Mexican Lobby Card: Invisible Ghost (1941)
These are the kinds of Mexican lobby cards I dream about. Frightening image of Bela Lugosi done in spook show luridness, matched with a gasping woman in the inset scene, and colors that scream "creepy" out loud. I normally don't collect lobbies that are badly torn, but this one is rare and the missing piece doesn't ruin the impact. I hope you find it as compelling as I do. This one is for Invisible Ghost (1941). And note that Polly Ann Young's name is misspelled.
More Bela:
Monster Times Issue 30
February 1974
Issue 30 of The Monster Times gives Long Island a bad rap by providing way too much coverage on The Horror of Party Beach, annoys comic book fans with an assessment of The World's Worst Comics, and goes ape over John Landis's Schlock. Continuing the schlock motif, Joe Kane explores the 1950s teenage-slanted horror movies, with perhaps a bit more negativity than is warranted, and William Grefe (the director of Stanley) is interviewed. The best article is a rundown on all the really bad horror movies we can't seem to forget.
…
Conquest of Space (1955) Movie Pressbook
The fascination with outer space exploration and interplanetary travel (and evil aliens) fueled a lot of 1950s science fiction cinema. Usually it was either the after effects of space travel causing more harm than anticipated (the Quatermass Xperiment: The Creeping Unknown is a good example), or it was finding out that once you got to where you were going, monstrous alien monsters (I'm open to a better term if you've got one) wanted to eat you or do other nasty things (like in The Angry Red Planet). Then, of course, you had George Pal insisting on giving us movies that focused on the more positive and challenging aspects of space exploration. He even insisted on adding as much scientifically accurate information (at least what was known back then) as possible. Wild, right? Here's the pressbook for George Pal's Conquest of Space.
…
Audrey Rose (1977) Movie Pressbook
Many 1970s pressbooks focus on admats, which are placed up front in the pressbook, and then add a page or two of article promotion toward the end of the pressbook. If based on a novel or there's a novelization of the movie, there's a page devoted to it. Many 1970s pressbooks are rather bland because of this less stylish and often repeated format. This movie has that slow 70s pacing, but still is a good one to watch.
…
Mexican Lobby Card:
Ghosts on the Loose (1943)
The East Side Kids mix it up with Bela Lugosi in Ghosts on the Loose. A salary dispute with Leo Gorcey, the "brains" of the group, would lead to The Bowery Boys movies beginning in 1945.
More Stuff in the Closet:
Mexican Lobby Card:
Aventuras Del Latigo Negro (1961)
Beautiful blend of colors, illustration, and inset scene make this Mexican lobby card for Aventuras Del Latigo Negro a sophisticated promotional piece. (See another great Latigo Negro lobby here.)
Mexican Lobby Card:
Curucu, Beast of the Amazon (1956)
Beast of a movie is more like it. Curucu, Beast of the Amazon is an awful mess of editing, direction (Curt Siodmak), and acting, which make this one a terror to watch. Monster is laughable. From IMDb: "Director Curt Siodmak said of this film, "I shot it down there [in Brazil], in the jungles. I never recovered, physically." Neither did the audience.
