loucuras); Francesco Maselatti's 1955's 'Gli sbandati' (Os revoltosos); Mario Soldati's 'Policarpo'; Enrico Gras & Mario Caveri's 1958's 'Locandina Soledad' and Federico Fellini's 1952's 'Lo sceico bianco' (Abismo de um sonho).

1st October 1960 - Brazilian cinema was coming of age with very good quality productions; Roberto Faria's 'Cidade ameaçada' which is loosely based on the story of juvenile delinquent Promessinha won Marilia's film festival in September; 'Dona Violante Miranda' had 2 great actresses: Odete Lara & Dercy Gonçalves; see that the hooker played by Miss Lara stands at the corner of Rua Amador Bueno at Trash's Mouth (Boca do lixo) S.Paulo's red light district.

9 October 1960 - Cine Lar was a medium to small-sized cinema on the corner of Rua Cincinato Braga & Av. Brigadeiro Luiz Antonio which used to show Arab films in the 1960s.

13 October 1960 - Cine Regina shows 'Ben-Hur' the biggest Hollywood epic since 1956's 'The 10 Commandments'.

Shirley McLaine & Jack Lemmon in 'The apartment'; condensed by Filmelândia's October 1960 issue.

15 October 1960 - Billy Wilder's 'The apartment' (Se meu apartamento falasse) opens at Cine Olido on Saturday.

16 October 1960 - OESP columnist wasn't very receptive to Billy Wilder's 'The apartment' (Se meu apartamento falasse). He dismisses Miss McLaine as not a big deal even though she got the 'best actress' award at the Venice Film Festival; he writes: A "estrêla" (yes, between inverted commas) Shirley McLaine, em franca mas discultivel ascensão... He only had eyes for Fred MacMurray who plays a minor role. Little did he know 'The apartment' would go on to win Academy Awards for  'best movie', 'best director' and 'best screen-play' on 17 April 1961.

15 October 1960 - 'Amor de milionário' (Cash McCall) a romantic comedy with Natalie Wood & James Garner, that opened in Los Angeles on 20 January 1960; at Cine Piratininga they still showed double-feature Portuguese movies: 'Capas negras' with Alberto Ribeiro & Amalia Rodrigues plus 'O homem do Ribatejo' with Julieta Castelo; including 'Roteiro das Cataratas', a Brazilian documentary plus a colossal live show on the Cinema stage featuring Alberto Ribeiro, Tony de Matos, Cidália Meireles etc. and introducing the movie-star Julieta Castelo. 

Ronald Golias in 'Tudo legal' was first released in Rio de Janeiro on 25 August 1960; in São Paulo it opened two months later on 31st October 1960.

23rd October 1960 - back at Cine Boulervard, 'The Glenn Miller story' or 'Musica e lagrimas' as it was known in Brazil. It was 1st released in 6 September 1954 inaugurating glorious Cine Maraba; it was also opened São Paulo's 1954 Film Festival, the city's 400th anniversary leaving behind William Wyler's 'Roman holiday' (A princesa e o plebeu) and Ingmar Bergman's 'Gycklarnas Afton' (Noites de circo). The songs were the best: 'String of pearls', 'Tuxedo Junction', 'At last', 'Chattanooga choo choo', 'Pennsylvania 6-5000', 'Bidin' my time', 'Adios', 'Little brown jug', 'Basin Street Blues', 'American Patrol', 'In the mood' and 'Moonlight serenade'.

23 October 1960 - 'Tesouro nefasto' at Cine Niteroi & a double-feature at Cine Nippon: N.Nakamura's 'Luz que não se apaga' and 'Titio não é sopa' a Brazilian staple. These 2 Japanese movie houses started sharing their adds to save a buck.

28 October 1960 - Cole Porter's 'Can Can' with Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine, Maurice Chevalier & Louis Jourdan opens Cine Rio Branco on Avenida Rio Branco, 500.

30 October 1960 - Big time, big ad but really really late. 'A king in New York' had had its premiere in London on 12 September 1957, more than 3 years before. Maybe the delay in releasing it in Brazil was due to its being banned in the USA for political reasons. Charles Chaplin was a 'persona non grata' in the Evil Empire.

30 October 1960 - 'A king in New York' and 'Tudo legal', a Brazilian comedy with TV comic Ronald Golias, old timer Jaime Costa, Argentine dancer-actress Marina Marcel, Jô Soares, Carlos Tovar, pretty face Nelly Martins, future 'bad man' Jece Valadão, old timer Wilson Grey and many more.

30 October 1960 - at Cine Ipiranga 'The Gene Krupa Story' (O rei do ritmo) with Sal Mineo, Susan Kohner & James Darren. 

8 November 1960 - Carlos Hugo Christensen's 3rd part of a trilogy about the adventures of an Argentine young lady in Rio de Janeiro, 'Amor para três' with Susana Freyre, Fabio Cardoso and Agildo Ribeiro.

14 November 1960 - at Cine Boulevard 'The 10 Commandments' was back after 37 weeks at other theatres. I ended up being taken to Cine Boulevard to watch this most magnificent movie by my uncle Claudio in January 1961. It was the most stunning movie experience I had in my whole life. Cine Boulevard became my favourite movie house for years to come and I made a habit of watching 'The 10 Commandments' every time I had a chance. One of my last experience was watching it in a movie theatre in Journal Square in Jersey City some time in 1972. Half-way through the projection someone cried 'fire', the movie stopped, the lights went on, the side doors opened and the whole audience ended up out on the street...

14 to 20 November 1960 - Watson Macedo's 'Samba em Brasilia' is one of my all-time favourite Brazilian musical-comedy. It's got all the right ingredients to be successful: a major star (Eliana Macedo) who could act as well as sing and dance; a good-looking leading-man (Herval Rossano); a plot that involves different social backgrounds; a poor attractive girl from the slums who works as a kitchen-maide at a rich household whose mistress Virginia (played by marvelous Heloisa Helena) is the benevolent mother of a play boy (Geraldo Meyer) who gets interested in her. Virginia's only aim in life is to be included among the 10-best-dressed-society-ladies drawn up by an affected gossip-journalist (Paulo Celestino) and to reach that goal she resortes to all kinds of gimick including 'macumba' the Afro-Brazilian equivalent of voodoo. All that happens during 1960 Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro a few weeks before Brasilia, a brand-new capital city is inaugurated on 21 April 1960. Class difference and popular against elitism is a must: the kitchen (Nancy Wanderley and Chiquinho) against the dining-room (great pretender Darcy Coria) with a zany buttler (Catalano) being the liaison. What a terrific fun was watching it.

Teresa (Eliana Macedo) lives up in the slums perching on the cliffs of Rio de Janeiro and is Vado's sweetheart; he's a musician who writes the song for the favela's samba-group that will vie in a carnaval competition for best dance & song performance.

23rd November 1960 - Cecil B.DeMille's 1958's 'The buccaneer' (O corsário sem pátria) with Yul Brynner as Jean Lafitte and Charlton Heston as General Andrew Jackson; Spanish boy-sensation Joselito in 'Escucha mi canción'.

Caterina Valente & Paul Hubschmid & Silvio Francesco in 1957's 'Du bist Musik' (O rei e a vedete).

27 November 1960 - Caterina Valente in 1956's 'Du bist Musik' (O rei e a vedete) with Paul Hubschmid & Silvio Francesco Valente.

27 November 1960 - Charles Chaplin's 'A king in New York' (Um rei em Nova York) is released 3 years later in Brazil; I wonder if the USA's displeasure with Chaplin had something to do with it! Robert Youngson's 'When comedy was king' (Risos e mais risos) with the best comedy acts of the teens & twenties... 

30 November 1960 - J.B.Tanko's 'Marido de mulher boa', a delightful comedy with Zé Trindade, Renata Fronzi, Zeloni, Luely Figueiró, Celso Faria, Lilian Fernandes, Isa Rodrigues...

3rd December 1960 - Italian-German-Spanish production 'Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei' (Os ultimos dias de Pompéia) with Steve Reeves & Cristine Kauffman is one of the many films produced until the mid 1960s as part of the peplum sword & sandal craze, originally launched by Pietro Francisci's 1958 film 'Le fatiche di Ercole', released as 'Hercules' in the USA.

8 December 1960 - Another Ankito vehicle, 'Sai dessa recruta!' is not as good as some previous comedies...

25 December 1960 - at Cine Olido, Christine Kaufmann stars in 'Sonho de um pequeno coração'; at Cine Ritz-Consolação 'The apartment' (Se meu apartamento falasse) is in its 8th week.

31st December 1960 - Alessandro Blassetti's 'Europa de noite' (Europa di notte)features Domenico Modugno, Carmen Sevilla, Coccinelle (trans-gender performer) & The Platters.