Here's the Mexican lobby card for the feature version of Zombies of the Stratosphere, Satan's Satellites (1958). I fell in love with this movie immediately seeing that cool space outfit Marex (Lane Bradford) is wearing. One of Leonard Nimoy's first screen appearances, as another alien, is to be found here, too.
A very enjoyable movie with great Harryhausen special effects. A monsterkid classic. The art direction on a budget for Earth vs. The Flying Saucers (1956) is exemplary. From the weird, featureless alien survival suits to the rotating flying saucers, and let's not forget that fantastic warbling alien voice, it's still fun to watch. Here's the UK pressbook for it.
Continue reading "UK Pressbook:
Earth vs. The Flying Saucers" »
The exploitation angle is pushed hard in this pressbook for Unidentified Flying Objects: The True Story of Flying Saucers. That pilot's singular expression, used in the poster art, is so direct, so embracing of suspense, that it's quite a teaser for seeing the move. If it wasn't the cold war fear, it was fear of alien invaders that sipped around the coffee tables of 1950s/1960s suburbia and metropolises.
Continue reading "Movie Pressbook:
Unidentified Flying Objects (1956)" »
Here's another version of the Mexican lobby card for Robot Monster, El Monstruo De Marte. The lobby cards are definitely much more exciting than the movie. I'm guessing the inset scene shows the gorilla with the rabbit ears--you youngin's go google "rabbit ears"--choking some poor actor who realized this movie was really really bad and wanted out. But with a few Red's Apple Ale (or any suitable hard cider of your choice), this movie's a wild hoot of fun (on a par with Spookies or The Video Dead).
Nice amount of promotional tie-in for Gorgo: see the Special Book Editions page for tie-ins to Famous Monsters of Filmland, Charlton Comics (I loved Charlton Comics!), and a movie novelization. Gorgo is one of the better Bs coming out of the 1960s mostly because of the storyline, with an appealing theme of a mom just wanting to protect her child. And what a big mother she is.
Cold War paranoia, an unstoppable missile blazing a path of destruction and stock footage galore heats up this science fiction quickie to near zero temperature. But this pressbook for The Lost Missile is hot. Intense exploitation poster art and a shock tag theater giveaway (for shock-aphasia!) push the expectations for excitement high even if the movie's payload fizzles.
Okay, I'm not quite getting this Mexican lobby card for El Gorila Blanco. I'm assuming it's for White Pongo (1945). But being a movie shot in 1945, the illustrations and carefully coiffed hair to breasts coverage doesn't jive for that time period. Or maybe I've not watched enough movies from that decade and I'm wrong. Whatever, the lobby has a gorilla and a girl (or girls to be precise) so it's in my closet. I like weird sh*t like that.
The MGM pressbook for Gorgo is as big as, well, Gorgo. Here's part 1 to chew on. See the movie herald here.
For part 2 of this pressbook, go here.
Why is it always the poor virgins getting victimized? And why does "Erotomania" added to any horror movie compel us to see it? Burning questions I have no answers for. Great highbrow tagline: "A mature person's trip through the ultimate in horrific wickedness."
The older movies had this thing with girls and gorillas. Beats me why. And because I know you're dying to see it, here's The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini pressbook. You can thank me later.
Or is it Revenge of the Creature? This Mexican lobby card is a bit confusing. The top illustration is from Revenge of the Creature, but the bottom shows The Creature Walks Among Us. And the title, El Monstruo Vengador, doesn't quite match up with the English title beneath.
An odd Mexican lobby card, this one. Tobor El Magnifo originally was released through Republic, with the Republic seal and distro information printed on the card. You'll notice this card has the seal blacked out (bottom right), and the distro information blacked out (bottom center) and reassigned to Distribuidora Sotomayor. What's very interesting is that the changes were made and the card reprinted. Even the paper used, a nicely textured and less acidic paper stock, seems a more expensive choice than the usual cheaper pulpy kind. When I first received this card, I thought it was a knock-off, but now I'm thinking it's a re-issued printing (which happens a lot) for the new distributor's run of the movie. But unlike other cards I've seen, this distributor actually spent more money to reprint the lobby with their information, rather than simply marker out the previous info by hand.
