Spanish title: Rayos Al Valante (Lightning to the Steering Wheel)
Stars: Harry Millard, Judy Lewis
Directed by:  William T. Naud
Distributor: Peliculas Agrasanchez

"The gamble of the race! The love of life! From the first second, you will be caught in a web of emotion, intrigue and suspense!"

William T. Naud had never directed a film before when the studio offered him a choice of two. One of those was a movie called The Great Escape. The other a movie called Thunder in Dixie.

Guess which one Naud chose? 

"Why do I drive? It’s the only thing I have to live for, thats why."

Typical of the 60’s genre of motor racing films, this one follows Mickey Arnold (Harry Millard), a race car driver who is devastated when an accident kills his best friend’s wife. Having hit rock bottom, and with his former best bud now his sworn enemy, he has to win the big race to get the girl and reestablish himself as a racer.

Both Millard and Judy Lewis play their roles exceptionally well, with Lewis not doing any shame to her thespianic bloodlines of Clark Gable and Loretta Young, and Millard emoting up a storm, despite his lack of A-list status. A host of racing figures of the time show up (Bob Wills, Berk Motley, Barry Darvel), and though the budget weren’t much, the action on screen isn’t too shabby.

But all that aside, the lobby card is a freakin’ treat. Despite it being for a low budget, low box office, 60’s film, Peliculas Agrasanchez did right by this one with some great car crack-up art, complete with one going off a cliff, and the prerequisite damsel in peril. Speedsploitation flicks were great fodder for cinema promo art around this era, but few cards of the time had as much original art as this one.

Looks great in a frame, and even better on the wall – and who could ask for more than that of a lobby card? 

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: 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: Tarzan en la Sela Encantada (Tarzan and the Enchanted Jungle)
Stars: Unknown
Directed by: Unknown
Distributor: Operadora de Peliculas

"The exciting adventure of the brave king of the jungle"

Can’t tell you much about this lobby card, mostly because it’s completely devoid of anything that relates to the actual film. No stars are mentioned, no director either, and even the black and white still shot fails to help, since it’s actually a reproduction of a sketch, rather than a photo.

Complete mystery. If you know when this came out, or who was in it, give us a shout and be forever imortalized.

Spanish title: Tarzan el Indomable (Tarzan the Indomitable One)
Stars: Herman Brix (AKA Bruce Bennett)
Directed by: Edward A. Krull
Distributor: Guaranted Pictures de Mexico

"Dangers and adventures in the tropical forest"

Herman Brix could have been Johnny Weismuller, but for a shoulder injury he suffered in his first film – Touchdown. he was due to play Tarzan, the studio wanted him in the role, and his public profile was strong after he won the Olympic shot put gold medal in 1928, but with a bad wing, the role went to The Weis instead, and the rest is history.

That said, Herman Brix (who would eventually rename himself Bruce Bennett to shed the action star/tough guy persona) had a much longer career by ensuring that, whenever things weren’t to his liking, he’d go away, take some acting classes, and reinvent himself – even if it meant several years of uncredited acting and extra parts in the meantime. In fact, Brix was so sure of himself and so open to new things that, even at the age of 96, he decided to go skydiving. He would ultimately appear on 150 films before retiring to run a vending machine company in the 60’s.

Edgar Rice Burroughs had liked Brix and wanted him to play Tarzan, so when the studios went in another direction (and decided to make Tarzan a savage, rather than a displaced British aristocrat), Burroughs decided to start his own production company (Burroughs-Tarzan Enterprises Inc.) and make his own Tarzan series, in which he would give Brix the lead role.

Unfortunately, the studios don’t dig that kind of entrepreneurship, so they froze the series out of theaters in North America, but it did big business elsewhere, eventually being recut and turned into a pair of features – one of which was this one.

Tarzan the Indomitable One, as it translates to in English, is a collection of highlights from the first episode of the New Adventures of Tarzan serial, with a touch of episode two thrown in. The rest of episode two would eventually become Tarzan and the Green Goddess, several years later, and would still be circulating right through the 50’s and 60’s, wherever a theater needed a quick Saturday morning matinee fill-in.

The lobby card above is a good example of the way lobby cards used to frequently be back in the 30’s – original paintwork, some cheap screen printing (you can see a few errors from the print, most notably in the way the red color cuts out halfway through the ‘Herman Brix’ titling), and the usual action shot inset.

This card was created by the distributor of the film, Guaranted Pictures De Mexico, who are listed as being at Acapulco number 38, Mexico DF, with two telephone numbers of 14-46-42 and 14-46-48. We’re guessing those numbers don’t work today. GPdeM was the local office (as best as we can work out) of the US company, Guaranteed Pictures, who formed in 1918 and specialized in foreign films, reissues and B-grade fodder. They went out of business some time in the early 40’s.

Spanish title: Jesse James vs la Hija de Frankenstein
Stars: John Lupton, Cal Bolder, Nada Onyx
Directed by: William Beaudine
Distributor: Cinematografica Azteca (for Embassy Pictures Corporation)

"Shocking assassins… a gunman and the daughter of a monster…!"

Shot in just eight days, back to back with the also cheap-and-nasty Billy The Kid vs Dracula, this film is a long way from the best represented in our collection, but the lobby card art for this Mexican release is just incredible regardless – in that totally schlocky kind of way that makes it perfect as wall art.

Directed by William Beaudine, who made quite the living churning out cheap horror rubbish, the title of this film is an utter misnomer, as it involves not Frankenstein’s daughter, but his granddaughter, as she seeks to turn Jesse James’ best buddy into a monster just like dear old granddad. Jesse James, of course, isn’t down with her plans.

What we love about this lobby card, aside from the deep colors, impressive original art, and decidedly gravity-free cleavage of Frankenstein’s Daughter/Granddaughter (who for some reason has vampire teeth) is the awesome black and white still image inserted into the design, featuring a couple of ‘wild west’ lads duking it out with bare knuckles. If you can’t love the early 60’s greaser hairstyles on those gunslingers, you just have no sense of the absurd.

Joe Bob Briggs loved this film enough to re-release it as part of a bad horror movies package, but I’ll never understand how Jesse James gets to Frankenstein’s Castle… I mean, it’s not like if you took a left at Boot Hill, you’d find yourself in Transylvania. Was Frankenstein’s Castle actually located in Cincinnati? Actually, having spent time in Cincinnati, that might make sense…

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: 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: Beso de Fuego
Stars: Jack Palance, Barbara Rush, Rex Reason, Martha Hyer, Alan Reed, Leslie Bradley
Directed by: Joseph M. Newman
Distributor: Universal Pictures

"It was the kiss that changed the course of an empire!"

You’ve gotta love the supreme tackiness that was Jack Palance in the 40’s and 50’s. Whenever you needed a bad guy with a heart of gold – a Roman Emperor you loved to hate, or a gunslinger who gets the girl in the end, or a Robin Hood-like rogue in dark green tights – Palance was your man.

This film focused on the story of a Spanish Princess, mourning her recently deceased father, who must get back to Europe from… uh… Santa Fe, New Mexico? …so that she can claim her rightful crown before a contender takes her place. To get there, she needs the help of El Tigre (Palance), a rough and ready guide who can navigate the perils of the assorted bad guys out to stop her from getting home.

And of course, she hates him. And of course, she learns to love him.

Universal lobby cards of this time often followed a similar design template as this one, with a large fonted title up top, a small white box listing cast members off to the side, and several cut’n'paste still images scattered about, that were then painted over to appear like original art.

Despite the unimpressive nature of the film, this is one of the most beautiful lobby cards in our collection, featuring Palance in several dramatic poses; one romantically embracing his co-star, and another on the attack with a pair of knives at hand. And you’ve gotta love the shot of Babs Rush up top, showing a little regal thigh – she puts the ‘rush’ in ‘rush of blood’, don’t you think?

The copy in our collection features three smudges of green ink, likely a result of an awry print run, but because of the dramatic, deep color that abounds in the design, you barely notice them.

One interesting thing to note is a tiny inscription that says "Contreras" on the bottom left hand corner, right by Palance’s tightly-clad behind. We assume that’s the name of the designer of the lobby card, but as they were so rarely signed by the artist in this era (especially when the original art was based on stills and not hand-painted), it could also be the name of the printing company. Any info from readers in the know would be much appreciated.

UPDATE: We were just looking through our collection and noticed something on the back of this lobby card – a hand-scrawled ad for a 1954 film called El Rapto (translated: The Kidnapping), starring Jorge Negrete and Maria Felix.

This was a Mexican western comedy/drama, directed by Emilio ‘El Indio’ Fernández, who served as the model for the Oscar statuette of the Academy Awards… seriously!

"Además" means ‘in addition’, so this was likely some theater manager’s effort at alerting customers that there was a second feature attached to the main bill. Funny what you sometimes find on these lobby cards…

Spanish title: Los Goonies
Stars: Sean Astin, Josh Brolin, Corey Feldman, Martha Plimpton, Curtis Hanson, Robert Davi, Joe Pantoliano
Directed by: Richard Donner
Distributor: Indefilms 

"The light, the map, the caves, the death traps, the treasure… all part of the adventure of The Goonies"

This lobby card design is pretty standard – it’s the illustrated image from the poster that was used all over the world. So why is it here? Because it’s awesome – duh. 

"The only thing we serve here is tongue! You boys like tongue?"

Nothing much to add, except that it was released in South America by an outfit called Indefilms, which still seems to be in operation in De Valle. The printing of the lobby card was handled by Impresora Rodelo S.A.