From Zombos' Closet

The Birds (1963) Pressbook

Hitchcock had mentioned the birds rise up against humans because they are fed up with us. Given how badly we've messed up the planet, I'm expecting The Birds to become a reality any day now. Much of nature seems to be gunning for us these days. Back in the the 1970s there were a slew of movies depicting how mother nature turned into a mean bitch. From Frogs to Long Weekend to Soylent Green, we've been told this story again and again. But Hitchcock makes it pretty terrifying indeed. This 40-plus page pressbook for The Birds is a showman's dream. Like William Castle, Alfred Hitchcock liked to play pitchman to his movies, and appeared to have fun doing so. The 6 foot standee of Hitchcock in a bird cage is awesome. Now my life won't be complete until I find one. 

ComicRack reader version: Download The Birds Pressbook

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Shadow of Chinatown (1936) Pressbook

You can read a review of this Victory Pictures serial over at The Files of Jerry Blake. Unfortunately, looks like the pressbook is more exciting than the serial or movie versions. Seems a small budget and less creativity kept the pacing and action to a minimum. Bela Lugosi, as always, deserved better.

ComicRack reader version: Download Shadow of Chinatown Pressbook

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Murder by Television (1935) Pressbook

John Stanley, in his Creature Features Strikes Again movie guide, wrote: "Fuzzy, unadjusted Bela Lugosi whodunit in which two brothers...are involved with development of TV. There's also a death ray..." Death rays were all the rage in the 1930s. Television must have been very mysterious and wondrous back then. Now, you can watch "television" on your cell phone, which kind of kills the wondrous aspect of it as we're so over-saturated with streaming content. We're spoiled rotten. Now, if my cell phone had a death ray...well, I'd be staring at it in wonder. I don't think anyone's written about putting death rays in cell phones yet, so you heard it here first. Then again, what if you pressed the death ray button instead of the camera button? On second thought, death rays on cell phones may prove disastrous for selfies. But I digress. There's an interesting article in this pressbook, Lugosi Make-Up Filmland Wonder. My guess is it's a fluff piece someone thought up, but I don't recall reading about Lugosi's talents with makeup. Usually, Lon Chaney was the one often mentioned, who puttied around with--oh, look, a pun!--the greasepaint and collodion.

ComicRack reader version: Download Murder by Television Pressbook

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Cat-Women of the Moon (1953) Pressbook

The 1950s produced some very thrilling science fiction and some awful oddities. Here's one oddity: Cat-Women of the Moon. The pressbook is equally budget-conscious, but the limited color does make the beatnik-styled ladies a little more vampy. Judging by the lobby card shown below, it's a shame it wasn't shot in color. Green skin always puts the vamp in vampy, I always say. We all remember the dancing Orion slave girl in The Cage, the Star Trek pilot. Well, at least I remember it, anyway. Probably its only dubious importance, Cat-Women managed to usher in other let's-travel-to-another-planet-to-find-weird-women movies, as if there was a real audience-need for them. 

eComic reader version (I use ComicRack): Download Cat-Women of the Moon Pressbook

Doc Savage (1975) Pressbook and Herald

It's a shame that George Pal's last movie had to be Doc Savage with Ron Ely. Ely was a good casting choice, but the movie was a misfire from script to execution. How one can take the precursor to Superman and not run with it boggles the mind. Chuck Connors was in consideration to play Doc back in 1966 and that would have been very interesting to see. Unfortunately the window of opportunity for that one passed and we have the 1975 camp abomination with the ear-slapping theme song and attrocious acting. Doc's Fabulous Five are more Shabby Handful than their portrayals in the pulps. Poor production values also pounded more nails into its cinematic coffin, a far cry from when I, along with others, enthusiastically watched the trailor at one of Phil Seuling's Comic Cons before the movie hit theaters.

Here's the pressbook and herald. I'll note the printing on this pressbook is fairly cheap, too. Both Arnold Schwarzenegger and The Rock were associated with a Doc Savage movie at some point, though nothing's come of it. Hopefully Netflix or another streaming channel will develop a series, which is the best approach, for Doc Savage, and even The Shadow: they both have a lot of stories to tell.

Comic book reader version: Download Doc Savage Pressbook

Mysterious Island (1961) Pressbook

Thanks to Terry Michitsch for again reaching into his collection and providing these wonderful scans of the American pressbook for Mysterious Island. With a rousing score by Bernard Herrmann, Herbert Lom providing the gravitas, and Ray Harryhausen's exciting stop-motion creations, this is a lively and colorful adventure.

Comic book reader version:  Download Mysterious Island Pressbook

The Invisible Boy (1957) U.S. Pressbook

Thanks to Terry Michitsch for providing these wonderful scans of the American pressbook for The Invisible Boy. You can see the UK one here.

Bill Warren gives it the respect it deserves in his Keep Watching the Skies! American Science Fiction Movies of the Fifties. Somewhat a sequel to Forbidden Planet (well, if you do a lot of stretching in regards to Robby the Robot's presence, that is), the story is geared for young boys of the 1950s (who wouldn't want a powerful robot guardian, boy or girl?). Toss in an evil-thinking super computer that wants world domination and you have a boy just wanting to have fun, but he has to save the world too, which can be such a bother. His parents are eggheads, making it a bit difficult for him (he's just an average kid), and Robby, of course, must choose to become more than the sum of his diodes too. Definitely worth a watch if you haven't seen it yet.

Read the comics reader version: Download Invisible Boy Pressbook.

The Invisible Boy (1957) Theater Herald

Here's the colorful movie herald for The Invisible Boy and an ad copy insert sheet.  They wanted to recoup some of Robby the Robot's construction costs, so they tossed him in this one, with a boy and a maniacal computer looking to dominate the world (shades of the 1970s Forbin: The Colossus Project). These wonderful scans are courtesy of Terry Michitsch.

 

 

 

The Night of the Hunter (1955) Pressbook

Directed by Charles Laughton (his only directed movie), The Night of the Hunter offers a poetically sinister mix of silent movie and expressionistic inspired terror. It's one of the best horror movies you've probably never seen. Robert Mitchum is more than chilling in his role as a serial-killing preacher, whose hand tatoos signify his inner turmoil between love and hate. According to Wikipedia, "the influential film magazine Cahiers du cinéma selected The Night of the Hunter in 2008 as the second-best film of all time, behind Citizen Kane." I wouldn't argue with their assessment. 

See more pressbooks and heralds From Zombos' Closet. Comic book reader version: Download The Night of the Hunter Pressbook

Killers From Space (1954) Pressbook

Yes, Killers from Space is a very low budget, and a lazy production for early 1950s science fiction movies. I suggest you revisit it, though, because it's storyline involving alien abduction and espionage is still good, albeit never fully realized. As a kid watching this on television, I was always fascinated by the ping pong eyes of the aliens. As an adult, hell, I'm still fascinated. It's awful but still fun to watch. Given more money to expand the story and the action, the giant insects, dying-planet aliens, and subversion plot would have made it a memorable entry among 1950s science fiction movies.

See more pressbooks and heralds From Zombos' Closet. Comic book reader version: Download Killers From Space Pressbook

Blackhawk: Fearless Champion of Freedom (1952 ) Pressbook

Made in the final years of the serial format, Blackhawk didn't have the budget power to fully realize the popular comic book character. Still worth a watch, though, as Kirk Alyn was always super in his roles. Here's the exciting pressbook used to promote the movie to theaters. The title change (The Miraculous Blackhawk: Freedom's Champion to Blackhawk: Fearless Champion of Freedom) happened when home video kicked in, according to the wiki article. Miraculous is a bit presumptuous, when you think about it.

Comic reader version: Download Blackhawk Pressbook. See more pressbooks and heralds From Zombos' Closet.

Forbidden Planet (1956) Pressbook

With a completely electronic soundtrack and Robby the Robot, nicely centered around a creepy ID monster, Forbidden Planet is a great movie. One can only wonder at how theater marquees and lobbies, that employed the promotional items shown in this 20-page pressbook (like the standee and the fluorescent valance), must have looked to genre fans when the movie aired on the big screen. Oh, and there was Anne Francis to oggle at too, which the crew of the C-57D starship easily do for a good portion of the movie, in the usual 1950s cinematic mating process. A pulp fantasy come true, to be sure. Robby's designer, Robert Kinoshita, also created another favorite: B-9 in Lost in Space. Unfortunately, someone actually used the pressbook as intended and cut out an ad mat or two. Luckily, it didn't affect the readability much.

Comic book reader version: Download Forbidden Planet Pressbook

More other worldly pressbooks From Zombos' Closet.