Vintage Pulp

January 2 2025

GIO LOCATION

He was off our radar screen for a while but we've finally tracked him down.

It was ages ago—2015, actually—that we promised to share more pieces from the Italian poster artist Giovanni di Stefano. What can we say. We tend to lose track of time, but today, finally, we located more examples, and you see them all above. If you’re up on your vintage stars you’ll recognize some faces. And if you’re really good, you’ll guess the movies. The keywords below are in order—first for the films, then the actors. You can skip the last one and its zoom. Di Stefano painted that for a comic book called Bonnie Gangster Story ‘pelo e contropelo.’

Italy, The Young Lions, Con la muerte a la espalda, Captain Nemo and the Underwater City, Day of the Evil Gun, Marlon Brando, Dean Martin, Montgomery Clift, Robert Ryan, Lucianna Paluzzi, Glenn Ford, Pilar Pellicer, Giovanni di Stefano, poster art, cinema, comic art

Vintage Pulp

October 14 2024

A TEMPERATURE RISE

Ford and Grahame get caught up in the Heat of the moment.

The Big Heat is a fast, hard, and brutal film noir, one of the jewels of the cycle, and it came with a striking poster likewise considered classic today. Above you see an alternate poster, along with a black and white promo probably made as an ad mat for printing in newspapers. The movie premiered today in 1953.

The Big Heat, Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, cinema, film noir

Femmes Fatales

January 11 2023

AGUA CALIENTE

Uh, Stella. I know it sucks to be filthy. We all feel that way. But that was our drinking water.

The incomparable Stella Stevens takes a bath in a 55-gallon drum while on location in Mexico for the 1966 thriller Rage. The movie is about a man (Glenn Ford) who contracts rabies, and owing to its desert setting Stevens spends a lot of time looking sweaty—which is where this moment might come in, though it’s also possible it’s a pure promo shot with no corresponding scene in the film. The photo is often mistaken as coming from 1970’s The Ballad of Cable Hogue, a movie in which Stevens also bathes outdoors. But she’s in a large wooden cask in that one. We have a couple of other excellent Stevens promo images for you here and here.

Edit: We got a quick and short e-mail from our friend Herman: “It’s in the movie.” And he sent the below screenshot. So there you have it. Stella gets wet, and that’s always a good thing.

Mexico, Rage, The Ballad of Cable Hogue, Stella Stevens, Glenn Ford

Hollywoodland

July 5 2022

DEEP INSIDE

Inside Story goes where other tabloids tread—then claims not to have gone there.

It’s been a few years since we posted an issue of Inside Story, but we don’t run out of tabloids, we just run out of time to scan them. Today, though, there’s time aplenty, so above you see an issue that appeared this month in 1963 with a cover touting a feature on the new generation of young actresses in Hollywood taking over from Brigitte Bardot, Kim Novak, and Marilyn Monroe. At the time, Bardot was twenty-nine and Novak was thirty-five. Those aren’t exactly geriatric years for actresses, even back then, but Inside Story said there was a young new guard: Angie Dickinson, Ann-Margret, Jane Fonda, Connie Stevens, Tuesday Weld, and Julie Newmar. Dickinson was actually older than both Bardot and Novak, but we get the general point.

Later in the issue there’s a story dedicated to Monroe that describes her fans as a death cult. The interesting aspect of this is that the author Kevin Flaherty accuses people of obsessing over Monroe—while himself obsessing over Monroe. The gist of his article is that a cottage industry of films, books, and magazine articles were cashing in on her suicide, which had occurred the previous August. This was, of course, shaky ground for any tabloid to tread upon, as they all made their profits via unauthorized articles about various celebrities, which one could define as exploitative by nature. But never let the facts get in the way of a good story angle.

Flaherty tells readers that Monroe’s life was marred by abandonment, depression, and rape, and suggests that if she had been given a little peace by constantly clamoring fans and intrusive reporters she might not have taken that fatal dose of pills. We think it’s just as valid to conclude that without stardom she wouldn’t have lasted as long as she did. Since she isn’t around anymore to speak for herself (she’d be ninety-six this year), we view her on the terms she chose. She started as a model and worked hard to become an actress, and we think those achievements are far more important than what she had no control over. But there will always be debate over Monroe’s legacy, and Inside Story shows that the discussion was already in full swing. Twenty-plus scans below.

Vintage Pulp

November 25 2021

SWEDE TREATMENT

Rita Hayworth and Gilda get a dose of the northern aesthetic.

The awesome film noir Gilda premiered in Sweden today in 1946, and above is a beautiful promo for the movie painted by Swedish artist Eric Rohman. In typical Nordic fashion, the overall approach here is clean and understated. One of the most interesting parts of looking at vintage posters is noting the cultural differences in approach. Every country contributes to the art form in unique ways, and all are worthwhile. We often find Swedish posters to be less inspiring than U.S., Italian, Japanese, and French efforts, but this one, in all its simplicity, is a winner, as is the movie.

Sweden, Gilda, Rita Hayworth, Eric Rohman, Glenn Ford, William Conrad, poster art, cinema, film noir

Vintage Pulp

July 29 2021

AFFAIR SHARE

Hayworth takes front and center on classic poster, while Ford is lucky to be included at all.

Above is an alternate poster for Affair in Trinidad, and co-star Glenn Ford even gets to be on this one. The look here is simple and classic, and bespeaks a studio with total confidence it has a hit on its hands. The movie, which premiered today in 1952, wasn’t actually that good, but it made money anyway because Hayworth was pure gold at this point. Ford? Well, he was mainly along for the ride, which is why he’s second billed and standing behind Hayworth—and a pole too. You can read what we wrote about the movie at this link.

Affair in Trinidad, Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, poster art, cinema, film noir

Hollywoodland

May 22 2021

SLAP SHOTS

It's shocking how many Hollywood stars did smack.

Everybody wants to slap somebody sometime. Luckily, actors in movies do it so you don’t have to. The above shot is a good example. Edward G. Robinson lets Humphrey Bogart have it in 1948’s Key Largo, as Claire Trevor looks on. In vintage cinema, people were constantly slapping. Men slapped men, men slapped women, women slapped women, and women slapped men. The recipient was usually the protagonist because—though some readers may not realize this—even during the ’40s and 50s, slapping was considered uncouth at a minimum, and downright villainous at worst, particularly when men did it. So generally, bad guys did the slapping, with some exceptions. Glenn Ford slaps Rita Hayworth in Gilda, for example, out of humiliation. Still wrong, but he wasn’t the film’s villain is our point. Humphrey Bogart lightly slaps Martha Vickers in The Big Sleep to bring her out of a drug stupor. He’s like a doctor. Sort of.

In any case, most cinematic slapping is fake, and when it wasn’t it was done with the consent of the participants (No, really slap me! It’ll look more realistic.). There are some famous examples of chipped teeth and bloody noses deriving from the pursuit of realism. We can envision a museum exhibit of photos like these, followed by a lot of conversation around film, social mores, masculinity, and their intersection. We can also envison a conversation around the difference between fantasy and reality. There are some who believe portryals of bad things endorse the same. But movies succeed largely by thrilling, shocking, and scaring audiences, which requires portraying thrilling, shocking, and frightening moments. If actors can’t do that, then ultimately movies must become as banal as everyday llife. Enjoy the slapfest.

Broderick Crawford slaps Marlene Dietrich in the 1940’s Seven Sinners.

June Allyson lets Joan Collins have it across the kisser in a promo image for The Opposite Sex, 1956.

Speaking of Gilda, here’s one of Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth re-enacting the slap heard round the world. Hayworth gets to slap Ford too, and according to some accounts she loosened two of his teeth. We don’t know if that’s true, but if you watch the sequence it is indeed quite a blow. 100% real. We looked for a photo of it but had no luck.

Don’t mess with box office success. Ford and Hayworth did it again in 1952’s Affair in Trinidad.

All-time film diva Joan Crawford gets in a good shot on Lucy Marlow in 1955’s Queen Bee.

The answer to the forthcoming question is: She turned into a human monster, that’s what. Joan Crawford is now on the receiving end, with Bette Davis issuing the slap in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? Later Davis kicks Crawford, so the slap is just a warm-up.

Mary Murphy awaits the inevitable from John Payne in 1955’s Hell’s Island.

Romy Schneider slaps Sonia Petrova in 1972’s Ludwig.

Lauren Bacall lays into Charles Boyer in 1945’s Confidential Agent and garnishes the slap with a brilliant snarl.

Iconic bombshell Marilyn Monroe drops a smart bomb on Cary Grant in the 1952 comedy Monkey Business.

This is the most brutal slap of the bunch, we think, from 1969’s Patton, as George C. Scott de-helmets an unfortunate soldier played by Tim Considine.

A legendary scene in filmdom is when James Cagney shoves a grapefruit in Mae Clark’s face in The Public Enemy. Is it a slap? He does it pretty damn hard, so we think it’s close enough. They re-enact that moment here in a promo photo made in 1931.

Sophia Loren gives Jorge Mistral a scenic seaside slap in 1957’s Boy on a Dolphin.

Victor Mature fails to live up to his last name as he slaps Lana Turner in 1954’s Betrayed.

Ronald Reagan teaches Angie Dickinson how supply side economics work in 1964’s The Killers.

Marie Windsor gets in one against Mary Castle from the guard position in an episode of television’s Stories of the Century in 1954. Windsor eventually won this bout with a rear naked choke.

It’s better to give than receive, but sadly it’s Bette Davis’s turn, as she takes one from Dennis Morgan in In This Our Life, 1942.

Anthony Perkins and Raf Vallone dance the dance in 1962’s Phaedra, with Vallone taking the lead.

And he thought being inside the ring was hard. Lilli Palmer nails John Garfield with a roundhouse right in the 1947 boxing classic Body and Soul.

1960’s Il vigile, aka The Mayor, sees Vittorio De Sica rebuked by a member of the electorate Lia Zoppelli. She’s more than a voter in this—she’s also his wife, so you can be sure he deserved it.

Brigitte Bardot delivers a not-so-private slap to Dirk Sanders in 1962’s Vie privée, aka A Very Private Affair.

In a classic case of animal abuse. Judy Garland gives cowardly lion Bert Lahr a slap on the nose in The Wizard of Oz. Is it his fault he’s a pussy? Accept him as he is, Judy.

Robert Culp backhands Raquel Welch in 1971’s Hannie Caulder.

And finally, Laurence Harvey dares to lay hands on the perfect Kim Novak in Of Human Bondage.

Key Largo, Seven Sinners, The Opposite Sex, Gilda, The Killers, Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, Ludwig, Confidential Agent, Patton, The Public Enemy, Boy on a Dolphin, Of Human Bondage, Queen Bee, Betrayed, Stories of the Century, In This Our Life, Phaedra, Body and Soul, Il vigile, The Mayor, The Wizard of Oz, Hannie Caulder, Vie privée, A Very Private Affair, Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, Claire Trevor, Marlene Dietrich, Broderick Crawford, June Allyson, Joan Collins, Glenn Ford, Rita Hayworth, Bette Ford, Joan Crawford, Mary Murphy, John Payne, Romy Schneider, Sonia Petrova, Lauren Bacall, Charles Boyer, Marilyn Monroe, Cary Grant, George C. Scott, Tim Considine, James Cagney, Mae Clarke, Sophia Loren, Jorge Mistral, Joan Crawford, Lucy Marlow, Victor Mature, Lana Turner, Marie Windsor, Mary Castle, Dennis Morgan, Raf Vallone, Anthony Perkins, Lilli Palmer, John Garfield, Lia Zoppelli, Kim Novak, Laurence Harvey, Vittorio De Sica, Dirk Sanders, Brigitte Bardot, Judy Garland, Bert Lahr, Raquel Welch, Robert Culp, Ronald Reagan, Angie Dickinson

Hollywoodland

April 3 2021

REYNOLDS RAP

Another case of he said (they did) she said (they didn't).

Above is a cover of National Enquirer that hit newsstands today in 1960 with a cheery looking Debbie Reynolds on the cover. Editors promise the truth about her romance with Glenn Ford, but the quotes around “romance” tell the story—she there wasn’t one. The two starred together in the films It Started with a Kiss and The Gazebo, both released in 1959, and the affair rumors quickly sprang up.

Have you noticed a pattern of actors saying there were sexual relationships but actresses saying there weren’t? If we were dealing with regular people we’d side with the men maybe 10% of the time, but in the case of movie stars we aren’t sure actors had much to gain by lying. On the other hand, during the sexually unliberated years of the ’50s and ’60s actresses had plenty to gain by appearing to be as close to virginal as possible.

So it’s another classic case of Hollywood he said/she said. Ford’s biographer, who happens to be his son, said there was a physical relationship. How can he be sure? Several ways, perhaps, but notably, Glenn Ford taped all his calls—which is a story we may get into another time—so maybe there was confirmation from those that he and Reynolds were doing the nasty. In any case, we’re really just interested in this cool cover shot. Reynolds does polka dots with style.

It Started with a Kiss, The Gazebo, National Enquirer, Debbie Reynolds, Glenn Ford, tabloid

Vintage Pulp

August 26 2020

PYRAMID SCHEME

Ancient Zapotec treasures bring out the tomb raider in everyone.

This poster was made for the 1953 adventure Plunder of the Sun, a title which may sound familiar from David Dodge’s 1951 novel. The movie starred Glenn Ford, Patricia Medina, and Diana Lynn, and follows the basic gold hunting theme of the book, but with numerous plot details altered, and the exotic locations around Latin America—particularly Peru—condensed to only Havana and the province of Oaxaca, Mexico.

The Havana scenes were shot in Mexico, but the Oaxaca scenes were indeed shot in the Oaxaca area, with location work done at the Zapotec ruins in Monte Alban. You can practically hear the head honcho at Wayne-Fellows Productions saying, “I love this book, but we’ve got to make it cheaper. Why go all the way to Peru when there are perfectly good ruins in Mexico?” The Oaxaca locations are great, though, and extensively used, which really helps the film.

Are we saying Plunder of the Sun is good? Well, no we aren’t. It doesn’t have the depth needed to earn a place in the top ranks of vintage cinema, but it’s well shot, and its proto-Indiana Jones feel is interesting enough to keep you watching. We have a few promo images below, and you can learn more about the plot by checking our write-up on the novel here.

Mexico, Oaxaca, Havana, Plunder of the Sun, Glenn Ford, Diana Lynn, Patricia Medina, Charles Rooner, David Dodge, poster art, cinema, movie review

Vintage Pulp

May 25 2020

A CROOKED FRAME

Glenn Ford gets the picture and it isn't pretty.

This poster for the film noir Framed, which premiered in the U.S. today in 1947, is a bit different in style from what you’d normally see during the 1940s. It was a low budget movie, so we imagine this was the low budget solution to promo art. It’s reasonably effective, enough so that we decided to watch the movie, and the premise is that pretty boy Glenn Ford is a down-on-his-luck job seeker who’s been unwittingly selected by a couple of shady characters to take the fall for a bank embezzlement. We didn’t give anything away there. Viewers know pretty much right away Ford is being set up, who’s doing it, and why. It’s the complications that make the movie, and those accumulate rather quickly. If being framed is defined as to be on the hook for a crime you didn’t commit, then there’s more than one framee in this film, which is where clever scripting comes in to rescue a bottom drawer budget. In the end you get a nice b-noir with a title that takes on more significance than you’d at first assume. We recommend it highly.

Framed, Glenn Ford, Janis Carter, Barry Sullivan, poster art, cinema, film noir, movie review

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

November 13

1940—Fantasia Premieres

Walt Disney’s animated film Fantasia, which features eight animated segments set to classical music, is first seen by the public in New York City at the Broadway Theatre. Though appreciated by critics, the movie fails to make a profit due to World War II cutting off European revenues. However it remains popular and is re-released several times, including in 1963 when, with the approval of Walt Disney himself, certain racially insulting scenes were removed. Today Fantasia is considered one of Disney’s greatest achievements and an essential experience for movie lovers.

November 12

1912—Missing Explorer Robert Scott Found

British explorer Robert Falcon Scott and his men are found frozen to death on the Ross Ice Shelf in Antarctica, where they had been pinned down and immobilized by bad weather, hunger and fatigue. Scott’s expedition, known as the Terra Nova expedition, had attempted to be the first to reach the South Pole only to be devastated upon finding that Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen had beaten them there by five weeks. Scott wrote in his diary: “The worst has happened. All the day dreams must go. Great God! This is an awful place.”

November 12

1933—Nessie Spotted for First Time

Hugh Gray takes the first known photos of the Loch Ness Monster while walking back from church along the shore of the Loch near the town of Foyers. Only one photo came out, but of all the images of the monster, this one is considered by believers to be the most authentic.

November 12

1969—My Lai Massacre Revealed

Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh breaks the story of the My Lai massacre, which had occurred in Vietnam more than a year-and-a-half earlier but been covered up by military officials. That day, U.S. soldiers killed between 350 and 500 unarmed civilians, including women, the elderly, and infants. The event devastated America’s image internationally and galvanized the U.S. anti-war movement. For Hersh’s efforts he received a Pulitzer Prize.

November 11

1918—The Great War Ends

Germany signs an armistice agreement with the Allies in a railroad car outside of Compiègne, France, ending The Great War, later to be called World War I. About ten million people died, and many millions more were wounded. The conflict officially stops at 11:00 a.m., and today the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month is annually honored in some European nations with two minutes of silence.