Pressbooks (Non-Horror)

A bunch of pretty (and pretty loopy, scheming, petty, and the usual female cinema stereotypes for the 1940s) sorority sisters get together on a dark and stormy initiation night. One of them winds up dead. Much finger-pointing and rivalries ensue as the mystery is secondary to having a bunch of–did I mention?–pretty girls being the focus of this B seat-filler. TCM has a page of quotes from this movie: my favorite is “Suppose I pick you up and we’ll do something gay?” Ah, those wacky sorority types. Exploitation for this movie included suggestions to “use lots of girlie photos” and “start early search to find the nine most popular girls in town.” Also, there was the “plant pictures where men meet” and snipe mystery and girlie magazines by affixing labels hawking Nine Girls. To be honest, these are the kinds of pressbooks (and movies) I really enjoy. Go figure. And where do men meet? That sounds like a catchy title for something, not sure what though.

Click each image to expand it–you will need a BIG screen–or right-click the expanded image to download it. And no sleuthing or sorority babes needed to find more pressbooks from Zombos’ Closet. But, you can still invite a sorority babe if you like.

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Nine Girls (1944) PressbookRead More »

Here is the rare premier release of the Citizen Kane pressbook. There were two pressbooks created for the movie and this is the one that appeared first. After the movie did poorly–what with William Randolph Hearst’s minions bad-mouthing it as much as possible and killing adverts for it–a second pressbook was created with a different slant for advertising as the movie progressed through theaters. Through it all, Citizen Kane is THE movie that should be on your bucket list of must see cinema, no matter what kind of movie fan you are. Orson Welles visionary style, the fluid and timeless social commentary, and the emotional gut-wrenching by the soul-twisting characters, scripted between him and  Herman J. Mankiewicz, are classic all the way. Read online or download these images: Citizen Kane Pressbook

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Citizen Kane (1941) PressbookRead More »

Here is the 4-page movie herald for Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back 1934. Debonair Ronald Colman again stars as the urbane adventurer fighting crime. Lucille Ball makes an uncredited appearance as a bridesmaid. In 1947, another Bulldog Drummond Strikes Back starring Ron Randell hit the screens. Warner Oland (aka Charlie Chan in 16 movies) provides the sinister machinations in this pre-code B thriller.

The first Bulldog Drummond movie with sound and Ronald Colman’s first talkie, too. And what a voice he had, with dashing good looks. By all accounts, a first rate actioner, with humor, thrills, great camera work, and pre-code writing.

Download the zipped images: Bulldog Drummond 1929

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Bulldog Drummond (1929) PressbookRead More »

Federal Agent Rex Bennett (Rod Cameron) goes up against a group of saboteurs. Republic liked the Rex Bennett character enough to have him in a following serial, Secret Service in Darkest Africa. Here are some interesting notes from Valley of the Cliffhangers, by Jack Mathis. In this one the fist fights are plentiful, a staple of serial action, and the Lydecker brothers set up a really elaborate and creative death device in Episode 8 that Vivian needs to be rescued from, building up a really good cliffhanger.

Episode 2…"Originally entitled "Oriental Torture," which did not pass Hayes office muster, this episode was re-named Japanese Inquisition."

"Tight shooting schedules and the numerous scenes filmed each day for a serial occasionally resulted in minor production lapses, such as Rex's office door, which was lettered to read "Private" from inside and thus [was] incorrectly backwards from the hallway entry point."

Comics Reader version: Download G-Men vs the Black Dragon

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G-Men vs The Black Dragon (1943)
PressbookRead More »

You can see the Cinderella Campaign Book – A (pressbook) over here. This Campaign B part of the pressbook contains the amazing, and versatile, marketing tie-ins and promotions for the movie. Beginning with Mickey Mouse, Walt Disney saw the potential of revenue streams coming from the Disney characters. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney’s movie merchandising simply exploded from that point on. Of course, toy tie-ins for his children’s fare did very well, while misfires like the toys for The Black Hole (1979), an ambitious if somewhat obtuse allegorical science fiction leaning on the darker side, scared the kids more than enthralled them. Disney’s best foray into the supernatural is the suspenseful The Watcher in the Woods (1980) with Bette Davis.

Comics Reader version: Download Cinderella Book B

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Cinderella (1950) Campaign Book – BRead More »

One does not live by horror movies alone. Sometimes a good crime melodrama, noir, western, fantasy, science fiction, guy movie, girl movie, kid movie, or documentary will do. This time around it's crime! The reason I found this pressbook so interesting was its use of pink and blue tones, and the fact that I like crime movies from the 1930s to 1950s. This one boasts a good cast with Larry "Buster" Crabbe, Anthony Quinn, Lloyd Nolan, Evelyn Brent, Mary Carlisle, and J. Carol Naish. The premise is bad girls helping rob trucks of their cargo. Shame on them!

Version for your comics reader: Download Tip-Off Girls Pressbook

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Tip-Off Girls (1938) PressbookRead More »

While the movie may rate only 5.7 on IMDb, I give its pressbook a higher rating. The cover is striking, using poster art from the movie. The use of darker and lighter green highlights adds a nice punch. Ricardo Cortez starred as Sam Spade in the 1931 Maltese Falcon, which is not my favorite Spade or Falcon. Wikipedia states this is a pre-code movie, but the Hays Code started in 1930, and was enforced by 1934. Oopsy?

Version for your comics reader app: Download Hat Glove and Coat

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Hat, Coat and Glove (1934) PressbookRead More »

This pressbook is as big as Tex Ritter's hat, when unfolded to show the centerfold, all of 24 inches by 18 inches. The page color, except for the centerfold, is a bit eye-popping, but lots of showmanship can be found, especially around the songs. The singing cowboy was pretty big early on in Westerns, giving way to the more gritty realism (or outlandishness) of the American and Italian films that followed, beyond the 1930s and 1940s strumming cowpokes.

Murder, My Sweet, with Dick Powell’s excellent portrayal of private eye Philip Marlowe, based on Raymond Chandler’s novel, Farewell, My Lovely, was followed by Cornered. Powell, after playing light crooner roles, wanted something more hard-boiled. His tough as nails everyman demeanor is strong noir at its core, and in Cornered he returns to France, after the war, to find his wife’s killer. Walter Slezak’s smarmy, not to be trusted, criminally-inclined character, Incza, rounds out the dark edges of this vengeance-thriller.

CBZ format for comics readers: Download Cornered

Don’t get cornered! There are more pressbooks to see From Zombos’ Closet. 

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Cornered (1945) PressbookRead More »