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Hollywood Thrill-Makers (1954) Pressbook

Robert L. Lippert went for the cheaper productions and at a good time too. Hollywood was producing fewer movies overall due to television’s growing downward pull on box office receipts, as well as the population shifting to the suburbs, which left city theaters with more unfilled seats. Lippert’s movies played the drive-ins and lesser theaters and were cheap enough to turn a good profit. In 1951, Lippert released Superman and the Mole Men, the first feature film (there were the Kirk Allen serials) to star George Reeves, kicked off the successful television series. Allen regretted turning down the role for the tv series that made Reeves America’s Superman of the 1950s and 60s. Lippert became the U.S. distributor for Exclusive Films, which later became Hammer Films. He had a lucrative run up until Hammer moved the distribution to major studios. Lippert’s pressbooks were usually not many pages and contained poster art and some promotional information. Thanks to It Came From Hollywood for this copy.

Hollywood Thrill-Makers 1954 Pressbook

Dante’s Inferno (1935) Pressbook

TCM, in their notes section for Dante’s Inferno (1935), states that Spencer Tracy “agreed to have his name eliminated from advertising and publicity regarding the film and from the opening screen credits.” He said it was the worst picture made anywhere, anytime. Variety did like the ten minutes of Hell, though. I haven’t seen the movie so can’t say either way, but this pressbook is awesome and cost a lot of money to print. It is 15.5 inches by 21.5 inches and lots of pages crammed with promotional information. There’s also a translucent red plastic sheet that was inserted into the pressbook, but not sure what that was for. (You will need a large screen to view this beauty online.) One other note from TCM citing the Hollywood Reporter: the movie was delayed due to the need to manufacture small articles of clothing for thousands of devils so the “purity squad’ wouldn’t be offended. Download the pressbook images here: Dante’s Inferno 1935 Pressbook

Dante's Inferno 1935 movie pressbook

La Jungle en Feu (1945) Pressbook

I recently picked this pressbook (more like two-sided large sheet) for La Jungle en Feu. The poster art is gorgeous and has that propaganda-style of idealized imagery.  Luciano (Arturo de Córdova) has a strong dislike of women. Guess where that goes when Estrella (Dolores del Rio) enters the part of the jungle the guys hang out in. Click the images to enlarge or download.

La Jungle en Feu movie poster art.

La Jungle en Feu movie poster art.

La Jungle en Feu movie poster art.

Dorian Gray (1970) Pressbook

Oscar Wilde’s novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray, has been made into many movies. The earliest surviving version, according to IMDb, is one from 1915, where the sins of Dorian center mostly on cocaine use. This updated 1970 version by AIP amps up the sexual aspects of Wilde’s novel, with Dorian’s descent reflecting the more daring social and cinematic atmosphere of the 1970s as influenced by the sexual revolution that began in the 1960s.  AIP’s pressbooks tended to focus on ad mats for newspapers, posters and lobbies for theaters, then maybe a page or two devoted to exploitation and movie and actor details. They also printed on one side of the sheet, so contained blank pages. The teaser ads are especially psychedelic even without color. (courtesy of It Came From Hollywood)

AIP Dorian Gray 1970 movie pressbook page

Ulysses (1954)
Mexican Lobby Card

Here’s a wonderfully evocative Mexican lobby card for 1954’s Ulysses with Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, Rossana Podesta, and Silvana Mangano (Dune, 1984). I like the menacing cyclops at the lower right: that would be the must-see enticement for me for sure. Also cool is the way Princess Nausicaa’s hair falls across the inset scene. Lots of action and romance showing in the lobby for the movie.

 Ulysses 1954 Mexican lobby card

Special Delivery (1976) Pressbook

Here’s a blast from the 1970s with Bo Svenson and Cybill Shepherd, courtesy of It Came From Hollywood. The decade of slinky women and bulky men onscreen gave us some cool matchups, even if the movies weren’t all that svelte. In Special Delivery, the pair run afoul of thieves, or rather, one thief  (Bo Svenson) has to deal with one woman (Cybill Shepherd) looking for some adventure and another guy (Michael C. Gwynne) looking to get the cash he stashed in a mailbox. Familiar faces pop up along the way: Jeff Goldblum, Vic Tayback, Sorrell Booke, and others you may find familiar from your movie-watching. If you ask me, no movie with either Bo or Cybill, or both of them, can do any wrong. This pressbook is unusual in that its pretty loaded with promotional goodies and solid poster art. It also has a coloring contest page! Both Paul at It Came From Hollywood and myself love coloring pages in pressbooks. They are so cool and retro but timely at the same time, and kids and adults could enjoy coloring them. So, bottom line, they made great advertising for movies in the local papers. In the pressbook you will also find promotional offerings with Special Delivery imprinted balloons and t-shirts. I wonder if Granny Creech has the radio spots? Music by Lalo Schifrin (Mission: Impossible tv series for starters, need I say more?) (Click each image to enlarge and read or right-click to download after you enlarge it.)

Special Delivery Pressbook page

This Island Earth Radio Spots

This Island Earth 24-sheet movie poster

“Two-and-a-half years in the making!” No, that is not how long it took me to come up with the recipe for my witch’s brew: it was a selling point for one of Universal International’s best-loved movies, This Island Earth. Completed in 1955, it was a science-fiction fan’s dream. It had everything: spaceships, strange-looking aliens, lots of scientific talk, an interplanetary communications device, a war-torn planet, “demolition rays”, spectacular special effects, and…a mu-TANT!  I bat-mailed my nephew, Crazy Gary (he works in the dead letter office over at the local post office), and asked if he had any thoughts on the movie. This is what I received back: …

AIP News Clips Galley Packet
Vincent Price, Dunwich Horrors, and Dali in De Sade

Here’s another news clips roundup courtesy of It Came From Hollywood. In this packet: famous Fondas star in film together, blurbs on The Dunwich Horror with Dean Stockwell and Sandra Dee, Vincent Price’s Scream and Scream Again, and AIP does Wuthering Heights (yeah, probably with bikers, though, Heathcliff, fill my arms with leather!)

AIP News Clips Galley Packet

The Lady from Shanghai (1947) Pressbook

As was par for the course with Orson Welles and Hollywood, he’d polish up a gem of a movie and they would just chisel away at it until, while it still had its luster, Welles sparkle of cinematic genius was dulled and edited away into lost pieces of what should have been. Another director who also wasn’t taken all that seriously by Hollywood was William Castle (but taken seriously by horror movie fans), who was originally hoping to direct The Lady from Shanghai, but had to settle for an assistant director position. Welles’s whimsical and dark comedic wit permeate the movie that Harry Cohn hated, and the shootout in the hall of mirrors is classic noir. So much editing was done outside of Welles’ control that elaborate scenes and extended drama in the fun house were lost. I wonder what Welles, given today’s streaming environment, could have accomplished? Rita Hayworth and Everett Sloane were perfect in their roles. Definitely, this is one movie to see on the big screen.

 

The Lady From Shanghai movie pressbook

Peter Fonda Festival Movie Promotion

It Came From Hollywood…and the American International Exchange! The Fonda Festival, three great shows, with Bruce Dern, Dianne Ladd, Dennis Hopper, Susan Strasberg, Jane Fonda, and Nancy Sinatra. Oh, and members of the Hell’s Angels of Venice, California. A drive-in wet dream for sure. You’ve got bikers, baddies, and naughty behaviors galore in The Wild Angels, an Edgar Allan Poe movie (sort of) Spirits of the Dead, and Jack Nicholson’s scripting for The Trip, an acid-tripping movie. Spirits of the Dead boasted directors Roger Vadim, Federico Fellini, and Louis Malle, but IMDb notes that Orson Welles and Luis Buñuel were supposed to direct, along with Fellini (wow, what could have been!).

AIP Peter Fonda Festival Movie Promo AIP Peter Fonda Festival Movie Promo AIP Peter Fonda Festival Movie Promo AIP Peter Fonda Festival Movie Promo

The War of the Gargantuas (1966)
Mexican Lobby Card

Intended as a sequel to Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965), but re-edited to a point where it lost that connection, The War of the Gargantuas (La Guerra de los Gorillas) was rated a “bomb” by Leonard Maltin in his Movie and Video Guide. Remember those paper movie reference guides? But Stuart Galbraith IV in his Japanese Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films book disagrees. He says “despite a much less interesting storyline [than Frankenstein], War of the Gargantuas is silly fun and underserving of the “BOMB” rating…War of the Gargantuas may not be very good but it’s never boring…while hardly one of Toho’s best efforts, War of the Gargantuas is entertaining, and holds up well today.”

You be the judge. He goes on to mention how the monster suits were more mobile than the rubber reptiles and that the actors “could see and express themselves with their own eyes, rather than electronically controlled ping pong balls.” Russ Tamblyn had hit the skids in his career by the time he did this movie. Galbraith mentions that Bill Warren told him that, according to Tamblyn, the dialog track went missing so Tamblyn had to redub his lines without the benefit of the script.

War of the Gargantuas mexican lobby card

Them! Radio Spots!

Them! movie scene with scared little girl
Is it formic acid or Granny Creech’s witch’s brew? (There’s a difference? –editor)

Cough, Cough, ah-choo! Oh…Hello. Sniff, sniff…
You’ll have to excuse me. Old Granny has been doing some cleaning here in the Crypt and it’s a little dusty. I’ve been looking for some old radio spots and I think I’ve found them.
Yesindeedy! Over there beside cousin Jasper’s tomb and behind some old shelves, I found a stack of old Famous Monsters of Filmland and World Famous Creatures magazines, and under them I found some radio spots for the 1954 movie “Them!,” the first big bug movie. These go ‘way back. I remember hearing about this movie when I was a wee little thing: It was one of my dad’s favorite movies.  I really didn’t know what it was about…the title doesn’t give it away…and it wasn’t until I was older that I finally got to see it and understood what “them” was….or who “them” were…or who they were…or…

Anyway, here are the spots to Them!, a movie about GI-ANTS! Ahem, cough, sniff…

 

Them! Radio Spots: 15 seconds a, 15 seconds b, and 55 seconds to ant-tagonize your ears!

 

 

 

Them! behind the scenes with giant ant film crew
Technicians prepare the set for filming of one of the giant mechanical ants used in the movie “Them!”
Them! movie theater banner
Them! movie theater banner used for promotion.

Do you have any radio spots you would like to share? Contact Granny (Gary Fox) at [email protected]