From Wikipedia: "In 1984, film noir historian Spencer Selby noted, "Undoubtedly one of the most stylish and refined woman-in-distress noirs." This Mexican lobby card for Sudden Fear illustrates that tone quite well with a beautiful closeup of Joan Crawford at her histrionic-best. Notice, also, how the lighting for the couple at the bottom right embellishes them with a sinister patina.
One of the most frightening monsters in horror cinema. And there's Steve McQueen tossed in for good measure (he'd go on to do television's Wanted: Dead or Alive). The movie playing in the theater when the Blob spills out of the projector booth is Daughter of Horror (a re-cut of Dementia, 1955). If you haven't caught this movie, do so: it's held up and still delivers the goosebumps.
What more to say than this was done by Ray Dennis Steckler. The story goes the title was a typo (should have been Rat Pfink and Boo Boo) but Steckler's budget couldn't cough up the extra money to fix it. Great movie for a midnight matinee showing. Toss in a Three Stooges short and some early cartoons and even I'd stay awake.
There's something fascinating about the girls and gorillas thematic that was a Hollywood bad habit that hit its zenith in the 1940s, along with mad scientists and gorillas. Of course, the most notable is King Kong (1933), but there were many movies plotting along this theme. Here's the Mexican lobby card for the Congo Bill Columbia Pictures 15 chapter serial. While it may all appear rather silly now to watch an actor in a gorilla suit carrying an unconscious woman in his arms, try to imagine as if you were sitting in a grand, single screen, theater in the 1940s. (Here's the Congo Bill pressbook.)
What's old is new again. Here's the Mexican lobby card for Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
Even though Bela Lugosi appears in this small effort with the Ritz Brothers, he's nowhere to be seen on this Mexican lobby card for The Gorilla. Not even Lionel Atwill, who also appears, shows up here.
Here's the Mexican lobby card for The Devil's Rain. You can see the pressbook here. I can best sum it up by saying a lot of people melt at the end. So either fast forward or plan on spending little quality time until the end. Great poster art, though. And the makeup effects are good. A lot of movies came out in the 1970's, on television and in the theater, with stories about satanists and witchcraft and all that. Not sure why. This is one of those movies. Now, if we were talking Race with the Devil (1975), of which you can see the pressbook here, that's worth your while.
Still need to watch this one. Here's the Mexican lobby card for The House in Nightmare Park. It simply pulls illustrations, albeit wonderful ones, from the poster art for the movie. You can see the pressbook here.
Imported in the 1960s by K. Gordon Murray. An anthology movie with two stories, this Mexican lobby card is oddly compelling. You can see it on YouTube, but not in English.
Here's the 8 card Azteca Mexican lobby card set to La Maldcion de la Momia. On the Azteca lobby cards (which were printed for Spanish-speaking American movie theaters), each inset scene is an actual photograph. The cards are also smaller than the regular Mexican lobby cards. Evil Dr. Krupp squares off against Popoca, a masked wrestler, and other annoyances to his mad master plan. Very enjoyable, even if a bit slower moving than today's movies.
Continue reading "La Maldicion De La Momia (1957)
Mexican Lobby Cards" »
Thanks to Geraldo for identifying this crime movie as Second Face, 1954. I had searched IMDb for director Joy Rich, but came up empty. So I either need to polish my searching skills or IMDb needs to work on their search algorithm. But either way, this Mexican lobby card is illustrated beautifully. The elements, the colors, and the inset scene photo, as well as the choice of font style, blends into a big must-see-this-movie for theater patrons when they saw this lobby card in the theater's, well, lobby.
While the pirate antics don't quite match up to the illustration on this Mexican lobby card, Pirates of Blood River does have Christopher Lee and Kerwin Mathews in it. A good non-horror movie from Hammer.
