This Mexican lobby card for Bride of Frankenstein (La Novia de Frankenstein) was issued in recent years for a film festival in Mexico. The artwork is very reminiscent of carnival sideshow canvas paintings that hung outside of exhibits along the midway.
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.
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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
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