Pressbooks (Non-Horror)

I was drawn to this pressbook because you don’t often see early movies fronting a female lead character. There were three Sophie Lang movies of which this is the last one.  Promotion ideas for this one had fashionable clothing trends, luggage, a hope chest stunt, and a photo-fun contest. Larry “Buster” Crabbe (Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers) plays the heavy.

ComicRack reader version: Download Sophie Lang Goes West Pressbook

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Sophie Lang Goes West (1937) PressbookRead More »

It gets confusing trying to keep track of the Dead End Kids, the Little Tough Guys, the Bowery Boys, and the East Side Kids as they pop up in various serials and movies. Long story short: the Dead End Kids were a group of young actors that appeared in the Broadway play Dead End in 1935. In 1937 they wound up in Hollywood to star in the filmed version of the play. Then in 1938 some of them, along with newbies, starred in the movie, Little Tough Guy, so they also became known as the Little Tough Guys. This led to more movies and eventually acquiring the additional monikers East Side Kids and Bowery Boys as they continued to participate in the lucrative franchise over the years. Interestingly, though they began on a serious note, their movies became more comedic and light-hearted as time progressed.

ComicRack reader version: Download Give Us Wings Pressbook

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Give Us Wings (1940) PressbookRead More »

Burlesque stripper Ann Corio made her way to Hollywood to star in Swamp Woman, Jungle Siren, Call of the Jungle, and Sarong Girl. Note the trend toward steamy environs to lessen the need for clothing. What’s unusual about this pressbook is that it’s larger than most (18×12 inches) and has two fold-out sections, which makes this a pricey pressbook to print and distribute.

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Jungle Siren (1942) PressbookRead More »

Contrary to the title, the blonde woman is not a captive. She also puts in just a few minutes of screen time.  This whole movie is a sham. Basically taking a 1928 documentary and adding a blonde woman subplot along with some extra footage, blame Columbia Pictures for this pre-code weirdness in 1932.  Exploitation? Hell yes. Someone snoozing during a new ideas meeting for generating more box office? Hell yes. The only saving grace here is the poster art by Wynne Davies, a superb pulp-style artist who could capture the sexy and tawdriness with the best of them. This movie was lost at one point but someone found it in 2010.  They can’t find London After Midnight but they could find this?

ComicRack reader version: Download The Blonde Captive Pressbook

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What drew my eye to this pressbook for Pirate Treasure, Universal’s swashbuckling movie serial, was the showmanship page. From lobby stunts, pirate coloring competition, pirate mask and hat, pirate treasure bags, heralds, hangers, and more, it’s a splash of thrills. The stunt work in this serial is noted as stellar too. Yo ho ho!

Find more buried treasure pressbooks without a lot of digging from Zombos’ Closet.

ComicRack reader version: Download Pirate Treasure Pressbook

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Pirate Treasure (1934) PressbookRead More »

Ida Lupino directs a gripping 1950s styled noir that brings home the dangers of picking up hitchhikers. William Talman’s performance (best known for playing Hamilton Burger on the Perry Mason television series, 1957 to 1966) is pitch perfect. He has the face, the voice, and the attitude for nasty in spades. Edmond O’Brien makes the perfect 1950s average Joe pushed to the extreme. This is one film noir you won’t want to miss. This 18×12 inches pressbook is no slouch either.

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This pressbook for Fort Vengeance is more interesting than the movie. The campaign art promoted the "red savage" theme in the usual way (war paint, axe, feathers, and menacing face). Rita Moreno starred in a cardboard role and sold cardboard bread in a Hollywood Bread tie-in. Interesting to note that bread was a common tie-in (called tie-up here) with westerns, especially for television. The pressbook mentions "the movie was filmed in color to bring out the scenic splendor of the Canadian Northwest, but the movie was shot indoors and outdoors in California. 

ComicRack reader version: Download Fort Vengeance Pressbook

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Fort Vengeance (1953) PressbookRead More »

Clean-living prizefighter makes good. Monogram made 12 movies based on Ham Fisher’s comic character, Joe Palooka. Lots of movies and shorts in the 1940s and 1950s knocked out stories centered around the boxing ring. We tend to label more contemporary comic book inspired movies as franchise, merchandise, and sequel-itis prone properties, but merchandising and repeated entries for a property started decades ago, even before Star Wars. If it’s hot its cloned more than a gaggle of storm troopers, when the force of an insatiable audience kicks in.

ComicRack reader version: Download Gentleman Joe Palooka Pressbook

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Gentleman Joe Palooka (1946) PressbookRead More »

Courtesy of Joe Dante and Charlie Largent (Trailers From Hell) comes this file copy for The Royal Mounted Rides Again serial. Always interesting are the costs associated with any movie (or serial) promotion. According to the onion skin typewritten page glued (see those annoying brown spots) to page 2, the cost for 6,000 pressbooks came to .233 cents per book; with art work taking 659 dollars for advertising.

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The Royal Mounted Rides Again (1945)
PressbookRead More »

What’s a jungle without a witch doctor? At least that’s the theme in most jungle movies from the 1950s. See the movie herald. Of course it’s all about oil found in the jungle, which brings out the human wild beasts. The poster art focuses on a victimized white woman, scantily dressed of course, to sell butts in theater seats.

ComicRack reader version: Download Walk Into Hell Pressbook

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Walk Into Hell (1956) PressbookRead More »

The good old days, when we were focused on enemies from without and Reader’s Digest sensations that shocked the nation instead of dodging the rocks we’re throwing at each other now. This one’s a dramatization of a true hero, Claire Phillips. She spied on the Japanese during World War II and survived a lot of hardship and torture. This pressbook pushes the patriotism and zippo lighters, along with a song, Because of You. The poster art does a good job of exploitation without excess.

ComicRack reader version: Download I Was an American Spy Pressbook

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I Was an American Spy (1951) PressbookRead More »

Here’s the theater herald for Walk Into Hell, formerly titled Walk Into Paradise. The movie didn’t make any money when it was called Walk Into Paradise, so switching over to Hell did the trick. Americans are like that.

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Walk Into Hell (1956) HeraldRead More »