1 9 6 4 - 'La cuccagna' (A mamata); 'Festival Greta Garbo'

22nd March 1964 - small cinema house Cine Los Angeles on Rua Aurora, 501 just at the corner of Rua Guainases - at the centre of Sao Paulo's Red Light district aka Boca do Lixo (Trash Mouth) - tried hard to start a new phase exhibiting Russian movies like 'O mundo novo de Serjinho' (Seriozha) but soon enough it reverted to showing old westerns and later on soft-porn which made a lot more sense.

Borya Barkhatov plays Seryozha, a 1960 Soviet production directed by Igor Talanki - based on a novel about a 5-year old boy whose mother marries again.

22 March 1964 - Ava Gardner's 1951 vehicle 'Pandora and the Flying Dutchman' (Os amores de Pandora) is back at Cine Regina and Cine Paulista with no apparent reason but to promote some hair-drier whose brand name was Pandora.

23rd June 1964 - while in the movies Judy Garland & Dirk Borgarde plodded their way through 'I could go on singing' (Na gloria e na amargura). Somehow the Brazilian titles were more interesting than the originals; Doris Day & James Garner did their best in 'The thrill of it all' (Tempero do amor) at Cine Ipiranga; Dirk Bogarde played Liszt in 'Song without end' (Sonho de amor) with beautiful Capucine at Cine Barão & Cine Majestic; at Cine Coral on Thursday, Luciano Salce's 'La cuccagna' (A mamata) made in 1962 with brooding Luigi Tenco who would shoot himself in the head in 1967.

Luigi Tenco, Donatella Turri & director Luciano Salce at the premiere of 'La cucagna' in 1962.

Luciano Salce talks about Luigi Tenco whom he directed in 'La cuccagna' in 1962:  'I remember Luigi Tenco with affection. We became really friends and saw each other outside the movie set. Tenco had a remarkable personality and I was really pissed off when I heard he killed himself because his song didn't go well at San Remo Festival in 1967. He had existential issues, an unadaptable uncongeniality towards life. He was conscious of his worth and his talent. A pessimist, an introvert.

Luigi Tenco felt he wasn't given proper credit following up his appearance in 'La cuccagna'. He was actually thought of the male lead for 'La ragazza di Bube' (Bube's girl) with Claudia Cardinale but Greek-American George Chakiris got the role because the producers thought the flick would have better chances in the international market. Tenco felt bad about that. 

In 'La cuccagna' I sort of anticipated in Tenco's role a typical character of the rebelious 1968 in Paris. Tenco lived in 1962 what he could not actually live in 1968 when he was already dead.

1st August 1964 - MGM presents a Greta Garbo Festival in which they show five of Garbo's most successful movies starting with 'Queen Christina' (1933), 'Anna Karenina' (1935), 'Madame Walewska' aka 'Conquest' (1937), 'Ninotchka' (1939) and 'Camille' (1936). 

1st August 1964 - OESP reviews all 5 Garbo movies; 'Queen Christina' was first shown at Cine Paramount on 28 May 1934; 'Anna Karenina' first released at Cine Odeon (sala vermelha) on 13 April 1936; 'Camille' (Dama das camélias) first shown at Cine Odeon on 10 July 1937; 'O romance de Madame Walewska' aka 'Conquest' first shown on 25 March 1938 at Cine Metro and 'Ninotchka' first played on 31s March 1940 at Cine Metro.

9 August 1964 - OESP columnist still mesmerized with Garbo's films after a week of its release. 

28 October 1964 - MGM started the year with their highly popular Opereta Festival and before 1964 was over they introduced their 'Bang bang Festival' with films like 'Estrela do destino' 'Lone star' (1952); 'Os homens das terras bravas' 'The badlanders' (1958); 'Assim são os fortes' 'Across the wide Missouri' (1951); 'Armadilha' 'Ambush' (1950); 'O preço de um homem' 'The naked spur' (1953); 'A arma de um bravo' 'Gun glory' (1957) and 'Honra a um homem mau' 'Tribute to a bad man' (1956).