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: 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: 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: Tarzan el Temerario (Tarzan the Reckless One)
Stars: Johnny Weismuller, Brenda Joyce
Directed by: William Thiele
Distributor: Distribuidora Sotomayor (for RKO Radio Pictures)

"Tarzan defies enemy agents… in a hot-bed of intrigue and danger!"

This story involves Tarzan having to get his ‘jungle fever’ remedy
(trust me, white boy, there ain’t no cure for jungle fever) from a lost
jungle, so that Jane, while working as a nurse, can save folks from
falling ill. Nazis and Sheiks intervene and Cheetah serves up the
giggles – you know the rest.

This has to be one of the most abused lobby cards in our collection, what with torn corners, a healthy rip up the middle, a pencil mark or two, a coffee stain, and to top it all off, the original printing run was off-center and was mis-cut along the top.

But dude… it’s freakin’ Tarzan giving heck to fake Sheiks! How can you not like that, pinholes or not?

The design itself is fairly dreadful, but that’s usually the case with Distribuidora Sotomayor releases of the WWII era. They’ve basically gone for black and white with one background color thrown on top. all the art is cut’n'pasted from photo publicity stills, and there’s a load of blank space that just kills any idea of flow.

Heck, they even left the file number inscription on the bottom right corner of the still image; Tarzan say, "Sloppy!"

Spanish title: Lawrence de Arabia
Stars: Alec Guiness, Anthony Quinn, Jack Hawkins, Jose Ferrer, Anthony Quayle, Claude Rains, Arthur Kennedy, Omar Sharif, Peter O’Toole
Directed by: David Lean
Distributor: Columbia Pictures 

"The biggest film of the year! 7 Academy Awards!" 

There are few films in existence that have the pedigree of this one, and though the lobby card promoting the Mexican release was a smaller than usual size (such being the habit of Columbia Pictures of Mexico at the time), it’s of a high enough standard to be worthy of the film itself.

A striking portrait of shadows of Lawrence is the centerpiece of the design, with some recreated still imagery bookending that, and a dramatic line sketch of the hero of the piece swinging a mighty sword brings it all together beneath a black and white still of Peter O’Toole in character… glorious.

Our copy of this lobby card is in amazing condition. There are no pinholes, no tears and no signs of abuse at all, and the still image selected shows O’Toole’s Lawrence in all his blue-eyed, blond-haired, fey glory.

One of the highlights of our collection. 

Spanish title: El Hijo de Simbad
Stars: Dale Robertson, Sally Forrest, Lili StCir, Vincent Price, Mari Blanchard
Directed by: Ted Tetzlaff
Distributor: Continental Films

Also known as Nights in a Harem, this Howard Hughes-produced ogle-fest is notable for two things: 1) It stars Vincent Price (who is totally slumming it), and 2) it features more scantily-clad women than you could poke a camel at, including noted striptease artist, Lili StCir.

That’d be StCir in the still image on this lobby card, taking it easy on a floor cushion as Vincent Price empties a sheep bladder or something.

But what I love about this card is how its completely unashamed of the fact that the film is only about half naked women; counting the still, there’s ten different shots of women wearing next to nothing, all of them painted for maximum attention from film-goers.

This actual lobby card isn’t in the greatest shape, with tears on the bottom left corner, another on the bottom middle, and yet another on the top left corner. Numerous pin-holes don’t help matters, and there’s a water smudge down the bottom left hand corner, but you expect those after sixty years in an attic.

There was a Hindi film with the same title as this one released three years later, but you’ll struggle to find a post for that one.

For pure camp value, this is one heck of a lobby card, and that’s why it stays in the collection.