1 9 6 3 (1st) - 'The children's hour' - 'Rome adventure' - 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'

3rd January 1963 - the year starts all fine with 'Mr Hobbs takes a vacation' (As ferias de Papai) with James Stewart, Maureen O'Hara and introducing Philadelphia's bland rock'n'roll heart-throb Fabian plus John Saxon. 

Audrey Hepburn, James Garner & Shirley McLaine in 'The children's hour' (Infâmia).

13 January 1963 - William Wyler's 'The children's hour' (Infamia) based on Lillian Hellmann's play with Audrey Hepburn, Shirley McLaine & James Garner at Cine Olido; Spanish boy-wonder Joselito teamed-up with Argentine Libertad Lamarque in 'Sublime recordação' (Bello recuerdo) at Cine Rivoli; Serguei Eisenstein's 'Ivan the terrible' in 2 parts; 11:00  Part 1; 13:00 Part 2; 14:45 Part 1;  16:00 Part 2; 18:15 Part 1; 20:00 Part 2; 21:45 Part 1; 23:00 Part 2; for some reasons there was a lot of films playing again like Frank Capra's 1946's 'It's a wonderful life' (A felicidade não se compra) at Cine Rivoli; 1949's 'The undercover man' (Czar negro) with Glen Ford & Nina Foch; Tennessee Williams's 1955's 'The Rose Tatoo' (A rosa tatuada); 1955's 'Treasure of Ruby Hills' (A epopeia sangrenta) with Zachary Scott & Lee Van Cleef; at Cine Europa, a small theatre at Praça da Republica with an entrance by Rua Joaquim Gustavo, 40 they were showing 1957's 'Die Zwillinge vom Zillertal' (As gemeas de Zillertal) with guest appearance by famous show-business twins Alice Kessler und Ellen Kessler.

13 January 1963 - Marlon Brando is 'One-eyed Jacks' (A face oculta) at Cine Rio Branco for the 10th week in a row; At Cine Olido Dirk Bogarde in 'Meu passado me condena' (Victim), notable in film history for being the first English-language movie to use the word 'homosexual'. On its release in the UK it proved highly controversial and was initially banned in the USA; Italians took on the Americans to see who made the worst epic movie: 'Pontius Pilate' had French Jean Marais as the Roman governor, a worn out Jeanne Crain, British Basil Rathbone doing over-time and Italian Massimo Serato for good measure; 'It happened in Athens' (Aconteceu em Atenas) filmed in the fall of 1960, in Greece, it was Jayne Mansfield's last film with Fox before her career set back to low-budget European melodramas & comedies.

at Cine Marabá William Castle's 'Mr. Sardonicus' (A mascara do horror) tells the story of a man whose face becomes frozen in a horrifying grin while robbing his father's grave to obtain a winning lottery ticket.

Guy Rolfe stars as Mr. Sardonicus, a wicked and wealthy count (once a poor peasant who won a fortune in a lottery) whose face was frozen into a hideous grin from the shock of seeing his father’s rotting corpse. Sardonicus hires Sir Robert Cargrave (played by Ronald Lewis), a brilliant doctor who has had great success with muscle massage techniques, to help him. Complicating the matter is the fact that Sardonicus’ wife Maude is Robert Cargrave’s old love. Cargrave travels to Sardonicus’ castle and is met by the dedicated servant Krull, who has a badly-scarred eye. During the course of the visit, Sardonicus explains what happened to him, and threatens to torture his wife (the way he had earlier tortured Krull) if Cargrave will not help him. Cargrave agrees, but even when a highly-radical treatment is a success, Sardonicus is not freed from his torment; in fact, William Castle appears and asks the audience to hold up their glow-in-the-dark cards to indicate mercy or punishment. Regardless of the vote, it appears that the audience has voted for punishment, and the movie ends with Sardonicus facing additional horrors for his evil, horrors administered in part by Krull, who takes the opportunity for a little revenge of his own.

13 January 1963 -  Comedians Oscarito & Vagareza meet at Carlos Manga's 'Entre mulheres e espiões' at Cine Marrocos. 'Mulheres e espiões' was one of Oscarito's last movies. By 1963, Oscarito was 57 years old and it finally showed in a comedian that had been 'ageless' since the 1930s.

Vagareza's smirk was not Mr Sardonicus' but was also mean.

13 January 1963 - Brazilian director Walter Hugo Khouri's 'A ilha' was all the rage; there was a Toho Films's festival showing 7 different Japanese movies at Cine Scala, Trianon & Art Palacio.

Eva Wilma holds a black cat while the male cast looks on...

24 February 1963 - Polish director Jerzy Kawalerowicz's 'Madre Joanna dos Anjos' (Matka Joanna od aniolow) with Lucyna Winnicka at Cine Normandie; Scott Fitzgerald's 'Tender is the night' continued on Cine Olido; a lot of US films were running again like 1958's 'Mardi Grass' (Noites de Mardi Grass) with Pat Boone & Tommy Stands at Cine Picolino; 1957's 'Pal Joey' (Meus dois carinhos) with Frank Sinatra, Rita Hayworth & Kim Novak at Cine Regina; at Cine Marrocos was 1952's 'The snows of Kilimanjaro' (As neves de Kilimanjaro) with Gregory Peck that was really popular in the early 1960s - note that the cliché is upside down; plus B-films like 'Beach head' (Cabeça de praia) with Tony Curtis at Cine Maraba; at Cine Marrocos 1960's 'Wilhelm Tell' (Guilherme Tell) a Swiss film with Robert Freitag; at Cine Marco Polo was Sergio Leone's 'The colossus of Rhodes' with a Rory Calhoun past his prime.

24 February 1963 - Teenagers were well served this week. USA's heart-throbs Tommy Sands and Fabian appeared together in 'Love in a goldfish bowl' (Esconderijo para o amor) at Cine Barão. At Cine Astor & Paisandu  'Rome adventure' (Candelabro italiano) started playing on 27 February 1963 with Troy Donahue & Suzanne Pleshette. This film which features Italian singer Emilio Pericoli singing 'Al di là' , a song that had won San Remo in 1961 and was covered by Pericoli especially for this travelogue - has actually started an invasion of Italian pop music in Brazil that culminated in 1964 but trailing off up into 1967.

24 February 1963 - Roquette Pinto trophy was the Brazilian equivalent of Hollywood's Oscar (Academy Award). It granted awards to the best TV performers in his/her category. The annual celebration was something not to be missed and went on for ever into the wee hours.

27 February 1963 - 'Rome adventure' opens on Ash-Wednesdy... 'O candelabro italiano' would be one of the most popular films of 1963 and would introduce a new craze: Italian records would flood the Brazilian Hit Parade since 'Al di là' sung by Emilio Pericoli in the flick went to Number One around July... a little later Nico Fidenco, Sergio Endrigo, Rita Pavone, Edoardo Vianello, Gino Paoli etc. would dominate the Brazilian charts... blame it on 'Rome Adventure' and Suzanne Pleshette, Troy Donahue, Angie Dickinson & Rossano Brazzi... and most importantly... Rome itself.

3 March 1963 - This is a British Hammer production of 'The Phantom of the Opera' done in 1962, exactly when Universal Pictures were celebrating their 50th Anniversary... Universal had produced in 1943 with Claude Rains in the lead. I watched it around this time but don't remember much.

Herbert Lom as the Phantom of the Opera.

10 March 1963 - Marcello Mastroianni was at his peak popularity circa 1963. He is 'L'assassino' (1961) at Cine Windsor and in 'Divorcio all' italiana' at Cine Pigale; 1952's 'O.Henry's full house' (Paginas da vida) with Charles Laughton, Jeanne Crain, Marilyn Monroe at Cine Marrocos; Jules Vernes's 'Five weeks in a balloon' (5 semanas em um balão) with teenage heart-throb Fabian at Cine Marrocos;

Lucyna Winnicka in 'Madre Joana dos Anjos' aka 'O demonio e a freira' (The demon and the nun).

26 March 1963 - Sandra Dee & Bobby Darin were America's sweet hearts circa 1962. 'If a man answers...' (Se o marido atender, desligue) was their follow up to successful 'Come September' (1961); at Cine Marrocos was 1962's 'The 300 Spartans' with Richard Egan, Ralph Richardson & Anne Baxter filmed in Greece; Italy was the flavour of the month with North Americans: 'Rome adventure' was at its 4th week and 'The Roman spring of Mrs. Stone' (Em Roma na primavera) told the romance between Italian stud Warren Beatty and middle-aged Vivien Leigh.

7 April 1963 - I don't know whether I was told 'Wuthering Heights' (O morro dos ventos uivantes) a 1939 Hollywood version of Emily Bronte's classic 1847 novel was a great movie or whether I decided to go and see it by my own devices. The fact is I fell in love with the movie and its stars in such a way I was never the same anymore. I was only 14 years old when I saw it at Cine Marco Polo but the impression took a lifetime to wear off. I became a fan of old Hollywood movies and would not miss any 1930s or 1940s movie that would eventually be re-released in the commercial circuit. I thought Merle Oberon was the most beautiful woman in the universe... and Laurence Olivier the most ardent man in the history of the movies. I had not seen 'Gone with the wind' yet... it would take me 15 more years to see the 1939 colour production but I still think 'Wuthering Heights' is a superior product even not having Vivien Leigh in it.

7 April 1963 - it was hard to advertise 'Breakfast at Tiffany's' for Brazilians audiences. Translate Truman Capote's ouvre as 'Bonequinha de luxo' (Expensive little doll) is to give the wrong turn to the story. 'Vigarista de alta classe' (High-class slut) is even worse... Blake Edwards's comedy shot in 1961 - released on 5 October 1961 in the U.S.A. took almost 2 years to get to South America and apart from the Henry Mancini's sound-track album did not leave much of an impression on Brazilians in general. The film's subsequent status as 'cult' in the 1990s changed it and it is seen today differently... but I think it still is misunderstood. Besides, Audrey Hepburn being cast as Holly Golightly is not exactly right even though it became a 'classic item' in cinema's history. It's really unbelievable that Patricia O'Neal's name not mentioned in the newspaper ad. Well, Edward's name isn't either.

7 April 1963 - a few weeks after I had been flabbergasted by 1939's 'Wuthering Heights' I went to see this compilation of Harold Lloyd's best comedies entitled 'Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy' (O Rei do Riso)... and went out of Cine Bandeirantes in a state of bliss... with the conviction that the best films in the world had already been made in the 1920s & 1930s. I was right in a way... You see, I had never heard about (or seen) Harold Lloyd before in my life and suddenly after watching excerpts of his 1920's movies I was utterly in love with him. He was different from Chaplin's tramp... Lloyd was a sophisticade man... a truly American citizen who went to college...

See what Estadão's columnist wrote about it: Coletanea de trechos das velhas e saudosas comedias de Harold Lloyd, quando o artista, com seus óculos, calças listradas e palheta significava uma especie de desforça, catarsis ou mesmo mitificação para o assoberbado 'homem moderno' dos anos 1920s. Inclui momentos de 'O calouro' - 1923's 'The freshman'; 'O homem mosca' - 1926's 'Safety last';  'Cinemaniaco' - 1932's 'Movie crazy' e 'O professor Faraó' - 1938's 'Professor Beware'.

Harold Lloyd would find his own persona in the movies and portray an everyman with anwavering confidence and optimism. His 'Glass' character - often named 'Harold' in silent movies - was a much more mature comedy character with great potential for sympathy and emotional depth, and it was easy for audiences of the time to identify with. The 'Glass' character is said to have been created after Hal Roach suggested that Harold was too handsome to do comedy without some sort of disguise. To create his new character Lloyd donned a pair olf lensless horn-rimmed eyeglasses but wore normal clothing.

Harold Lloyd's 'The freshman'.

'Safety last'.

7 April 1963 - film partly shot in Argentina loosely based on Nikolai Gogol's short novel 'Taras Bulba'; the story line is considered different from that of Gogol's novel, although it is closer to his expanded 1842 (pro-Imperial Russia) edition than his original (pro-Ukranian) version of 1835. Tony Curtis tops the bill (even on top of Yul Brynner) and gets German beauty Christine Kaufmann in the picture and in real life, ending his long marriage with Janet Leigh.

7 April 1963 - Rio de Janeiro's 'Correio da Manhã': William Holden & Lilli Palmer in 'The counterfeit traitor' (O falso traidor), a film which impressed me immensely. I remember commenting with my cousin Gabriel about it. He was also greatly moved by this flick. 

https://counterfeitwriter.wordpress.com/2014/06/04/the-counterfeit-traitor-1962/

14 April 1963 - Jules Dassin's 'Phaedra' (Profanação) is an adaptation of  Euripides' 'Hippolytus' with Melina Mercouri married to Ralf Vallone and seducing his step-son Anthony Perkins; William Wyler's 1939 classic 'Wuthering Heights' (O morro dos ventos uivantes) was shown at Cine Marco Polo; Tony Curtis left his wife Janet Leigh for German starlet Christine Kauffman while they were filming 'Taras Bulbas' with Yul Brynner in Argentina; at Cine Normandie 1956's 'Lisboa' (Lisbon) a crime-film directed and acted by Ray Milland which had 'Lisboa antiga' in its sound-track. Note that 'Lisboa antiga' had been a #1 hit in the USA by Nelson Riddle & His Orchestra prior to this film release. The song was performed in the film by fado singer Anita Guerreiro, in a restaurant scene while an older Ray Milland tells a still stunning Maureen O'Hara a completely wrong information about Lisbon being 'home sweet home' to Brazilians. O'Hara says: 'How lovely!'

14 April 1963 - Nelson Pereira dos Santos's 'Boca de ouro' with Jece Valadão & Odete Lara was Brazilian cinema at its best; 'Rome adventure' (Candelabro Italiano) was at its 8th week; following the huge success of 'Europa di notte' now comes Giuseppe Maria Scotese's 'America di notte' filmed in 1961 in North & South America showing Lionel Hampton, Elizeth Cardoso, Ellen de Lima, Carlos Machado, Angela Maria, Silveira Sampaio, Marly Tavares, Nathalia Timberg & others.

21 April 1963 - based on a Nelson Rodrigues story - Nelson Pereira dos Santos' 'Boca de Ouro' with Jece Valadão, Odete Lara & Daniel Filho tried to repeat the box-office performance of Ruy Guerra's 'Os cafajestes' released in 1962. See beauties Georgia Quental & Maria Pompeu in supporting roles.

12 May 1963 -

23 May 1963 - 1957 Italian-German-French production 'Casino de Paris' is released 6 years late due to the French chansonier Gilbert Bécaud's visiting Brazil after his mega-hit 'Et maintenant' went to #1 in the charts. Caterina Valente is billed as a supporting actress when she is really the co-star.

2nd June 1963 at Cine Bijou; a 1939 US production 'Kol Nidre' (Sublime Oração) spoken in Yiddish, which would become a dead language in the course of the next half-century. Like many shund (low-budget) Yiddish dramas, it is an inventive pastiche of themes & styles, combining family drama & romance with songs and cantorial music. 'Kol Nidre' opened at the Clinton Theatre on New York's Lower East Side on 7 September 1939, two weeks before Yom Kippur (when the prayer Kol Nidre is sung) and 1 week after the Nazi invasion of Poland.

Leon Liebgold & Lili Liliana, the husband & wife Polish actors from 'The Dybbuk'.