Dark Venture 1956
Mexican Lobby Card
Once again, intrepid Caucasians venture into the deepest, darkest jungle to be terrified by the locals, the animals, and their own poor judgement and bad decisions. Oh my.
Azteca/Mexican Lobby Cards
Platillos Voladores (1956)
Mexican Lobby Card
A simply beautiful Mexican lobby card for the apparently now lost, according to IMDb, 1956 comedy Los Platillos Voladores.
The Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971)
The 1970s saw a revival of devil worship and satanic shenanigans, usually with the good guys and gals losing badly. Here's the Mexican lobby card for Tigon produced The Blood on Satan's Claw. "In his 2010 BBC documentary series A History of Horror, writer and actor Mark Gatiss referred to the film as a prime example of a short-lived subgenre he called "folk horror", grouping it with 1968's Witchfinder General and 1973's The Wicker Man. The film was to be Patrick Wymark's last English language film, and was released three months after his death." (Wikipedia)
From the Earth to the Moon (1958)
Mexican Lobby Card
Here's the vibrant, if somewhat nebulous in meaning, Mexican lobby card for From the Earth to the Moon movie from RKO and released through Warner Brothers. Location filming was done in Mexico.
Jungle Drums of Africa (1953)
Mexican Lobby Card
A menacing inset scene and carefully arranged border illustration, along with an intriguing use of coloration, make this Mexican lobby card for Jungle Drums of Africa a perfect example of how movies depicted the Dark Continent in the 1950s: full of mystery and menace. Quick, what's the single theme every jungle movie from the 1940s to 1950s always seemed to peg its script on? My answer: outsiders pissing off the locals enough to cause much harm and mayhem. From comedies to jungle dramas, hapless visitors and belligerent natives were the usual payoffs. Not surprisingly, many horror movies follow this same theme.
La Casa De Los Espectros
Mexican Lobby Card
Nicely spooky Mexican lobby card for La Casa De Los Espectros, even if the inset scene cuts into the background illustration unevenly.
Tower of Evil (1972)
Mexican Lobby Card
You should read my review of this ignored horror gem, although this lobby card kind of kills the monstrous surprise. After you see the movie, read the pressbook.
The Indestructible Man
Mexican Lobby Card (Yellow)
I have another Mexican lobby card for El Hombre Indestructible (1956), the blue version. Here's the yellow version, which is more vivid. There are so many movies about men and women victimized by mad scientists, aliens, and themselves, where to start? Lon Chaney Jr. was electrified twice: first in 1941's Man-Made Monster, then in this movie. A great all-around actor, he's the only one to portray all founding-father Universal Monsters: Dracula (or his son, still not sure), Wolf Man, Mummy, and Frankenstein (okay, the Monster, for you purists).
When Worlds Collide (1951)
Mexican Lobby Card
Simple but effective promotion for When Worlds Collide, a George Pal movie that, given his preference for a larger budget, would have been heavier on special effects and art direction. A remake went into pre-production a few years ago, but it's in limbo at the moment. Tech geeks (like me) will enjoy seeing the differential analyser (analog computer) used, in the movie, to crunch the collision numbers.
The Devil Watch (1973) Mexican Lobby Card
Here's an example of the interesting contrast we usually see when witches are portrayed in movies: you either see the decrepit naked hag with long dirty hair rolling around in baby fat in a decidedly non-delicious life-style ((The Witch, Lords of Salem) versus the nubile, sometimes naked, beauties rolling in seductive charms and comfortable bed linens (Baba Yaga, Burn Witch Burn, The Devil's Own).
I'll leave it up to you as to which portrayal is your favorite.
La Maldicion De La Bestia (1975)
Mexican Lobby Card
Paul Naschy strikes again as werewolf Count Waldemar Daninsky in Night of the Howling Beast. This one was a Video Nasty in the United Kingdom and I don't believe it was ever released there. I have yet to "get into" Paul Naschy's oeuvre, but I know some Naschy fans who would bite my head off for such a lapse.
Blacula (1972) Mexican Lobby Card
El Vampiro Negro (Blacula) is a bit too slow moving (by today's standards), but this vampire story uses the Dark Shadows romancing the curse theme very well. By the 1970s, Mexican lobby cards used a, usually rough, cut and paste approach to laying out the card. Here's a more striking version. (See the pressbook for Scream Blacula Scream.)