| Vintage Pulp | Jun 7 2021 |
All Through the Night is Bogart at his best.
There's no single movie that made Humphrey Bogart a superstar—he built his brand with each outing. But surely All Through the Night was one of his most important pre-icon roles. You see its Italian promo poster above, which was painted by the great artist Luigi Martinati. We've featured Martinati often, and you can see his work here and here. After originally opening in the U.S. in 1942, All Through the Night premiered in Italy as Sesta colonna today in 1949. You can read more about the film here.
ItalySesta colonnaAll Trough the NightHumphrey BogartConrad VeidtKaaren VernePeter LorreLuigi Martinatiposter artcinemanazis
| Femmes Fatales | Jan 29 2021 |
Finding space on the beach can be a real battle.
In the hustle and bustle for an advantageous spot on the beach, one located close to water, bathrooms, and the all-important beach bar, even usually gentle people like U.S. actress Alexandra Hay can be pushed too far. Here we see her defending her patch of sand from tourists, gawkers, and strolling vendors in a photo series made in 1969, first published in the French magazine Lui. See Hay unarmed here.
| Vintage Pulp | Nov 21 2020 |
Two Italian artists created some of the coveted posters for the classic drama Casablanca.
All of these posters are Italian promos for the classic war drama Casablanca, which premiered in Italy today in 1946, four years after it opened in the U.S. An original example of the top poster, which was painted by Luigi Martinati, sold at auction in 2017 for $478,000. The following three posters are also by Martinati. The bottom three efforts, meanwhile, are by Silvano Campeggi (who sometimes signed his work as "Nano"), and were painted for the movie's re-release in 1962. Top notch efforts all of them, for a top notch movie. See more Casablanca promos here and here.
ItalyWorld War IICasablancaHumphrey BogartIngrid BergmanLuigi MartinatiSilvano CampeggiNanoposter artcinema
| Vintage Pulp | Aug 28 2020 |
Low rent Bond imitation withers in comparison to its inspiration.
By the time the mid-1960s rolled around movie studios the world over were imitating James Bond. The film Ypotron, aka Agente Logan - missione Ypotron, which was released in Italy today in 1966, was one of the worst imitators. It's inept in all aspects, especially the slide guitar soundtrack that might make you bury yourself somewhere in the back yard. But then you'd miss lines of dialogue like, “I don't specialize in making speeches. I use bullets.” Yes, it's bad. It is bad-good? That depends on you, since you'll have to provide all the actual entertainment. But good or bad we wanted to share the above Italian promo poster painted by Ezio Tarantelli, which is good-good. You can see more Tarantelli here, and another poster for Ypotron at the top of this post.
ItalyYpotronAgente Logan - missione YpotronYpotron - Final CountdownLuis DevillLuis DávilaGaia GermaniEzio Tarantelliposter artcinemamovie review
| Femmes Fatales | Jul 15 2020 |
In a field full of wildflowers she's the wildest of all.
Exotic Tina Aumont, whose father was French actor Jean-Pierre Aumont and mother was Dominican actress Maria Montez, built an appropriately international film career mainly in Italy and France. But surprisingly she was American. In fact, she was born in Hollywood. Some of her films include Salon Kitty, La principessa nuda, aka The Nude Princess, and Satyricon—the Gian Luigi Polidoro one, not the Fellini one. Though she did later star in Fellini's Casanova in 1976. The photo above is from 1975 and first appeared in Italian Playboy.
ItalyFranceDominican RepublicHollywoodSatyriconFellini's CasanovaIl Casanova di Federico FelliniSalon KittyLa principessa nudaThe Nude PrincessPlayboyPlayboy ItalyTina AumontJean-Pierre AumontMaria MontezGian Luigi Polidoronudity
| Vintage Pulp | Apr 19 2020 |
Brigitte earns an advanced degree in espionage.
Above, ten more covers for the spy serial Brigitte in Accion, written by Lou Carrigan, aka Antonio Vera Ramirez, and published by Barcelona based Editorial Bruguera. The artist remains Brazilian illustrator José Luiz Benicio, and Brigitte Montfort, nicknamed Baby, remains the hottest CIA agent of the Cold War. Mid-1970s on these. See the earlier collection here.
SpainBrazilEditorial BrugueraLou CarriganJosé Luiz BenicioAntonio Vera Ramirezcover artcover collection
| Vintage Pulp | Feb 1 2020 |
It happened four nights.
Cuatro noches contigo is not a pulp style movie, so we won't get into detail about it, except to say that it's a Mexican version of the iconic comedy It Happened One Night, with Luis Aguilar, the beautiful Elsa Aguirre, some musical numbers, a lot of cuteness, and one spanking. But we wanted to call attention to the film's art deco influenced poster. It was painted by Leopoldo Mendoza Andrade, who signed his work as Mendoza and was one of the artists who popularized this style in Mexican promo art during the 1950s. We haven't yet seen one of these art deco creations that isn't stunning. See what we mean here, here, here, and here. Cuatro noches contigo premiered in Mexico today in 1952, and if you understand Spanish and want to check it out, for now it's on YouTube at this link.
MexicoCuatro noches contigoIt Happened One NightElsa AguirreLuis AguilarLeopoldo Mendoza Andradeposter artcinema
| Vintage Pulp | Dec 23 2019 |
Bogart and Bacall mix love and career.
Above, two Luigi Martinati posters for Il grande sonno, aka The Big Sleep, with stars and spouses Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. These posters are more colorful than the U.S. versions because Warner Brothers had cut back on printing costs due to World War II. But when the film came out in Italy today in 1947 a full palette of color had returned to the mix. See a small collection Martinati's great work here.
ItalyWarner Bros.Il grande sonnoThe Big SleepLuigi MartinatiHumphrey BogartLauren Bacallposter artcinema
| Vintage Pulp | Sep 11 2019 |
Her invasion didn't quite work out as planned.
The list of old publishing houses from around the world that borrowed photos of actresses for their covers continues to grow. Discovering these books decades later often means finding incredibly rare shots of women who weren't well known when their images were used, but who later became big stars. This cover for Albert Conroy's, aka Luigi Amerio's Fuga nel sangue from Edizioni Giumar in 1959 features Shirley Kilpatrick. She wasn't one of the ones who later became a big star. We have a feeling her title turn in 1957's sci-fi megabomb The Astounding She-Monster ruined that dream. It was her only credited film role, which just goes to show that no place is harder to conquer than Hollywood. But we love Kilpatrick anyway, and this is a great shot of her. See others here.
ItalyEdizioni GiumarThe Astounding She-MonsterAlbert ConroyLuigi AmerioShirley Kilpatrickcover artliterature
| Vintage Pulp | Jun 17 2019 |
It's always the person you least suspect.
Above are a couple of beautiful Italian posters for L'alibi di Satana, better known as The Unsuspected. The set-up of this is too complicated to explain in the short form we use here on Pulp intl., but basically it's a murder mystery dealing with family jealousy, thwarted romances, inherited money, and amnesia. Despite the complexity of the script, which is derived from a Charlotte Armstrong novel, thanks to the title you can guess who the killer is by ignoring all the clues and simply picking the person with the best alibi. We know—that's a spoiler. But we bet 95% of you would have nailed it within twenty minutes anyway. The Unsuspected is still an interesting flick, though. The main attraction is Claude Rains, always great no matter the circumstances, and he's accompanied by Joan Caulfield, Audrey Totter, Constance Bennett, and others. It premiered in the U.S. in 1947, and opened in Italy today in 1949.
ItalyL'alibi di SatanaThe UnsuspectedClaude RainsJoan CaulfieldAudrey TotterConstance BennettCharlotte ArmstrongLuigi Martinatiposter artcinemamovie review
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