Spanish title: Aventuras del Capitan Kid
Stars: Richard Crane, David Bruce, John Crawford, George Wallace
Directed by: Derwin Abbe, Charles S. Gould
Distributor: Columbia Pictures

"The king of the pirates! 15 sensational episodes!"

The age of the serials was well and truly over by the time this pedestrian matinee ‘thriller’ series hit the screens, and it has all the hallmarks of a thrown-together-at-the-last-minute outing.

A chubby Richard Crane sleepwalks through the production as a (strangely non-villainous) Captain Kidd, as he stumbles from one lame cliffhanger to the next, battling supposed bad guys and wooing supposed women.

The lobby card promoting the series upon it’s Spanish release is reflective of the lack of care demonstrated by the filmmakers, as it’s basically illustrated art mixed in with some cut’n'paste photo imagery, surrounding the requisite still shot.

Certainly it’s far from ugly, but at the same time, it sure as heck ain’t Spy Smasher or Flash Gordon.

Interesting sidenote: This series was co-written by George H. Plympton and Arthur Hoerl, who between them had a part in writing just about half the films that came out of Hollywood from 1912 on up. In 1929 alone, Plympton had a part in the writing of 13 different films and series, and a year before that, the number was an astonishing 35. In 1930, he was only involved in one film, so we’re guessing he took a well deserved holiday that year.

That said, Plympton wasn’t away from the typewriter for long, and was still cranking out scripts as late as 1966!

Arthur Hoerl wasn’t far behind, in terms of productivity, but while he took part in 152 films and series over his career, Plympton amassed a whopping 288 productions… can you imagine the royalty checks?

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: 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).

Spanish title: Sanson Contra Los Piratas (Samson Against The Pirates)
Stars: Kirk Morris, Margaret Lee, Daniele Vargas
Directed by: Amerigo Anton
Distributor: Peliculas Agrasanchez

"The Fury of the Seven Seas, dominated by one man – the greatest conquest of the screen!"

Eh, not quite. This is a terrible film, typical of the cardboard sets/spaghetti action genre of Italian filmmaking of the 1960’s, in which you could take a character from Greek legend, stick him in the Caribbean, and have him battle pirates that appeared on the scene some one or two thousand years after he was said to exist.

And crocodiles.

Directed by Amerigo Anton (AKA Tanio Boccia), this is one of the many sword-and-sandal films he helmed that involved Saturday morning matinee spectacles in which characters are transplanted to unlikely locales and times, including such epics as Hercules of the Desert, Atlas Against the Czar, and Conquistador of the Orient – most of which also featured leading man, Kirk Morris (AKA Adriano Bellini).

It’s pablum, but its also original artwork, looks great framed, and  wouldn’t part with it for less than a thousand bucks.

Okay, maybe a hundred.

Do I hear $40?

Spanish title: La Laguna Azul
Stars: Brooke Shields, Christopher Atkins, Leo McKern, William Daniels
Directed by: Randal Kleiser
Distributor: Columbia Pictures

"The sensational story of a natural romance."

We really don’t have much to add here. It’s a cheap, cheesy lobby card that illustrates perfectly what was lost when the distributors switched from original art to photo art.

In all honesty, we wouldn’t have put this in the collection normally, but we just think the picture is hilarious.

Write your own caption.

Spanish title: Caceria en los Mares
Stars: John Wayne, Lana Turner, David Farrar, Lyle Bettger, Tab Hunter
Directed by: John Farrow
Distributor: Warner Bros

"The elusive Sea Captain and his blonde woman in an explosive, suspense-packed story of high daring on the high seas!"

Usually, you’ll find the great American heroes playing great American heroes in war movies. In this romantic thriller, however, John Wayne plays German freighter Captain Carl Erhlich, desperately playing cat and mouse with the allies, trying to keep from being blown out of the water. 

Wayne didn’t enjoy the shoot, however, as he picked up an ear infection while diving, and spent half the shoot in abject pain as a result. More to the point, his ear was so swollen, he had to be shot from his ‘good side’ for the majority of the flick. 

In terms of this lobby card, it really catches the eye; original art of John Wayne and Lana Turner in a passionate, if slightly fearful, embrace sets off a still image of The Duke casting off on his boat. The colors are vivid, the paintwork is good, but there’s one thing that, if you look closely, will jump out at you… the artist has used the faces from the bacl and white still photo as the basis for his painted Wayne/Turner portraits.

What’s interesting about that is that he’s only taken the faces – the pose, the clothes, they’re completely original, but the faces… total copy.

Regardless, it’s a heck of a design, looks great in a black frame, and if you dig The Duke (or Lana), it’s a great tribute. 

Spanish title: Alas de Aguila
Stars: John Wayne, Dan Dailey, Maureen O’Hara, Ward Bond
Directed by: John Ford
Distributor: MGM Mexico

"John Ford takes to the sky in this exciting plethora of historic adventures inspired by a driven and romantic man."

Sinking destroyers and diving bombers set off the lobby card of this John Ford wartime romantic drama, but John Wayne fans will loathe the fact that the original artwork depiction of The Duke makes him look like Mr Magoo.

The film is a biography of Navy flier-turned-screenwriter Frank W. "Spig" Wead, and unlike many biopics from the 50’s (and especially the wartime era), the director claimed this one was 100% true. "Everything in the picture was true," claimed Ford, adding, "the fight in the club – throwing the cake – actually happened. I can verify that as an eyewitness. I ducked it. And the plane landing in the swimming pool right in the middle of the Admiral’s tea – that really happened."

The film was so accurate, in fact, that in an effort to be as bald as the original Frank Wead was, John Wayne actually took off his toupee for the role. Seriously.

This particular lobby card doesn’t have the usual pinholes on the corners, but it is a bit knocked about on the edges. There’s a lack of resolution on the original art, which indicates either a ‘paint over the still images’ job, or a reproduction of the original was used as the print art.

Either way, it’s The Duke, and thus it is good.

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

"Before the shark… there was the whale!"

This is one of two different lobby card releases for this film, and this is definitely the inferior one. The odd choice of circling Gregory Peck’s head with a thick white border from the still image above it is definitely not one of the great moments of Mexican lobby card design, and the artwork looks almost like a lithograph, which would indicate that it’s been taken from unoriginal second or third generation art and might have been promoting a re-release.

On this copy, the upper right hand corner has been torn off, and there’s minor damage on the bottom corner, presumably when it was torn down off the cinema wall back in the day. 

All in all, if not for the great still image of Peck driving a spear through the side of the whale, this would be headed for the bottom drawer… but hey, it’s Gregory Peck, and thus it’s worth keeping.