JM Cozzoli

If it wasn’t Mars blasting the earth’s atmosphere with deadly rays it was an undersea or other hidden kingdom threatening doom with a disintegrator ray. Ah, the good old days when global warming wasn’t a problem; just evil minions and their maniacal leaders who apparently had little else to do but make trouble for everyone on earth. Mystery Science Theater 3000 can mock this movie all they want, but it’s still a wild ride with its mishmash of whatever costuming was available from the wardrobe department, and creative model work, and the volkites (tin can robots), all done  on a shoestring budget. As for scientific gadgets, the Reflector plate is very interesting mostly because the concept was used again in Star Trek’s Mirror Mirror episode with its Tantalus Field: a device that could see and hear anyone at any time, with a handy press-here-to-disintegrate button. There’s also the Invisible Wall of Atom Rays that acts a lot like the Enterprise’s shields. So make fun all you want: a fair amount of later science fiction staples came from this and other serials. This pressbook is huge at 13 x 20 inches and contains a lot of promotional material to get the kids into the theater.

ComicRack Reader version: Download Undersea Kingdom

You don’t have to dive deep to see more pressbooks from Zombos’ Closet.

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Undersea Kingdom (1936) PressbookRead More »

With an amazingly low budget of anywhere from 200,000 to 500,000 dollars, of course they would come up with some gimmick to help cut corners. Enter cinemagic, a way to tint scenes of Mars a strong saturated red, thereby hiding the cheap budget by lessening details you would not see anyway. The rat-bat creature stalking the astronauts (well, more or less, given the budget), was a pretty good and effective design; enough so that Cloverfield‘s (2008) New York invading alien would have similar attributes. Carnivorous plants, a one-eyed amoeba (I always smile, because it makes me think of Zacherle the Cool Ghoul) , the rat-bat creature, and an unfriendly three-eyed Martian (just pops up now and then), provide the action as cinemagic does its best to provide the red colorization (though the process was more involved because it used solarization).

Here is the pressbook. It focuses on poster art to sell the movie as well as TV and radio ads. And, of course, it touts the CineMagic gimmick.

You don’t need to travel to Mars to see more pressbooks from Zombos’ Closet.

ComicRack reader version: Download Angry Red Planet Pressbook

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The Angry Red Planet (1959) PressbookRead More »

As a kid watching this on my black and white television, I admit I was both fascinated and bored at the same time. Abbott and Costello had more fun with the concept in their Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953). I will quickly sum up this baby by saying it’s Zsa Zsa Ga-Boring. But a saving grace is seeing costumes and props used from other more exciting movies, like Forbidden Planet. Interestingly, Wikipedia mentions the Queen’s guard costumes’ colors may have influenced Star Trek. The pressbook is not too shabby. Note the radio AND television promotions. TV was starting to become less astronomical, so it warranted attention to help sell seats.

Luckily, YOU do not need to be a queen to see more pressbooks from Zombos’ Closet.

Download the ComicRack reader version: Download Queen of Outer Space Pressbook

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Queen of Outer Space (1958)
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The Jungle Jim pressbooks were usually a six-page foldout. I scanned the pages in the order you would see them when initially opening the pressbook. The JJ series had a long run of B (perhaps more C) movies to fill theater screens when patrons would spend hours at the theater; unlike today, where you pay a lot of money to see one movie. I'm sure lots of parents would "dump" their kids at the theater for a few hours so they could experience some freedom from parental duties. William Castle took very good advantage of that with his horror movies and their gimmicks. I pity the poor theater crew that had to clean up the mess after Emergo, after kids used the skeleton for target practice with anything at hand they could toss. Oddly enough, due to copyright issues, Johnny Weismuller's name replaced the Jungle Jim handle. Hence the reason the pressbook says Johnny Weissmuller in Jungle Moon Men. He played himself in the movie. This entry leans toward the fantastical, with an immortal Moon Goddess, pygmies that worshipped her (the Moon Men), and a hidden treasure. Wikipedia notes that plot elements were taken from She: A History of Adventure by H. Rider Haggard.

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Johnny Weissmuller in Jungle Moon Men (1955)
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Subpar miniatures, bad acting, and clumsy wire-work for space scenes renders the wild, wild plot more harebrained than wild. Still, the low budget 1960s space vibe, campy and unintentionally funny, is interesting.

ComicRack reader version: Download Wild Wild Planet Pressbook

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Wild, Wild Planet (1966) PressbookRead More »