Cinema: Apr. 26, 1963

The Ugly American. Marlon Brando arrives in mythical South Sarkhan (or possibly South Viet Nam) to take over the embassy, and walks smack into a revolution triggered by his old wartime buddy, a native named Deong. As an ambassador, Brando looks like something out of an old Grace Moore movie, but he seems cut out for the job: his Sarkhanese is better than his English.

Bye Bye Birdie. This adolescent operetta loses a lot in translation from stage to screen. Ann-Margret, as the girl from Sweet Apple, Ohio, who gets involved with mush-mouthed rock-'n'-roller named Conrad Birdie, can't fool anybody into believing that she is 16 years old. But then she doesn't really try.

I Could Go On Singing. If much of this movie is like a collection of scenes from some as-yet-unproduced Judy Garland Story (she wrangles over the custody of a child, she twitches with distress, she Goes On With the Show), Judy is acting every minute. And Garland's acting, unlike her singing, gets better and better.

Love Is a Ball. In this Riviera-based frappė, Hope Lange is an heiress who chases Chauffeur Glenn Ford. Charles Boyer adds a zestful touch of Gallic.

Five Miles to Midnight. Sophia Loren and Tony Perkins in a thriller about a ne'er-do-well who escapes from a plane wreck and involves his wife in a plot to collect his life insurance. It is good, solid, black-and-white suspense stuff.

The Birds. Alfred Hitchcock hates birds and the Audubon Society hates Alfred Hitchcock.

The Balcony. Jean Genet's allegory of life as a bawdy house where men buy illusions at the price of their masculinity. Shelley Winters is the madam who knows what her customers want.

Mondo Cane. Some episodes in this stomach-churning travelogue are almost Swiftian in their comment on human frailty. Others are simply funny. But the best/ worst parts provide some of the bloodiest minutes to hit the screen in a long time.

TELEVISION

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Wednesday, April 24 Portrait (CBS, 7:30-8 p.m.).*Metropolitan Opera Soprano Eileen Farrell discusses her career as singer and alternate offstage role of wife and mother.

Thursday, April 25

Premiere (ABC, 10-11 p.m.). "The Town That Died" stars Dana Andrews in a drama about an island town that shrivels up and turns to dust.

Friday, April 26

Jack Paar (NBC, 10-11 p.m.). Guests: Kate Smith, Jonathan Winters, Cliff Arquette. Color.

Eyewitness (CBS, 10:30-11 p.m.). The top news story of the week.

Saturday, April 27

Exploring (NBC, 12:30-1:30 p.m.). The cultural-educational children's series focuses on stamps, ravens, and the harp. Color.

The Defenders (CBS, 8:30-9:30 p.m.). The Prestons' clients this week: three men charged with a lynch murder, featuring Larry Hagman, Roy Poole and Milton Selzer.

Saturday Night at the Movies (NBC, 9-11:05 p.m.). Three Coins in the Fountain, starring Clifton Webb, Dorothy McGuire, Louis Jourdan and Rossano Brazzi, all in living color.

Sunday, April 28

The Twentieth Century (CBS, 6-6:30 p.m.). A documentary, "Frogmen of the Future," on underwater training techniques taught by the U.S. Navy.

White Paper (NBC, 10-11 p.m.). Chet Huntley on "The Business of Gambling."