Why is it always the poor virgins getting victimized? And why does "Erotomania" added to any horror movie compel us to see it? Burning questions I have no answers for. Great highbrow tagline: "A mature person's trip through the ultimate in horrific wickedness."
The older movies had this thing with girls and gorillas. Beats me why. And because I know you're dying to see it, here's The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini pressbook. You can thank me later.
Or is it Revenge of the Creature? This Mexican lobby card is a bit confusing. The top illustration is from Revenge of the Creature, but the bottom shows The Creature Walks Among Us. And the title, El Monstruo Vengador, doesn't quite match up with the English title beneath.
An odd Mexican lobby card, this one. Tobor El Magnifo originally was released through Republic, with the Republic seal and distro information printed on the card. You'll notice this card has the seal blacked out (bottom right), and the distro information blacked out (bottom center) and reassigned to Distribuidora Sotomayor. What's very interesting is that the changes were made and the card reprinted. Even the paper used, a nicely textured and less acidic paper stock, seems a more expensive choice than the usual cheaper pulpy kind. When I first received this card, I thought it was a knock-off, but now I'm thinking it's a re-issued printing (which happens a lot) for the new distributor's run of the movie. But unlike other cards I've seen, this distributor actually spent more money to reprint the lobby with their information, rather than simply marker out the previous info by hand.
Santo flexes his muscles again in Santo vs. La Invasion De Los Marcianos (1966), and this Mexican lobby card shows a lot of muscle too.
I'm not sure if this was used as a lobby card, window card, or theater handout. The paper is glossy and thin and there's a space below the image to add theater information. Window cards have the space, but usually it's larger, positioned at the top, and the card's paper stock would be thick and rigid. However it was used, you can't beat robots and monsters doing a smackdown with Godzilla.
Okay, so what if my buddy Steven and me pinned pillowcases to our backs and played George Reeves' Superman when we were kids? We didn't jump off of tall buildings, but we did bound around a lot on the porch steps. My mom drew the line when I embellished my pillowcase with the Superman insignia. Not even Lex Luthor was that mean. Then Adam West's Batman hit television and off I went again, but this time I had a plastic, store-bought, Caped Crusader cape. By then my buddy had moved away, but Batman was a loner anyway, so I did okay.
Here's the Mexican lobby card for Invasores De Marte, one of the most frightening, for kids, of all the 1950s science fiction movies. Striking in its simplicity and the skillfully handled budget-art design, who can forget the images of people being swallowed by the sand accompanied by that unearthly sound, or those tall, gawky, fuzzy-clad aliens and their tentacled leader in the glass bowl? And you like ray guns? Well, that's a ray gun! Invaders from Mars is still a film--with its paranoia and mind-control themes even more relevant today--not to be missed.
Here's another Mexican lobby card for Cat-Women of the Moon. For a variation, see this one. Funny how the women would always be glamorous in space, and the guys would be weighted down with bulky space suits. Go figure.
One of the best (and still impressive) science fiction movies of the 1950s with an atmospheric and stylish art direction, combined with an engaging alien score, and the friend every kid wanted after seeing this movie: Robby the Robot.
Some very thoughtful movies came out of the 1950s science fiction cycle. Some of the others involved sexy alien women with dominatrix attitudes and big ray guns, lusting after earth men. Or, we went to them instead as Earthian astronauts, lusting after exotic alien women (oddly, all dressing the same way in tight fitting clothes) on distant planets. Take your pick, it was still fun.
