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: 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.