Dan Duryea normally played the “smarmy, sinister psycho” (Eddie Muller, Noir Alley) villain in the 1940’s, but in this one, he’s more a hero with flaws. In this newspaper noir, he plays a down and out newspaper man looking for a comeback. This Mexican lobby card pulls illustrations from the original poster art and a posed action inset photo in a dynamic way.
Loved watching his movies every Sunday (along with the Abbott and Costello movies) on television. Reeves was born in Montana. Here’s a quote attributed to him from IMDb:
Filmmaking in Europe was a little different from working in the United States. There’s a scene in ‘Hercules’ where I’m in chains — they looked like steel, but they were actually made of wood — and I had to swing these chains at my supposed enemies who were advancing towards me. Well, I didn’t want to really strike someone so I kind of held back with my motions. The director yelled, ‘Swing those chains! Swing them hard!’ I said, ‘I don’t want to hurt someone.’ And the director yelled back, ‘If they don’t get hurt, they don’t get paid!’
This Mexican lobby card for The Manster has a primitive folk art, ballyhoo sideshow banner feel to it.
The storyline for Kronos was a mature science fiction about an alien machine sucking up energy as it lumbered across Mexico to LA after landing. Of course, with a $160,000 budget said lumbering involved stock footage taken from The Rains of Ranchipur and The Revolt of Mamie Stover (Trailers from Hell), but the special effects were above average and ambitious for their time involving stop motion, mattes, and animation.
Here’s the Doc Savage (El Hombre de Bronce!) Mexican lobby card for the George Pal low budget and campy movie that didn’t properly envision the popular pulp hero who was the forerunner to the modern superhero. Ron Ely was a perfect choice, however, to play the man of bronze. Clark ‘Doc’ Savage Jr. was the first to have a Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic wastes, a place where he pursued his polymathic learning and meditations. Rich like Bruce Wayne, Doc lived on the 86th floor of a New York skyscraper and had five expert friends (a lawyer, an industrial chemist, an archeologist, an electrical wizard, and a construction engineer) to aide him on his adventures. His stories appeared in Street and Smith Publications, on radio, and in the comics during the 1930s and 1940s. Doc’s popularity faded for a while until Bantam re-issued their 1930s paperbacks beginning in 1969 with the awesome James Bama covers. The newfound interest for pulp heroes and serial movies pervaded the 1970s comic conventions and monster magazines too, leading to new fans discovering his exciting adventures.
Nothing like a little action to kick off your Monday. These Mexican lobby cards reuse the original poster art, but they are still action-packed!
Santo and the Royal Eagle (Santo y el Aguila Real) is a beautiful card with its illustration and title text and coloration overall, which uses the poster art for the movie. Irma Serrano (La Tigressa) had quite a career in Mexican cinema and politics, and started her film career with Samson vs. the Zombies with El Santo (cited from her Wikipedia article).
In My Favorite Brunette (El Gran Detective), Bob Hope plays a baby-photographer who dreams of being like Alan Ladd, who happens to be the detective next door. Hope gets his wish and mayhem ensues, with Peter Lorre and Lon Chaney Jr. added for menacing atmosphere. Bosley Crowther, the New York Times executioner–er, critic–actually liked this one. And hell wasn’t frozen over either. The last time I caught this movie was on a black and white tv. It’s a lot of fun and filled with typical Bob Hope tics and antics. This simple Mexican lobby card plays up the draw for this movie: Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour.
Not to be confused with 1950’s Una Hora de Vida, this Mexican lobby card is for Tokyo Joe with Humphrey Bogart. His shirt is unbuttoned and his gun is ready for action in this small but intriguing movie entry. Bogart could play the super tough guy like Sam Spade or the everyman–or average Joe–depending on the script. This movie was the first to be filmed in post-war Japan (ah, those wonderful TCM notes), and the second unit director, Arthur Black, had quite a time of it on location. Between a week’s rain delaying shooting and the army supplying a different “Bogart” every day, he had to make due as best he could. Sessue Hayakawa’s return to the screen had him as the menacing villain.
This Mexican lobby card for Las Lobas (Les Louves 1957) is striking in its layout. The illustration, the inset scene, and the text is beautifully presented.
This Mexican lobby card for Bride of Frankenstein (La Novia de Frankenstein) was issued in recent years for a film festival in Mexico. The artwork is very reminiscent of carnival sideshow canvas paintings that hung outside of exhibits along the midway.
Here’s a wonderfully evocative Mexican lobby card for 1954’s Ulysses with Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, Rossana Podesta, and Silvana Mangano (Dune, 1984). I like the menacing cyclops at the lower right: that would be the must-see enticement for me for sure. Also cool is the way Princess Nausicaa’s hair falls across the inset scene. Lots of action and romance showing in the lobby for the movie.
