It's not one, not two, but three fantastic supermen in this Italian movie. And there were sequels, taking our superheroes around the world. Though, with those utility belts, they looked more like Batman than Superman.
House of Terror, with Lon Chaney Jr. and comedian Tin Tan, involves a wax museum, a mummy that changes into a werewolf when the full moon rises, and a mad doctor of course.
A striking Mexican lobby card for The Mugger with James Franciscus and Kent Smith.
Michael Curtiz (Casablanca) directs Boris Karloff in The Walking Dead.
You haven't seen film noir until you've seen Gun Crazy. This Mexican lobby card captures the explosive movie through color and framing. The expressions on husband and wife in the illustration say it all.
Sherlock Holmes kept his cigars in a coal-scuttle. I'm not sure where he kept his cigarettes. When a problem vexed him, though, he would usually reach for his pipe, usually the oily black clay one, puffing away three pipe-fulls before the solution would present itself. Here's Basil Rathbone, one of the best Holmes actors, enjoying a Chesterfield and promoting his movie Dressed to Kill.
It's been a while since I've posted on vintage days type stuff. I like old magazine advertisements. A little nostalgic, a little revealing, sometimes made more interesting with notable movie stars. This one with Gene Autry hawking his script writer's Smith-Corona typewriter is wonderful. I like Gene Autry. I miss typing on my Smith-Corona. Not too much, but just enough. I don't miss carbon paper, messy typewriter ribbons, and grumbling through erasing inky letters. Thank the lord for the introduction of the carbon ribbon and replaceable type wheels. Somehow, plopping down a booze bottle and shot glass next to a computer keyboard isn't as romantic as pouring and drinking that shot, as you lean back in thought or desperation, from your Smith-Corona typewriter.
In this first issue of Larry Ivie's Monsters and Heroes you will find a very opinionated History of Frankenstein, a loving remembrance of Heroes of Radio, and a fond nod to Johnny Sheffield. There are also lots of photos to see in Darkest Africa (1936), Republic Pictures first serial (later cut into Bat Men of Africa (1966), and From Comix to Film. The magazine is a bit rough with typewritten paragraphs and unnecessary title pages, but lots of coverage here and no punny humor to sidetrack the coverage.
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As the new year starts, thoughts for many turn to Halloween 2019. Okay, maybe for just me, then. But here's a whisper of Autumn breeze for you, before the summer heat starts percolating and the politics start prickling again.
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I, Monster was planned as a 3D movie using the Pulfrich Effect. Yeah, I'm not familiar with it either, but you can find out more about this interesting camera movement technique on Wikipedia. Brian McFadden in his Amicus Horrors, Tales from the Filmmaker's Crypt, notes that Christopher Lee wasn't keen on I, Monster, his last Amicus film, because of the constant camera movement the Pulfrich Effect required, which made editing the movie difficult. I can imagine the challenges with the setups for the camera were pretty vexing too and time-consuming.
Here's a hippy hippy shake for the new year, the movie herald for The Cool Ones. The artwork looks familiar. Jack Davis?
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The Buck Rogers serial launched a million imaginations, along with Flash Gordon. Buck Rogers (Buster Crabbe) and his sidekick Buddy (Jackie Moran) awake 500 years in the future. They soon find the world of the future is not a happy place and jump into action fighting Killer Kane (Anthony Warde). All this will be familiar to fans of the 1979 television series starring Gil Gerard (well, except for Buddy, who was replaced by Twiki (Felix Silla), the diminutive robot). But Buster Crabbe, who played Flash Gordon, was the first Buck, and this serial is a lot of retro fun.
Comic reader version: Download Buck Rogers Pressbook
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