One of those movies that's unforgettable for its rough edges as well as its influence. Dead people rising up, possessed by aliens intent on destroying the world. The shambling ghouls are said to have influenced George Romero. And the setpiece with people trapped in a military bunker, besieged by the walking dead, and their experimentation on one captured animated-dead individual to find a way to stop them all, is familiar to anyone who has seen Day of the Dead (1985).
Here's another Mexican lobby card for Cat-Women of the Moon. For a variation, see this one. Funny how the women would always be glamorous in space, and the guys would be weighted down with bulky space suits. Go figure.
One of the best (and still impressive) science fiction movies of the 1950s with an atmospheric and stylish art direction, combined with an engaging alien score, and the friend every kid wanted after seeing this movie: Robby the Robot.
Some very thoughtful movies came out of the 1950s science fiction cycle. Some of the others involved sexy alien women with dominatrix attitudes and big ray guns, lusting after earth men. Or, we went to them instead as Earthian astronauts, lusting after exotic alien women (oddly, all dressing the same way in tight fitting clothes) on distant planets. Take your pick, it was still fun.
So? What did you think he did all year round? Ever since UPS and Amazon moved in on his home turf the poor stiff's gone to the birds. Not even the Bumble can cheer him up these days. On a more positive note, Halloween's still going strong for the Pumpkin King.
Well, not every science fiction movie has to be top heavy with meaning, you know? Here's the Mexican lobby card for Cat-Women of the Moon, "love starved moon maidens on the prowl." Meow!
An often overlooked science fiction movie, The Colossus of New York brings together themes we still struggle with, such as social responsibility, the misuse of great power for unethical reasons, and how much technology can influence a human being's balance between rationality and irrationality, leading to dire consequences for others.
This Mexican lobby card for La Cabeza Malefica, The Thing That Couldn't Die, gives new meaning to the phrase "hold your head up high."
A kitchy layout sparks this Mexican lobby card for Mutiny in Outer Space, Motin En La Nave Espacial.
I dare you to keep a straight face after reading "Set of 30 alluring, patron pulling 8x10 stills featuring Girls, Girls, Girls." Sure, I might burn in hell for posting pressbooks like this, but I know I'll have a lot of company ;)
More bizarre than peanut butter and Jiffy Lube (wait, I got that right?), comes El Monstruo De Marte, or Robot Monster for short. A movie even Ed Wood would be stymied by. It simply defies description. Imagine a movie beyond bad, beyond logic, and beyond any common sense you care to throw at it. You must see it. You must! The power of trashy, hilarious cinema compels you! And yes, even more bizarre, is the lobby card that someone actually had to, just had to, pencil in the outline of the beast shown in the scene photo. Mind you, this was done before the card went to print. You've got a gorilla-suited guy with a skull for a head (in the illustration anyway) wearing a diving-like helmet with rabbit ears. Who the *F* cares about the lizard in the photo?
Okay, look, I know it's not an adventure on the planet of pennies, but I'm trying a few new ways to either scan or photograph my lobby cards. I prefer scanning, (you can see the actual texture of the paper) but some cards can't be stitched back together after scanning both halves on a ledger-sized scanner, so photography is the next best thing I can do. And it is faster. Unless you have a 24 x 36 inches scanner located close to Westbury, New York, I think photography is the way to go. But if you do have a commercial scanner like that, call me, I'm coming over.
This is the Mexican lobby card for The Lost Planet (but not one called pennies), a 15 chapters, Columbia serial. Wikipedia says it's the last sound serial made, so that makes it worth seeing (along with the helmets).
I would kill for one of those helmets. I would.
