Here's the double bill pressbook for The Black Torment and The Brain. The Black Torment is a bit too long, and the acting by John Turner is from the scream and hysterics school of melodrama, but this overlooked costume movie has its moments of Gothic chills and atmosphere. Haven't seen The Brain. Yet.
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Double Bill Pressbook:
The Black Torment and The BrainRead More »
Once again, Tony Rivers digs deep into his vault of monsters to release his scans of the Curse of Frankenstein pressbook. The promotional giveaways are superb: monster mask, fluorescent satin badge, and coloring page!
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Captain Clegg (titled Night Creatures for the American market) is one of the lesser know Hammer movies. With Peter Cushing, Oliver Reed, Michael Ripper, and other very good actors, it's an engaging yarn of costume intrigue. The spectral image of the skeleton riders impressed a great deal–I was in the single digits at the time–when I first watched this movie on television. (You can see the Mexican lobby card here.)
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Here's the big movie herald for Gorgo, "The Greatest Motion Picture Ever Produced!" "Picture of a million amazing thrills!" "Like Nothing You've Ever Seen Before!" This tabloid-sized herald was offered in 1 or 2 colors, blank or with the theater's info. See the pressbook here.
I don't recall where I picked this up, but that's par for the course with a lot of stuff in my closet. Although in Spanish, you can see it contains the radio spots and other promotional information for Hammer's The Evil of Frankenstein. Of interest is the Universal Pictures Corp de Mexico in the top left corner.
One of those movies that's unforgettable for its rough edges as well as its influence. Dead people rising up, possessed by aliens intent on destroying the world. The shambling ghouls are said to have influenced George Romero. And the setpiece with people trapped in a military bunker, besieged by the walking dead, and their experimentation on one captured animated-dead individual to find a way to stop them all, is familiar to anyone who has seen Day of the Dead (1985).
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Based on Guy de Maupassant's short story, Le Horla, starring Vincent Price and Nancy Kovack in Diary of a Madman.
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Here’s a very special pressbook from the closet vault. It’s the 12 x 17.5 inches Advertising Book for The Return of Chandu. This, the Publicity Book, and a theater giveaway Chandu Mask were presented in a large, eye-grabbing folder. Quite an impressive promotional presentation for this serial starring Bela Lugosi.
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Pressbook: Return of Chandu (1934)
Advertising BookRead More »
This is the large (12 x 18.5 inches), attention-getting, pressbook presentation folder that the Return of Chandu promotional materials were held in. Note the two grommets in the middle, representing the door knobs: I’m guessing there was a ribbon or ornate string that tied the two front panels closed. Quite a presentation to theaters for this action-packed and melodramatic serial headed by Bela Lugosi as Chandu. See the Publicity pressbook , Advertising pressbook, and the theater giveaway Chandu mask this folder contained.
Only 4 pages, but packed with promotional material for Chandu on the Magic Island, with Bela Lugosi. The original serial was edited down to 2 movies, The Return of Chandu and Chandu on the Magic Island. One of Lugosi's best roles, but often forgotten between his Dracula and Ygor triumphs.
I already posted the herald for this movie, so here's the pressbook. Notice anything odd about it? What's a reference to Batman doing here? The first air date for the popular and influential Batman television series, starring Adam West and Burt Ward, was in 1966. American distributors for A Study in Terror must have thought linking Sherlock Holmes with the more campy Batman would be a good butts in seats gimmick. Wow. Great way to sell a horror movie starring two iconic figures, one fictionally good, one all too real evil.
See more pressbooks From Zombos' Closet.
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Here's the theater giveaway to help promote the showing of A Study in Terror with John Neville as Sherlock Holmes. While Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had engaged in speculation as to who Jack the Ripper really was, his fictional creation never did.
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