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: 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: Rasputin y la Zarina (Rasputin and the Czarina)
Stars: Lionel Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore, John Barrymore, Ralph Morgan, Diana Wynara
Directed by: Richard Boleslavsky
Distributor: MGM

"King of crime, hatred and evil… bringing about the fall of an empire"

You know how, when you watch the end credits on a film, it’ll say "the characters and story in this film are fictional, any resemblance with any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental"? This film is why that happens.

The story goes that, after MGM made this film, the real life Czarina of Russia, Princess Irina Romanoff Youssoupoff, sued MGM for libel and invasion of privacy in both London and New York, extracting settlements of $125,000 and $250,000 respectively from the studio. At the heart of her complaint was that the film portrayed her as having had an affair with Rasputin, which she claimed was a lie. As a result, every studio inserted the fiction disclaimer in their productions, and we see them to this day.

That wasn’t the only lawsuit the film had to deal with – Prince Feliks Yusupov spotted a character in the film that, despite her name being changed, was clearly supposed to be his wife. As the character was shown to have been raped by Rasputin, he too sued for libel, and won. MGM duly cut the scene, thereby rendering the character’s shift from pro to anti-Rasputin decidedly weird to the viewer.

Off-set foibles aside, this is the first and only film in which all three of the famed Barrymore acting clan – Lionel, John and Ethel – appeared together on screen. The three had long been the darlings of the theater world, cementing a reputation as the greatest actors of their time (John’s son John Drew Barrymore, and his granddaughter Drew would carve career success of their own), so a shift to film was inevitable.

What’s a little odd is that John and Ethel’s characters in the film are portrayed as having an affair… creepy.

The lobby card celebrating this release featured original art from an unknown artist, and was printed by Litoarte S. de R.L. The version in our collection features a black and white still image featuring all the Barrymore’s, along with a series of Rasputin’s gal pals.  It’s got a little bent out of shape over the years, likely as a result of moisture, but for a promo card that is 75 years old, it’s in surprisingly good shape, regardless.

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: 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.