Cinema Ads in Brazilian papers: 1 9 5 4 - January to June - 'Nem Sansão nem Dalila' / 'Gycklarnas Afton' / 'Shane'

3rd January 1954 - a 1938 Portuguese production 'A Rosa do Adro' is back at Cine Paratodos with Maria Lalandre & Oliveira Martins directed by Artur Duarte.

27 December 1953 - 1952 Warner Brothers' remake of 1929 'The jazz singer' (O cantor de jazz) - now the hero (Danny Thomas) has been fighting commies in Korea. I wonder what sort of role did marvelous Peggy Lee play in this obviously forgettable flick.

3rd January 1954 - movies dealing with Africa and its wildlife had been popular since the beginning of Hollywood mode of mass production. Johnny Sheffield who started as Boy at Johnny Weismüller's Tarzan movies graduated as Bomba - a half-savage teenager who goes around half-naked which was sure to be popular with the crowd. 1951's 'The lion hunters' (Caçadores de leões) was Sheffield's 5th time as Bomba... he would still make another 7 more flicks as Bomba.

17 January 1954 - at Marabá & Ritz 1952's 'Balança mas não cai' with Paulo Gracindo playing the rich cousin & Brandão Filho playing the poor relation; singers Marion and Rogeria do the musical numbers; at Cine Jussara Mexican bombshell Miroslava plays 'Mulher da rua' (Street woman) for the 4th week.

7 February 1954 - legendary Atlantida company's 'super-production' 'Nem Sansão nem Dalila' (Neither Samson nor Delilah). See the schedule followed by the movie cast: Oscarito, Eliana, Fada Santoro, Cyl Farney, bad-man Renato Retier & director Carlos Manga who would be at the premiere in person at various theatres in town: on Monday, 8 February 1954 they were at Cine Cruzeiro in Vila Mariana at 8:00 PM; at Cine Art Palacio on Avenida São João at 8:40 PM and Cine Opera on Rua Dom Jose de Barros at 10:20; on Tuesday, 9 February 1954 the cast would travel even further distances for they would be at Cine Nacional in Lapa at 8:30 PM, then hurry up to the other side of town: Cine Universo - the largest movie-house in town - at 10:00 and then back downtown at Cine Art Palacio half-an-hour later at 10:30 PM.

21st February 1954 - at Cine S.Bento a Bomba flick 'Caçadores de leões' plus a 1947 Argentine production 'La cumparsita' based on the famous tango, starred by Hugo del Carril; a recent Republic serial: 1952's 'Zombie of the Stratosphere' (Zombie da estratosfera) which was intended to be a follow up to 1950's 'Commando Cody' featuring the rocket-powered flying jacket & helmet introduced in 1949's 'King of the Rocket Men'. Instead, for reasons unkonwn, the hero was renamed Larry Martin. This serial is best remembered today as one of the 1st screen appearances by a 21-year old Leonard Nimoy who plays Narab, one of the three Martian invaders.

Leonard Nimoy & an unnamed fellow-actor playing evil-doers...

Nimoy as Narab, a Martian invader who wants to H-bomb the earth to get it out of the Sun's orbit.

21st February 1954 - As the Sao Paulo International Film Festival went on - from 12 to 26 February 1954 - the Motion Picture Association of America did their bid and showed as many American movies as possible in the least stretch of time: at Cine Arlequim on Avenida Brigadeiro Luiz Antonio, 1.401. Cine Arlequim would close its doors in the late 1960s and be turned into TV Bandeirantes auditorium and it ended up as an evangelical church in the 1990s.

1st March 1954 - Atlantida presents 'Carnaval em Caxias' with Jose Lewgoy topping the bill with singer-actress Doris Monteiro and show-girl turned comedian Consuelo Leandro in a supporting role. Musical numbers galore with Linda Baptista, Dircinha Baptista, Nora Ney, pianist Bené Nunes, Nelson Gonçalves, Jorge Goulart, Carmelia Alves etc.

7 March 1954 - at Cine Sao Bento a Republic Pictures double-feature: 'Flame of Barbary Coast' (Cidade dos bárbaros) a 1945 western with John Wayne & Ann Dvorak; 1944's 'The lady and the monster' (Noite de pavor) a horror movie with Vera Hruba Ralston & Erich von Stroheim; to top it off a 1937 Republic serial: 'Dick Tracy, o detetive' (Dick Tracy) starring Ralph Byrd.

28 March 1954 - a little known company Iris Filmes presents 'Paixão tempestuosa' with Jardel Filho and TV pioneer actress Vida Alves. Not much is known about this production.

Vida Alves & Jardel Filho.

18 April 1954 - at Cine S.Bento a 1946 western 'In old Sacramento' (Destino marcado) with William Elliott & Constance Moore; 'Castelo do monstro' with Erich von Stroheim and a 1940 most excellent Republic serial: 'The mysterious Dr. Satan' starring Eduardo Cianelli as the fiendish Dr. Satan, handsome Robert Wilcox as Bob Wayne and the Copperhead, Ella Neal as the engenue and C.Montague Shaw as the inventor of a remote-control device stolen by Dr. Satan's gangsters.

9 May 1954 - 1951's 'Hurricane Island' ('Tufão') with Marie Windsor aka as Queen of Bs & Jon Hall plus 1945's 'A thousand and one nights' (Aladin e a princesa de Bagdad) with Cornel Wilde plus 2 more chapters of the Republic serial 'The mysterious Dr. Satan'.

Phil Silvers & Cornel Wilde in 'A thousand and one nights'.

23rd May 1954 - Swedish sensation Ingmar Bergman's 'Noites de circo' ('Gycklarnas Afton' or 'Sawdust and tinsel') that was initially chosen to open Sao Paulo's International Film Festival but was boycotted by the American delegation which made the Festival organizers replace it with 'The Glenn Miller Story' - is finally released commercially at Cine Jussara which didn't bode well. You see, Cine Jussara was considered a 'tainted' movie-house due to most of its films dealing with sex & other forbidden subjects; women (and virtuous men) would avoid the place like the plague.

Harriet Andersson

30 May 1954 - Vera Cruz comedy 'É proibido beijar' (Kissing not allowed) starring Tonia Carrero, Mario Sergio, Ziembinski, Inesita Barroso, Otelo Zeloni and Renato Consorte.

6 June 1954 - Cinemascope in all its splendor in 'The command' (Sob o comando da morte) with Guy Madison, Joan Weldon at Cine Bandeirantes.

12 June 1954 - George Stevens' 'Shane' translated quaintly as 'Os brutos também amam' (Rough men also are capable of loving) which had been premiered during Sao Paulo's Film Festival in February is finally released commercially. Jean Arthur was 52 when she was chosen for the part by director George Stevens. Miss Arthur hadn't been in a film since 1948 and it ended to be her last performance in the movies. She'd been Stevens' choice because he had directed her in 'The talk of the town' (1942) and 'The more the merrier' (1943).

27 June 1954 - Alex Viany's 'Rua sem sol' (Sunless street) is an almost utterly forgotten film; three outstanding Brazilian women are featured: Glauce Rocha's first movie starring role, Doris Monteiro who was more of a singer but kept her acting option strong and finally 1954 recording sensation Angela Maria who sings 'Vida de bailarina', probably her best recorded song ever plus 'Rua sem sol' the movie-title.

27 June 1954 - Cine S.Bento sometimes went as far back as the 1930s: 'Terra de ninguém' (Somewhere in Sonora) was a 1933 pre-Code western with a 26-year-old John Wayne; 'Morto ambulante' (The walking dead) was released in February 1936 with Boris Karloff now at Warner Brothers doing his usual thing; the most recent release in the programme was a 1953 Republic serial: 'Jungle drums of Africa' (Tambores feiticeiros) with Clayton Moore & Phillys Coates. Moore had played The Lone Ranger from 1949-1951 and as a TV series from 1954-1957.