Spanish title: Moral Y Deseo (Moral and Desire)
Stars: Rosanna Schiaffino, Jacques Perrin, Alain Cuny, Isa Miranda
Directed by: Mauro Bolognini
Distributor: Cinematografica Anahuac

"…and it was dragged out by human passion!"

Originally called La Zorruzione in its native Italian, this film involves a young man who wants to be a Priest, only for his controlling father to disapprove and set his son up with a woman whose job it is to corrupt him. Only the Italians (well, and maybe the French) could figure out a way to turn a film about paternal influence and religion into an erotic drama. And well done, sirs.

Though we can’t say the design of this lobby card takes graphic art to a whole new level (it’s far too symmetrical, it lacks a background, the colors are dire, and it relies too much on skin to draw you in)… it’s still pretty darn hard to look away, isn’t it?

The film starred Jacques Perrin, who would eventually receive world renown as the older Toto in Cinema Paradiso, and Rosanna Schiaffino who… well… looks REALLY good.

Worth a look, even if only to pay respect to the fine paintwork of the artist, as he did his best to recreate the female form, and as one of the few samples in our collection of a Cinematografica Anahuac, S.A. release. For the record, their office address was listed in the fine print of the card as being Monterrey 10 – Mexico, D.F. – stop in, say hi.

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: 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: 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: 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: 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: El Satiro de la Playa (The Satyr of the Beach)
Stars: Dwan (or is it Dawn?) Marlow, Anton van Stralen, Doug Leith
Directed by: Bethel Buckalew
Distributor: Peliculas Agrasanchez

"Hours of ecstasy…! And hours of terror that you’ll never forget…!"

Bethel Buckalew (AKA Peter Porter, AKA Peter Perry, AKA A.P. Stootsberry, AKA Seymour Tuchus) made a lot of really bad, really sex-obsessed films from 1959 to 1980, and his second cinematic outing was this mostly forgotten sexploitation failure that reads like a novel titled "How To Get Your Wife Killed".

The story goes that a honeymoon couple go to a place called Thunder Island to, like, hump a lot. And when hubby decides to go back for some supplies, he leaves the missus behind… only to discover that someone else – someone dangerous – is on the island as well. Torn shirts ensue.

Then again, could you expect anything less from the man who brought you Midnight Plowboy, The Secret Sex Lives of Romeo and Juliet, and Knockers Up?

Anton van Stralen was the only one in the cast who had ever acted before, and even that was in films like high School Caesar, and Naked Youth, so it’s not like anyone here was in it for the craft. 

I can’t speak to the quality of the film itself, but I can say that I love this lobby card. From the original/remake situation going on with the black and white still image and the repainted version of same right above it, to the misspelled "Dwan Marlow" credit (which lives on to this day, being as the actress never worked again and thus received no other credits), to the ever-so-common Mexican ploy of having a nice big closeup of a screaming woman getting her shirt torn off, this is just schlock exploitation promo art done to perfection.

Seriously – if you’d shown up to the theater and seen this poster, wouldn’t you have thrown down a buck? Just for the heck of it?

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: 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 Novicia Rebelde (The Rebellious Novice)
Stars: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer, Eleanor Parker, Richard Haydn, Peggy Wood, Charmian Carr, The Bil Baird Marionettes
Directed by: Robert Wise
Distributor: 20th Century Fox 

"Radiance that floods the screen and warms the heart"

This undeniable classic has introduced millions of people to the musical feature genre, over several generations, and the lobby card promoting its Mexican release certainly hits all the right notes.

The original art up top isn’t actually original art at all – it’s still images used to promote the film on the official poster, painted over so they appear hand-painted, but from a distance you’d never know. The black and white inset features a recognizable scene with Julie Andrews and her Von Trapp Family Singer co-stars, which is always a plus, and the colors are definitely vivid.

What’s not quite stellar about this card? Well, 20th Century Fox decided in the 60’s that they could save a little time (and money) by setting up a template design for their lobby cards; one that included those odd green columns down the sides, and an ugly, bright yellow background clearly designed to catch the eye more than sell the mood of a film.

There were hundreds of films promoted with lobby cards like this one, and though this is one of the better designs of that lot, when you see a few of them together, it’s nowhere near as impressive as fully original work. In fact, that much bright yellow ink in one place is liable to give you a headache.

Still, a spoon full of sugar…