Pressbooks (Non-Horror)

An engrossing noir, 20th Century Fox’s The Dark Corner has Lucille Ball, making it even more entertaining to watch. Pretty much a Queen of the Bs before her I Love Lucy (six years) and Desilu Studios days, she was always notable in every movie she played in. Star Trek fans know full well how her taking over the management of Desilu led, among other things, to spending the money for two pilots and providing a hefty budget — all while ignoring her board’s desire to cancel it — to put the science fiction Wagon Train in space television series on the air. You can thank her for promoting and backing Mission Impossible too. In The Dark Corner, she fights for her man, played by Mark Stevens, who never seemed comfortable while acting. Clifton Webb, who played Waldo Lydecker, the snobby, stern-faced, would-be lover in Laura, plays a Waldo Lydecker here too, only with the name changed to Cathcart. William Bendix is always a delight to watch in action. He was the go-to for blue collar toughness and earthiness, and made the perfect street-tough character. He gained notoriety through The Life of Riley (on radio and television). He also played Babe Ruth in The Babe Ruth Story. He actually was a bat boy for the New York Yankees, but was fired after getting Babe Ruth sick before a game by bringing him hot dogs and sodas. The Babe had a habit of eating large. Bendix appeared in other noir movies, including The Blue Dahlia (1946) and The Glass Key (1942). At twenty pages, this pressbook certainly goes all out to sell the movie.

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The Dark Corner (1946) PressbookRead More »

First, I really love these folder-style movie pressbooks. They were especially made for the drive-in circuit. Second, while I categorize war pressbooks as non-horror, let’s be real: wars are horror; we just don’t have the luxury of fantasy to wrap it in that we do with most horror movies. These AIP budget movies, using stock footage, are par for the course. Tank Battalion at least had Frank Gorshin (simply the best Riddler, tell me I’m wrong), Barbara Luna, and Leslie Parish. They appeared on Star Trek TOS. Funny thing department: Tank Battalion‘s budget allowed for one tank. I haven’t watched the movie, but I can imagine how well that works onscreen when you’re fighting a war. An AI prompt brought up information about the cheapness of the set design, especially with the interior of the tank. To save money, convenient damage to the tank early on keeps it stationary for most of the movie. Now you know I have to watch this one.

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Hell Squad and Tank Battalion
Double Bill PressbookRead More »

Kidnapped Coed, also known as Date with a Kidnapper, is a grindhouse (low budget, gritty, quickly shot) movie that was paired with Axe, which made the video nasties list in the 1980s over in the UK, and Hitch Hike to Hell (1977) on double bills. Both were directed by Frederick R. Friedel. I’ve not watched either, yet, but Kidnapped is either ignored as a boring, not so action-packed, grindhouse effort or praised as a pensive meditation with some artsy flair and carefully planned tracking shots. Either way, I found the pressbook’s cover interesting enough to share it with you. It sells the exploitation and the leering quality that grindhouse should be edged with, art or not. I love that tagline too.

Born in Brooklyn in 1948, Friedel had no training in film, no experience on a film set, and no idea of what actually was involved in film production. But he did know that Orson Welles had made Citizen Kane when he was twenty-five and decided that he wanted to make a feature by that age himself. (Cagey Films)

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Kidnapped Coed (1976) PressbookRead More »

Here’s a funny thing. I like to research the movie when I post the pressbook for it. For Wild West Days I decided to try ChatGPT to see how it would respond to my simple prompt: “Tell me about the movie serial Wild West Days 1937.”

It didn’t do well. Twice it gave me completely wrong information and twice I corrected it. It finally got it right on the third prompt. How it could have been so off the mark I’m not sure, but imagine someone asking about the movie who didn’t already know something about it? That person could have walked away thinking it was a B Western made by both Republic and Monogram, starring Ray ‘crash’ Corrigan, Ken Maynard, and Hoot Gibson. Oh, and it was directed by Louis King and John English. Louise Stanley played the romantic interest too. Yikes~!

Finally, third time was the charm. “You’re absolutely right again, and I deeply apologize for the confusion in my earlier responses. Wild West Days (1937) is indeed a Universal Pictures film serial, not a B-movie Western as I mistakenly suggested. Let me provide the correct details about the serial.”

So let that be a warning to you, as Criswell said (well okay, I added the AI): “Future [AI] events such as these will affect you in the future” and “We are all interested in the future [of AI], for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives.” Amen, brother.

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Wild West Days (1937) PressbookRead More »

An enjoyable entry in the Sherlock Holmes series by Universal, Terror By Night is a solid 60 minutes of whodunit that director Roy William Neill keeps fast-paced and tensely mysterious given the confined setting of a “moving” train. Significant back projection helps maintain realism and Neill’s high-contrast lighting adds to the noirish look. The one failing movies taking place on trains or boats or planes have is the instability of simple motions of people walking or standing on something moving, sailing or flying; characters are always so motionless and stable while the normal jerks and bumps normally experienced in real life are not shown onscreen. The production costs for such realism can be high, but would be a welcomed sight. You can see a good copy of this movie on YouTube. The character actors appearing in the Sherlock Holmes movies were superb. To learn more about them I highly recommend reading Sherlock Holmes and the Fabulous Faces: The Universal Pictures Repertory Company by Michael A. Hoey.

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Terror By Night (1946) PressbookRead More »

One of the noir movies I have yet to see, The Unfaithful‘s Ann Sheridan, Warner Brothers’ Oomph Girl (not a nickname she liked but par for Hollywood),  faces postwar marital distress, suspicion, morality, and justice. She received the nickname in 1939 when Warner Brothers wanted to hype her allure and glamour. She also had some strong acting chops too. My favorite movie with her is Angels with Dirty Faces–or maybe it’s They Drive by Night–tough decision for sure. Then again there’s Black Legion, and…well, like I said; a tough decision to make.

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The Unfaithful (1947) PressbookRead More »

A more family friendly version of Clark Gable’s Red Dust, Mogambo switched it up by location shooting in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanganyika. While some studio scenes were used (you can easily tell the difference by the lighting, grain, and camera framing), most of the love triangle between Gable, Grace Kelly, and Ava Gardner is shot in the wild by John Ford. To make it more interesting for kids gorillas were the highlight, with supporting dangers from wild animals and nature. Theaters gave out a gorilla mask kids (or any adults like me) could color and wear. The film was a hit and reminded people that Gable was still a star. It also brought Oscar nominations to Kelly and Gardner. MGM put together an imposing pressbook. The front and back cover are shown here so you can see the wrap- around illustration.

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Mogambo (1953) PressbookRead More »

William Armstrong (add an All American after his name and that sounds like a movie serial!) contacted me, asking about the Tarzan and the Leopard Woman pressbook. He recalled I’d snagged it sometime back in an auction on Emovieposter. I didn’t recall it. Now, that’s a glaring example of the difference between a hoarder and a collector, but nevermind that. Anyway, I recently started cleaning up the mess that is Zombos’ Closet and, lo and behold, I found a stack of great pressbooks lost behind some boxes. And there it was! Along with a ton of other pressbooks I had forgotten I had. Oops. Need to get that hoarder/collector balance in shape, I know. Of course, as I rediscovered them, I thought, what a monkey’s uncle I am (sorry, no refunds on puns or idioms). I clearly have no advantage over Cheetah. So, you can thank William Armstrong (All American!) for reminding me about Tarzan and the Leopard Woman. Here’s the cool pressbook. Add a mental Tarzan jungle cry as you drool over its pages.

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Tarzan and the Leopard Woman (1946)
PressbookRead More »

The poster art and unusual size (9 inches x 20 inches folded, 18 inches x 20 inches unfolded) grabbed my attention for this Underground (1941) pressbook. The story concerns two brothers on opposing sides of a really bad situation. Although the storyline concerns Word War II, not so surprisingly, it is still relevant today. What’s old is new again, and what’s new is old again. That lobby floor set piece is pretty cool. These days, while we get standees in the theater lobby, they’re usually so standard and uninspired. Theater movie promotion way back when was so much more exciting to experience.

ComicRack reader version: Download Underground pressbook

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Underground (1941) PressbookRead More »

According to Brian Patrick Duggan, in his book Horror Dogs: Man’s Best Friend as Movie Monster, the first dog in a motion picture appears in Edison’s Athlete with a Wand in 1894; but that dog just happened to be in the shot, lying at the foot of the athlete doing all the work, so he points us to Rescue Rover (1905), for a more action-oriented Collie. That family canine as rescuer theme leads us to Rin Tin Tin and more stories of dogs leaping into action to save us dumb humans or battle evil humans too, in movies, comics, and books. Of course, the horror genre has morphed the family-oriented dog to terrorize us, chase us, tear us apart, and, in general, make us run like hell or scream like hell. Rin Tin Tin was not a scary dog. Going to 1904, in Edison’s Dog Factory, the first hint of making dogs scarier, if only in a comedic way, can be found. Duggan goes on to note how the movie poster advertising began to show the dog as dangerous (in a wholesome way). By the time we get to 1978 and Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell, the movie poster art focused on those sharp canine teeth a lot more, which was definitely not wholesome.

Rin Tin Tin’s predecessor, Strongheart, starred in six films from 1921 through 1927, but just two of those posters show the dog only launching himself at bad guys. From 1922 through 1931, the more famous Rin Tin Tin averaged even fewer examples, with only three posters out of twenty-six showing him poised just prior to grappling with the film’s villain. The implied canine violence in advertising and what was shown on screen was justifiable, because Strongheart or Rin Tin Tin were protecting their people or meting out canine justice. (Duggan, Brian Patrick. Horror Dogs: Man’s Best Friend as Movie Monster (Dogs in Our World) (p. 103). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.)

End Note: Warner Brothers originally had the popular Rin Tin Tin, but dropped the poor dog because of sound issues and their focus on talkies with humans. That’s when Mascot picked up the franchise with their first all-sound serial Rin-Tin-Tin The Lone Defender. Clearly they didn’t worry about his barking. 

By the early 1950s, Republic was looking to save money on serial production. They cut the runtime of each chapter, added stock footage from previous serials, and shortened production time.

One major clearance problem involved the trade name of Ace Hi gasoline, required to be diplayed on the back of a tank truck  [Ep. 7] to match stock [footage] from Mysterious Doctor Satan. When it was discovered that Ace Hi was a real brand marketed by the Midwest Oil Company of Minneapolis, associate producer Franklin Adreon and production manager Jack Baker approved the usage of Ace Hi with the addition of the nonexistent Holt Oil Company lettered beneath the product name. Loeb and Loeb, Republic’s law firm, opinioned that associating Ace Hi with the fictitious oil company still maintained the risk, but its incidence was lessened. In line with Republic’s policy not to prominently feature trade names, the pumps and signs at a Union Oil station used as a location prior to the truck sequence were masked with large X-lettered paper sheets to conceal the labeled product actually being dispensed on the immediate premises. (Valley of the Cliffhangers, Jack Mathis, 1975)

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Government Agents
vs Phantom Legion (1951) PressbookRead More »

When you talk about exploitation cinema, here’s a good example to include in your discussions. The 1960s and 1970s were exorbitant decades for movies that pushed beyond good taste; which, of course, is the provocative and decadent theme of any enjoyable exploitation movie. The Devil’s Sisters took its cue from the real-crime story of the Gonzalez Valenzuela sisters (Las Poquianchis), who ran their murderous prostitution ring from the 1950s to 1960s. William Grefè (Sting of Death, Death Curse of Tartu, Whiskey Mountain, etc.), directed the movie in Florida over ten days. Rantbit has an engrossing write up worth reading. Grefè also directed Impulse, with William Shatner and Harold Sakata (you know him as Odd Job from Gold Finger). The extensive documentary, They Came From the Swamp, the Films of William Grefè, discusses Impulse and how Sakata almost strangled to death during one scene. Shatner, suddenly realizing turning blue wasn’t one of Sakata’s acting skills,  rushed to help him.

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The Devil’s Sisters (1966) PressbookRead More »