Spanish title: Jose Vendido en Egipto (Joseph Sold in Egypt)
Stars: Geoffrey Horne, Belinda Lee, Robert Morley, Carlo Giustini, Arturo Dominici, Finlay Currie, Mario Girotti
Directed by: Irving Rapper, Luciano Ricci
Distributor: Colorama Features (US)

"Extraordinary! Spectacular! Grandiose!" 

The tagline doesn’t quite describe the film correctly, but we can let that slide for now; this was one of the ongoing swords and sandals flicks that poured out of Italy like fine wine in the 50’s and 60’s, few of which were anything more than an excuse to flex muscles and shake hips around cardboard sets.

This particular flick was shot partly in Yugoslavia, where making movies was cheap as hell, with the Italian scenes taking place at Titanus Studios. The story followed the biblical tale of Joseph, and was quickly followed by another about Pontius Pilate, which was a tactic often used by producers who wanted to make stories that they didn’t need to pay any rights fees for.

The artwork in the lobby card design looks to have been acrylic paint, diluted to give a washed appearance, and if one looks really closely, they can spot the occasional pencil mark left in after the paint went down. What’s interesting, from a purely trivial point of view, is the long black stripe along the bottom of the card; that would indicate that, rather than being original Mexican art, this was likely the art taken from the Italian release, retitled, with the distributor’s name blacked out on the bottom.

Now, in order to put a new title on the lobby card, an artist would need to paint over the old title, make it blend with the background, and then cut’n'paste in the new title. They’d also likely have to get rid of the old taglines… which in this case wouldn’t be too hard, because two of the three tagline words are the same in Spanish as they are in Italian.

In fact, upon further investigation, we found the word ‘Eastmancolor’ painted over right above where the ‘Totalscope’ logo has been added – very sneaky!

Anyway, there you have it – a perfect example of a reworked lobby card.

Spanish title: Maciste Contra Los Monstruos (Maciste vs the Monsters)
Stars: Reg Lewis, Margaret Lee
Directed by: Guido Malestesta
Distributor: Embassy Pictures Corporation (US), Telexport (Italy)

"A mysterious world in the prehistoric apocalyptic era, millon of years before Christ!"

In the world of Italian swords and sandals pulp film ‘epics’, Maciste is a fairly regularly-seen character.  In fact, he first appeared on film in Italy in the 1914 silent flick, Cabiria. He’s usually a sort of Hercules, who has incredible strength and gets in all manner of peril trying to help people against injustice.

In this film, despite the title, the story actually focuses on two warring tribes, with Maciste stuck in the middle. Not many monsters to be seen, but when you look at the variety of titles this film has had over the years, it has been clearly named not with story in mind, but box office.

In the US, it was Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules, while in the UK it was Collossus of the Stone Age. In Germany, it was Germanicus in the Underworld. And in the original Italian, Maciste contro i mostri (Maciste vs the Monsters).

The lobby card design is all original artwork, though none of it is particularly impressive. There’s a real focus on the monsters, obviously, but the character portrayed looks nothing at all like Reg Lewis, so there’s a good chance this was actually stock art being reused from other films.

Looks good, framed, hanging in a den, though! 

Spanish title: Cleopatra la Serpiente Del Nilo
Stars: Rhonda Fleming, William Lundigan, Raymond Burr, Julie Newmar
Directed by: William Castle
Distributor: Columbia Pictures

"From my bed of silk, I dominate the world with my burning lips… Sin and savagery in matchless spectacle!"

This low-budget version of the Cleopatra story, which is often considered to be as good as the big budget Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton opus that followed, used sets from the 1953 Rita Hayworth/Stewart Granger film, Salome, to tell the tale of the infamous Queen of the Nile and her Roman pal, Mark Anthony.

New Westminster, British Columbia’s own Raymond Burr is Rhonda Fleming’s co-star, which led the designers of this piece of cinema promo art to add a "Perry Mason" in brackets under his name, celebrating the actor’s renowned TV character. Julie Newmar also appears in the film (as Julie Newmeyer) in the role of The Gilded Girl – her first credited screen appearance.

The lobby card is attractive enough, but it’s very square and the original artwork is decidedly quick and cheap. For a movie character that relies so heavily on her sexuality to get what she wants, this is a lobby card that you would really expect to ’sex it up’, and yet it really doesn’t.

Our version has one staple hole in the top left corner (which is odd), a small tear on the bottom edge, and some roughing up of the right-side edge. It also features a small piece of handwriting over Cleopatra’s name that seems to say "Cartelera de Ludo" – which translates to ‘billboard of the Ludo’, which was presumably a theater it showed in.

Why do those words appear there? Well, figuring it out is half the fun. 

Spanish title: La Sirena Del Caribe
Stars: Jane Russell, Gilbert Roland, Richard Egan
Directed by: John Sturges
Distributor: RKO Radio Pictures

"Between thousands of pirates and killer sharks, she looks for of a
lost treasure – the most fabulous adventure under the sea!"

Jane Russell was said to have been ‘two of the biggest stars in show business’, and as a result of the fact that her chest was as famous as her name, she appeared in a fair number of films in which, really, the entire shoot was based around getting her as naked as possible, as often as possible. This is one such film.

Having broken free of the clutches of Howard Hughes (who ‘discovered’ her working as a dental assistant, before making her the star of The Outlaw, and paying her a wage to promote it every day for the five years it took to get the film past censors and on to the screen), Russell made many claims that she was going to take on more serious roles, but the fluff paid well enough that it was tough to resist.

In this film, there’s much talk about pirates and sharks and treasure, but really all anyone was turning up for was a look at Jane Russell in her skimpies.

And the film delivers on that front, as is seen on the promo art for the film above; in fact, the image of the star from this lobby card was so successful at grabbing the attention of passers-by, that other (less ethical) Mexican distributors actually stole it and placed it on the promo art for other films – films that Russell had nothing to do with.

I’m a big fan of this card, for all the obvious reasons, but also because if you take Russell and her most marketable assets out of the picture entirely, it’s still a great piece of original art.

Spanish title: Paris en Abril
Stars: Doris Day, Ray Bolger, Claude Dauphin
Directed by: David Butler
Distributor: Warner Bros

"Nights in Paris! Romantic encounters! Endless pleasures! You’ll cheer for this spring-time celebration!"

This lobby card is a great example of how cinema art designers often mixed original art with cut’n'paste images and illustration to create something that looks all hand-painted. On the left hand side of the card is a ‘from scratch’ watercolor portrait of Doris Day (spelled Dorys Day on the poster, oddly enough), with illustrations of Paris in the bottom right hand corner, and what looks like more paintwork on the right hand side, with the image of Day and co-star Ray Bolger. Only, if you look closer, you’ll see that those portraits on the right are actually a cut-out that has been painted over to give it a hand-painted appearance.

This technique was common back in the day, when saving a few days of painting was the difference between beating a deadline and missing it entirely. While high standard original art would stop people in the street, sometimes it just wasn’t possible to hand-paint an entire lobby card, so artists cut corners to achieve ‘the look’ they wanted, as quickly as possible.

The years haven’t been too kind to this particular lobby card, although the colors and artwork lend it to framing in a big way, but someone has had a scratch at Doris Day’s amply presented groin (if she once wore that strapless outfit in the film, I’d be surprised), and a few small tears on the sides and corners make it less than mint in value.

But heck, I like it enough to keep. After all… It’s Doris Day, reimagined by a leering Mexican cinema promo artist… what’s not to like?

Spanish title: El Hijo de Ali Baba
Stars: Tony Curtis, Piper Laurie, Susan Cabot, William Reynolds, Hugh O’Brian, Victor Jory
Directed by: Kurt Neumann
Distributor: Universal Pictures

"Soul of a Prince, heart of a poet… with steel in his hand and a kiss on the lips, the sensational stars of "The Prince Who Was a Thief", together again! And… in love!"

If you’re one of the few people on the planet who think Ali Baba (or his son) would have had a 50’s greaser hairstyle, then Son of Ali Baba might be just for movie for you. 

Fortunately, I doubt many people fall into that category, and thus Son of Ali Baba is generally considered to be an ‘Elvis film’ that doesn’t actually have Elvis in it. 

The Spanish lobby card promoting the release is a good design, albeit very text-boxy (such being Universal’s way in the 50’s), with some painted over cut’n'paste pics of Tony Curtis and Piper Laurie in a romantic embrace, as well as plenty of illustrations of dancing harem girls (which I’ll never complain about – ever).

Our version features a good ensemble sill photo, no pinholes and decidedly little abuse collected over the last 50+ years, which is nice. 

Spanish title: Dos Seductores (Two Seducers)
Stars: Marlon Brando, David Niven, Shirley Jones
Directed by: Ralph Levy
Distributor: Universal Pictures

"The Blue Coast shines with the gallant adventures of two gigolos."

Better known these days by the name of its remake, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, this bedrooms and hallways Euro-comedy pit two most definitely unlikely actors together in Marlon Brando and David Niven.

Both play European gigolos who, upon discovering they’re working the same turf, decide to challenge each other to a contest to see who is ‘king of the mountain’ (which was the working title of the film). Their plans meet a hurdle, however, when the innocent woman they choose as a target turns out to be anything but.

The highlight of the Spanish lobby card release for this film would have to be Marlon Brando professing his love in black shoes and socks, and red boxer shorts. Hilarious.

Spanish title: La Dama y el Vagabundo
Stars: Barbara Luddy, Larry Roberts, Peggy Lee
Directed by: Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson
Distributor: MGM (for Disney)

"She’s from the leash and license set… he’s footloose and collar free!"

With the Walt Disney company not running an office in Mexico, it was left to MGM to distribute this undeniable animation classic south of the border, and more’s the pity. You’d have to think the artistic boffins at Disney would have put together a better lobby card than this collection of cut’n'paste stock imagery.

The film is obviously outstanding, and that’s why it has a place in our collection, but it would be nice to have seen promo art for this film that was as creative as those that made it in the first place.

Spanish title: La Mujer Murcielago (The Bat Woman)
Stars: Maura Monti, Roberto Cañedo, Héctor Godoy, David Silva, Crox Alvarado
Directed by: René Cardona
Distributor: Cinematográfica Calderón S.A.

"Invincible! Valiant! Audacious! Powerful! Daring! Seductive!"

Cinematografica Calderon made films in Mexico from 1943 all the way through to the early 90’s before disappearing from the film business altogether, but in the 50’s and 60’s and 70’s, if it was crap, cheap, and out of control, chances are it was created by the folks from CC.

Frankenstein films, El Tigre thrillers, westerns, exploitation films -  they had the matinee audience eating out of their hands, but in the 70’s they’d discover the lure of El Santo films, and before, they were pumping them out whenever they could get their hands on a little film stock.

The jury is out as to whether this was an ‘approved’ Batman film or just a rip-off produced and distributed so far under the radar that the folks at DC Comics never got around to suing them, but when it comes right down to it… we don’t care.

It’s Batwoman. In a Bat-kini. Represent!

Spanish title: Moby Dick
Stars: Gregory Peck, Richard Basehart, Leo Genn, Orson Welles, Herman Melville
Directed by: John Huston
Distributor: Warner Bros (for 20th Century Fox and United Artists)

"The White Whale had almost destroyed him…"

The second of our two lobby cards for John Huston’s Moby Dick, this design is by far the superior of the two.

The first relies on photo art and cheap reproductions of the original artwork shown here, whereas this one is just an A-1 design, beautifully put together, with an amazing recreation of Gregory Peck in action, as well as a breaching whale crushing a whaling fleet.

The colors are vivid, the title is well worked into the design, and even the black and white still image is framed with color, so as to work it into the overall design more fully.

The pity of this particular card is that, by the time we got it, someone in a Mexican theater somewhere had used it for a little doodling – there’s ink smudging in the white title font, as a result, along with the hand-written words, "La Panzona" (or "The Fat One"). Why? It’s all a bit of a mystery.

Oh well. With a design this busy, you barely notice a little biro here and there, especially in a frame (which is where we keep it).