Azteca/Mexican Lobby Cards
A Christmas Carol (Scrooge, 1951)
Mexican Lobby Card
Still the best version of A Christmas Carol on film. At least for me. Eagle-eyed viewers will catch a camera goof: watch closely the mirror that Ebenezer Scrooge (Alastair Sim) looks into on Christmas morning. In the right corner of the mirror the camera catches a member of the crew. Oops. There are other goofs, but you'll not notice them. Alastair Sim's Scrooge is too entertaining to miss and the milieu of old London too depressing to ignore.
D.O.A (1950) Mexican Lobby Card
One of the essential film noir movies of the 1950s, D.O.A's grim, deterministic, storyline is captured well in this Mexican lobby card. Film buffs will usually point out the opening tracking shot that follows Bigelow (Edmund O'Brien) as he makes his way to the police detectives who already know who he is, but need the background story to connect the dots. The movie kicks in from there and you feel for the guy. For his neglected gal. And for the crazy, one-in-a-million reason he's dying. The dialog's a bit literary at times, but the momentum from the opening to the ending is always on the mark.
Below the Sahara (1953)
Mexican Lobby Card
I bet you thought YouTube started all those silly self-indulgent pet tricks like riding an ostrich. Well, here's proof they started in 1953 (at least). This Mexican lobby card for Mas Abajo Del Sahara manages to create quite a bit of liveliness with a little color and energetic cartoon illustrations. And I like apes, so there.