From Zombos Closet

Pressbooks (Horror, Sci Fi, Fantasy)

Goliath and the Dragon (1960) Pressbook

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You can thank American International Pictures for bringing the Italian Goliath and the Dragon to U.S. theaters. Although originally Hercules was the main character, AIP changed the name to Emilius (known as Goliath in the movie) to provide a sequel (well, sort of) for their release of Goliath and the Barbarians. When the rights to the actual planned sequel fell through, AIP just retitled this one instead. They also added a stop-motion dragon into the movie, but you will only see it in the Americanized version. Still perplexing to me is the presence of Broderick Crawford (Highway Patrol, 1955 TV series). I just can’t envision him as the villainous King Eurystheus. And this sword and sandal opus doesn’t even have either Steve Reeves or Gordon Scott! AIP-TV’s initial offering included this movie in the 40-movie deal they struck for television airplay in 1964. That’s where I originally caught this one (probably on a Sunday morning, along with Tarzan and Abbott and Costello). The pressbook itself is nicely presented and it has a coloring page!

After the success of Goliath and the Barbarians, Lou Rusoff wrote a script called Goliath and the Dragon that Sam and Jim planned to film in Italy with Debra Paget. These plans fell through and AIP ended up buying an Italian movie called The Vengeance of Hercules and reworking it to fit their title by adding scenes with a dragon. (Smith, Gary A., American International Pictures – The Golden Years, BearManor Media.)

Goliath and the Dragon Pressbook …

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Children Shouldn’t Play
With Dead Things (1972)
Pressbook

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When you think of VHS, this one definitely comes to mind (for those of us who still think of VHS, that is).  Alternate titles for Children Shouldn’t Play With Dead Things were Zreaks, Things from the Dead, Things from the Grave, and Revenge of the Living Dead. In Germany it was called Cemetery of the Dead, in Finland, Älä leiki kuolleilla, in Portugal, As Crianças Não Devem Brincar Com Coisas Mortas. Some trivia for you courtesy of IMDb: the names on the tombstones in the film are those of the crew members; they were made out of styrofoam (the tombstones, not the crew members). The film’s script was written in ten days (yes, I believe that).

The 1990 guidebook “Uranian Worlds: A Guide to Alternative Sexuality in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror” by Eric Garber and Lyn Paleo lists this film as one of the first horror films to show positive (though stereotypical) gay male characters who also have an important role in its story. (cited from IMDb)

Children Shouldnt Play With Dead Things Pressbook …

Children Shouldn’t Play
With Dead Things (1972)
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The Devil Rides Out (1968) Pressbook

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The Devil Rides Out is one of those movies, like Casablanca, that I can watch again and again. I wish Hammer had continued a franchise with Christopher Lee as the occult investigator, Duc de Richleau. Terence Fisher and Richard Matheson (screenplay) did a marvelous job with Dennis Wheatley’s rambling book, and the depiction of the more nefarious theme of Satanism (not the fun-loving Sabrina-esque one we’ve come to love these days), is still effective though not quite as shocking. Wheatley had written a few books around Duc de Rickleau and Lee, after meeting the author at a lecture, urged Hammer to lens one of his books.  Lee is noted as saying this was his favorite Hammer movie (cited from IMDb). Considering he played the good guy fighting evil, for a change, I can see why.

The Devil Rises Out movie pressbook

Executive producer Anthony Hinds was inexplicably depressed by the rushes, and made a special request to composer James Bernard to detract from the film’s shortcomings. While Bernard was working on his score, hinds hired Patrick Allen to re-voice co-star Leon Greene, inadvertently compromising the film even more. A pivotal special effects sequence, a close-up of the Angle of Death, was left unfinished. ( The Hammer Vault, Treasures From the Archive of Hammer Films by Marcus Hearn)

Nevertheless, it would seem that Hinds was not the only person who had reservations about Greene’s acting abilities. Commented Christopher Lee in a letter to his fan club shortly after the completion of shooting, “What I have seen of the film, with the possible exception of one member of the cast, promises to be surprisingly good.” Ouch! (Hammer Complete: The Films, the Personnel, the Company by Howard Maxford)

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Creature with the Atom Brain (1955)
Pressbook

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That look of Richard Denning in the poster art? Priceless. You don’t often (pretty much never, really) see a man recoil in terror in movie poster art. Women are the helpless, emotional victims, not men. I wonder what he thought about it when he saw what the marketing team had dreamed up? Love the coloring page. One of these days I’ll compile a post on coloring pages used for movie publicity. Kind of odd, kind of fun, they’re a promotional gimmick I’m not sure as to their effectiveness, and who the targeted audience was for them.

Creature with the Atom Brain Pressbook

 

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Creature with the Atom Brain (1955)
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Monstrous Trade Ads
From Box Office Magazine

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These boffo trade ads were scanned by It Came From Hollywood from Box Office Magazine (1952 to 1956). Trade ads were designed to alert the theater manager to new movies for their silver screens that could bring in good box office receipts to keep the projector humming. Some trade ads were a full page while others could spread across multiple pages, and they were illustrated and worded with gusto to attract attention and excitement.

Box Office Magazine trade ad for Creature from the Black Lagoon Box Office Magazine trade ad for Creature from the Black Lagoon Box Office Magazine trade ad for Creature from the Black Lagoon Box Office Magazine trade ad for Invaders from Mars Box Office Magazine trade ad for abbott and costello meet the mummy.

 

 

Dracula (1979) Pressbook

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Moving away from the lustful, unrepentantly malevolent vampire of Bela Lugosi and Christopher Lee, Frank Langella’s Dracula is more romantic, more sensual, and more contemporary in artifice, sporting an opened shirt, less formal aristocratic dress that mixes perfectly into the pretty-look sensibilities of the late 1970s into the 1980s. With Laurence Olivier and Donald Pleasance, John Badham’s approach is classy and more gothic teen heart-throb in tone and mood, like Twilight before Twilight, and without werewolves.  

This pressbook, courtesy of It Came From Hollywood, is even less formal. By the late 70s, the art of the pressbook had lessened, providing a minimum of promotional information. One cool item here, though, are the cut-out forms to order radio and television spots for the movie. With a minimum of newspaper ads to order, and the Promotion page that directs to “the Universal fieldman in your local area” to request the Promotion Manual, one can see the shift away from the ballyhoo and exploitation that was previously more theater-focused as given in the pressbook. Now radio, and television especially, were the stronger mediums through which movie promotion could be conducted on a larger scale.

Dracula 1979 pressbook …

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Dracula (1930) Universal Weekly Trade Ad

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Here is a colorful trade ad for Dracula, courtesy of It Came From Hollywood. (ICFH Note: “I discovered these while going through the complete run, page by page, of Universal Weekly.”) Universal Weekly, A Magazine for the Motion Pictures Exhibitors was put out by the Universal Film Manufacturing Company. Previously titled Moving Picture Weekly, you can read digital copies at the Media History Digital Library website.

 

Dracula 1930 The Film Daily trade ad

Dracula 1930 The Film Daily trade ad