Cinema: Aug. 18, 1961

Cold Wind in August. Good hard-mouth dialogue and a superb performance by Lola Albright will persuade most viewers to ignore the flaws in this low-budget film about a stripper's love for a 17-year-old boy.

The Sand Castle. A gay and whimsical satire on sun worshipers and beach-bum muscle growers, centering on a little boy who builds a castle in the sand.

The Honeymoon Machine. This is the Hollywood machine in a rare moment of felicitous clank, turning out a slick, quick, funny comedy about sailors, girls, a roulette table and a computing machine. With Steve McQueen and Paula Prentiss.

Fate of a Man (in Russian). Sergei Bondarchuk, a top Soviet film maker, directs his own powerful performance in this freely sentimental story of a soldier who is reduced to flotsam by war, then made whole again by the love of an orphan.

Misty. Good fun for the slingshot set; the story of two children who plot to buy a wild pony.

The Parent Trap. Cute, 13-year-old identical twins (Hayley Mills, in both cases), who have been separated since birth, connive to rehitch their divorced parents, with results that are surprisingly entertaining.

Secrets of Women (in Swedish). Ingmar Bergman's first comedy, about the satisfied husbands of four dissatisfied wives.

TELEVISION

Thurs., Aug. 17

Silents Please (ABC, 10:30-11 p.m.).*John Barrymore doubling as Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.

Fri., Aug. 18

Berlin: Act of War? (CBS, 8:30-9:30 p.m.). This CBS News special presents the background of the current Berlin crisis, including interviews with West Berlin's Mayor Willy Brandt and East Germany's Red Propaganda Chief Gerhart Eisler.

Person to Person (CBS, 10:30-11 p.m.). Tonight the show visits the homes of Actor Roddy McDowall and Actress Julie Newmar.

Sat., Aug. 19

Wide World of Sports (ABC, 5-7 p.m.). Playing for a $10,000 prize, Golfers Gary Player (Masters winner) and Arnold Palmer (British Open champion) swat it out in a match taped at St. Andrews, Scotland.

Sun., Aug. 20

Look Up and Live (CBS, 10:30-11 a.m.). A condensation of Henrik Ibsen's Brand.

The Twentieth Century (CBS, 6:30-7 p.m.). Crisis at Munich retells the century's classic appeasement story. Repeat.

Tues., Aug. 22

Focus on America (ABC, 7-7:30 p.m.).

A study of the special schools and special ized programs set up by New York City's school board.

Playhouse 90 (CBS, 9:30-11 p.m.). Helen Hayes and Janice Rule star in Four Women in Black, a drama based on the true story of four nuns who survived an Apache attack and crossed the Mojave Desert to establish a hospital. Repeat.

THEATER

Straw Hat

Skowhegan, Me., Lakewood Theater: Martha Raye in Separate Rooms.

Kennebunkport, Me., Playhouse: The Marriage-Go-Round, with Our Miss (Eve) Arden.

Williamstown, Mass., Summer Theater: Toys in the Attic, with Anne Revere abandoning her Broadway role of the unworldly spinster Anna to attempt Irene Worth's cool, sophisticated Albertine.

Framingham, Mass., Carousel Theater: Hugh (Wyatt Earp) O'Brian rides again in Destry.

Stockbridge, Mass., Berkshire Playhouse: Gloria Grahame in Susannah and the Elders.