The above collage assembles six images from the "Cine" section of Bazan, 14, 15, 16-17, the three numbers of the year 1960.
When I was a child Ferrol had seven movie houses. In my earliest recollection of a movie scene there is an Indian crouching toward a Seventh Cavalry soldier sheltering behind a wagon and firing at a band of circling Indians, the soldier unaware of the threat behind him. The Indian raises his tomahawk and an anguished small voice screams in the hushed house, "¡Mátalo!" (Kill him!). I remember the audience laughed, which perplexed me given the gravity of the situation, but I was mollified by watching the blue soldier with the yellow kerchief turn around in the nick of time and shoot the Indian dead. At that early age I also could not understand where the movie house kept all the horses, wagons and trains for the next showing.
Below is a sample of four days with the movies that were playing in Ferrol. The source is that day's newspaper. The first day is from 1954, the second is from 1955, the third from 1959 and the fourth from 1961. A seasonal variance among the four days was introduced deliberately.
The first field of every row below is the name of the movie house (in italics). The second field is the title of the film as it appeared on the ad. The third field (where available) names the leading actors and actresses as they appeared on the ad. The next field cites the film's country of origin, its year of release and its original title if the film is foreign. The last field provides a hyperlink to a clip of the movie where available. In some cases there is a closing comment taken from the newspaper.
A newspaper editorial of March 24, 1954, complained about the compulsory rest period of 10 minutes halfway through a movie.
The owners of Madrid-Paris movie house made unusually heavy advertising of the movie Lili (U.S.A. 1953) ahead of its premiere on Friday June 25, 1954.
On August 1, 1954, a Western Electric engineer came to install CinemaScope projection equipment in the Capitol movie house. Nine days later a trial run was made with the private showing of "The Tales of Hoffmann" (Britain, 1951). The reaction of the invited guests was enthusiastic. The equipment installed cost about half a million Pesetas or $3,366 year 1954, equivalent to $29,600 year 2016. The apparatus could also project VistaVision, Perspective and 3-D films. Its purchase made the city the seventh in Spain to flaunt this technology. The first CinemaScope movie shown in Ferrol was The Robe (U.S.A. 1953) on Thursday October 7.
On October 5, 1961, Callao movie house installed Western Electric's Cinemascope projection equipment. Three days later the first movie shown with the new projector was Duelo en el Atlántico (U.S.A. 1957, The Enemy Below).
On December 7, 1961, a new movie house was inaugurated in Ferrol. Cine Atenas was located in the vicinity of the municipal stadium. The newspaper described it as "magnificent...of colossal proportions...its lower viewing floor contains more than five hundred seats." The first movie shown was Constantino El Grande (Italy 1961).
Joselito was born in 1943. Age-wise he could be considered a child star until 1956 at most. However, as with many other Spanish children, his growth was stunted and his small stature made him look childlike longer.
Marisol was born in 1948.
The majority of the movies shown in Ferrol was foreign. The random sample of movie listings for 1954, 1955, 1959 and 1961 shows that a mere ¼ had Spain as the country of origin.
The landing at the back door of the co-cathedral had a fount of "holy water" and on the adjoining wall there hung a bulletin board with the list of movies showing in the city, a brief description of each and an advisory rating. The lowest advisory number 1 meant that the movie was harmless and could be watched by everybody. Movies meant for adult audiences were tagged with the number 3 (e.g. some necking). The next rating was 3-R which indicated that the movie had serious, morally objectionable features (e.g. some necking plus a bikini or two). It was the summer of 1965, shortly before my departure. Balancing on the fount's pedestal, I scanned the bulletin board and my eyes bugged out when I spied the number 4. That was the sternest advisory, rarely seen. It meant that the movie was "gravely dangerous" to the spiritual well-being of the moviegoer. I took mental note of the title and read the eponymous book years later.
The censured movie was American from the year 1958. Here is the movie's official trailer.
| Ferrol's New England Theater (1906-1914) |
