Spanish title: El Samurai Asesino
Stars: Toshiro Mifune, Michiyo Aratama
Directed by: Kihachi Okamoto
Distributor: Films de Mexico

"Friends and enemies, looking for glory but never obtaining it!"

When our lobby card dealer mentioned he had an inexpensive one in stock for a samurai movie with "some guy called Mifute… Mifube… Mifune maybe?" – we kind of jumped at it.

"Would it be The Seven Samurai? Maybe Yojimbo? Sanjuro? Some other Akira Kurosawa-directed classic perhaps?" We could hardly wait to get it in our hot little hands…

Alas, while this didn’t turn out to be a promo item for a Kurosawa film, it still represents a classic of the samurai film genre, starring the single greatest Japanese actor of all time – Toshiro Mifune.

One interesting aspect of the card involves the distributor of the film – Films de Mexico. They don’t show up in a lot of our collection, and they’re not easy to find in Google searches, but for those looking for details of such things, their address was De C V Monterrey, 101-7g, Piso Mexico.

The story is a little more complex than most – involving a situation that has become known as ‘the incident at Sakurada Gate’, in which a group of assassins teams up with a samurai (in the days when the samurai were all but considered useless in the eyes of China’s warlords) to kill a shoganate’s counselor. The twist? The counselor is the samurai’s father.

If nothing else, go rent this for the epic finale; one of the greatest action endings you’ll ever witness.

As for this lobby card, it’s just awesome. The splash of blood behind a determined, sword-swooshing Mifune – can’t beat it, although the card seems to have been printed on sub-standard stock, and thus isn’t coping with the years as well as one would hope.

Spanish title: Flama de Traicion (Flame of Treason)
Stars: Clark Gable, Lana Turner, Victor Mature, Louis Calhern
Directed by: Gottfried Reinhardt
Distributor: MGM Mexico

"Is he the betrayed one?"

Lana Turner plays
Carla Van Oven, who, despite being suspected of working with the Nazis, turns into an allied spy during World War II.

Another war movie in which American stars play folks on the non-allied side of the fence, Betrayed features an all-star cast… and one heck of a vivid lobby card.

You’ve got to love the way the still image has Clark Gable (who looks disturbingly like my grandfather) and Turner in a passionate embrace, while Victor Mature (playing ‘The Scarf’) looks on like the ultimate third wheel.

A fantastic combo of original art, still imagery, and blends of the two make this a keeper.

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: El Barco mas Loco del Ejercito
Stars: Jack Lemmon, Ricky Nelson, John Lund, Chips Rafferty, Tom Tully, Joby Baker, Warren Berlinger, Patricia Driscoll
Directed by: Richard Muprhy
Distributor: Columbia Pictures

Another of the 1960’s Columbia Mexico lobby cards, which are notable due to their slightly smaller size, slightly thicker cardboard, and lack of original art (see Requiem for a Heavyweight), this version of El Barco Mas Loco del Ejercito features a still of a big gun and several cast members, but none of them are particularly distinct – certainly not enough to add value to the card, anyway. But Ricky Nelson and Jack Lemmon fans will be happy with a set of close-ups of the actors, and a pair of caricatures below them.

This particular card has a set of four corner pinholes, as most cards of the era do, but otherwise it’s in spectacular condition.

Spanish title: Aventuras de los Comandos (Adventures of the Commandos)
Stars: Errol Flynn, Ronald Reagan, Arthur Kennedy
Directed by: Raoul Walsh
Distributor: Warner Bros

"Boldness, morals, and intrepidity as never seen before, in a chilling
adventure…"

While this card isn’t exactly an awe-inspiring piece of original art (a lot of WB film lobby cards of this period followed a similar cut’n'paste format, and even shared the same font face), you’ve got to love Ronny Reagan’s flyaway curl.

Also noteworthy is the misspelling of Arthur Kennedy’s name as ‘Arthu’. A closer look shows that there’s a double space between his first and last name, which would indicate that someone in the print process simply lost a letter – and nobody thought it prudent to re-print the run.

In terms of card quality, this isn’t one of the best in my collection, with several sets of pinholes and some other associated holes from general wear.

But hey, it’s Errol, and thus it remains in the vault.