Pressbooks (Horror, Sci Fi, Fantasy)

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

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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 »

Curt Siodmak strikes again. He can’t seem to stay out of the jungle. Surprisingly, this movie gets a 6.5 rating on IMDb. Ah, I miss the good old days of cinema where savage women captured men to make them their love slaves, deep in some jungle somewhere. Ancient civilization, current civilization, no matter; everyone needs some love-slaving at some point, jungle or not. This one was paired with The Monolith Monsters on a double bill. Now that’s some date-movie combo if ever there was one.

ComicRack reader version: Download Love-Slaves of the Amazons Pressbook

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Love-Slaves of the Amazons (1957) PressbookRead More »

One of the best parts about my growing up was watching Abbott and Costello movies every Sunday on WPIX Channel 11 in New York City. That was back in the 1970s. I miss the 70s. It was a wonderful time for pop culture fans, with conventions and the rediscovery of movie serials, meeting with comic greats, and participating in a growing fandom. You could say it was our low-tech methods for streaming and social media. Interesting items in this pressbook include the tie-ins to poultry and the glamazon hunt. While I didn’t realize it at the time, women in many movies back then seemed to only be there for eye-candy. Pressbooks would hype their fashions, their makeup, and their bodies, but not much else regarding their talent or character development in the story (though with exceptions, of course). Film noirs deviated somewhat from that mold when it came to storyline characters, but just about everything else was guy-focused with a helping of woman in distress, woman in need (of a man, usually), woman clinging on a guy’s arm, woman fainting, tripping, screaming, or arguing, woman watching guy(s) get beat up, woman being manhandled, woman doing the manhandling, and bunch of woman doing any of the previous stuff. Fee fie fo fun, indeed.

ComicRack and YakReader version: Download Abbott and Costello Jack and the Beanstalk Pressbook

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Abbott and Costello
Jack and the Beanstalk (1952) PressbookRead More »

Ah, the good old days when Hollywood idealized, feminized, exoticified, and basically fronted eye-candy appeal stories for pretty women. Such women spent countless hours making themselves attractive to men and simply lounged around until a man came along to get the story moving. And of course they were surrounded by other pretty women, making all men swoon and lust after them. Here's the front cover to the pressbook for Cobra Woman (1944). Maria Montez plays the exotic woman and her twin  sister (points for twins!). I wish I had the whole pressbook, but this cover will have to do for now. Leonard Maltin called it a camp classic. You may call it something else. Of course, what's a pretty woman without a tropical locale? Here it's Cobra Island. Along with the prettiness you have Sabu and the not so pretty Lon Chaney Jr. What more can you ask for in a camp classic?

Get your bobby socks on. It's a double bill of shock and horror! Just when you escape the juke box jungle the tarantula grows on you (in a bad way). This double bill promotion insert fell out of the Running Wild pressbook I was thumbing through. I'm thinking this made a neat date night movie or drive-in snuggle. I'd think the date night would get more traction at the drive in, but the balcony might do in a pinch. I miss theater balconies. They were filled with mystery along with the sticky floors. Thanks to Trailers from Hell (Joe Dante and Charlie Largent) for supplying the Running Wild pressbook and this pleasant surprise contained within.

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Double Shock
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Not until Terry Michitsch sent along these wonderful scans of 20 Million Miles to Earth did I realize William Hopper was playing a lead role in it. Now an ardent Perry Mason fan (the television show with Raymond Burr), Hopper plays Paul Drake, the private detective Mason relies on; so now I need to watch 20 Million Miles again, just to see him in action. TCM’s overview mentions how this movie started filming in Italy because Ray Harryhausen wanted to vacation there. Smart move, combining work and play at the same time, and getting paid for it to boot. Harryhausen’s Ymir is one of his best creations, with a solid personality and superb body design. Given more budget money, and better scripting, this would be an all out classic.

ComicRack reader version: Download 20 Million Miles to Earth Pressbook

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20 Million Miles to Earth (1957) PressbookRead More »

Terror in the Haunted House, also known as My World Dies Screaming, was the first movie lensed using Psychorama. If you’ve seen The Exorcist, you know what psychorama is: think of those brief flashes of the demon face popping up. In this movie, flashes of a skull were used to subliminally convey terror to the audience, along with other images to convey other emotions. Or so they hoped.

ComicRack reader version: Download My World Dies Screaming Pressbook

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My World Dies Screaming (1958) PressbookRead More »