Vintage Pulp

December 18 2023

SLAVES TO LOVE

You never know what you'll find if you go far enough up the Amazon.

Written, produced, and directed by Curt Siodmak, who was behind numerous monster features, including Bride of the Gorilla and Curucu, the tropical adventure Love Slaves of the Amazon, which premiered today in 1957, is a full color production about the search for a lost realm of warrior women and their priceless treasures. In order for the expedition to take place, semi-crazy Eduardo Ciannelli must convince staid Don Taylor that the Amazons exist. He reveals a golden statue as proof, which he’d obtained on a previous foray into the jungle, and after some back and forth, sufficient funds for the journey are obtained. Unfortunately, rumors of gold and diamonds have piqued the interest of local ruffians, who plan to hijack the expedition.

Are there actually Amazons? You bet. French actress Anna Maria Nabuco is their queen. Are there love slaves? Yup, one poor exhausted one, anyway, and Taylor looks ripe as a replacement as far as Nabuco is concerned. And is there treasure? There’s that too. The movie’s plusses include a pitched battle between the expedition and the hijackers while both their boats are mired in river mud, and various exteriors actually shot in Manaus, Brazil and the nearby rain forest. Additionally, the poster art by Reynold Brown is tops. On the minus side, we felt that intermittent veerings into comedy were pointless and unfunny. But on the whole, Love Slaves of the Amazons was better than we expected. Does that mean it was good? Define “good.”

Brazil, Manaus, Love Slaves of the Amazons, Don Taylor, Gianna Segale, Eduardo Ciannelli, Anna Marie Nabuco, Curt Siodmak, Reynold Brown, poster art, cinema, movie review

Vintage Pulp

May 19 2018

A GIANT AMONG MEN

It's a man's man's man's world. Until now.

It was inevitable. You can’t have a pulp website and not talk about the iconic GGA-influenced poster for Attack of the 50 Foot Woman. This masterpiece came from the brush of Reynold Brown, who also painted promos for Creature from the Black Lagoon, Spartacus, Ben-Hur, and—ironically—The Incredible Shrinking Man. But 50 Foot Woman is the one people remember. It’s the one that appears on t-shirts, lithographs, refrigerator magnets and spoof posters to this day. And for good reason. It’s a perfect promo piece, from the execution, to the chaotic scene depicted, to the giant’s straddle-legged pose that titillatingly suggests the world’s most shocking upskirt shot. It also makes the film look far better than it is. You’d never think the 50 Foot Woman of the poster is, onscreen, mainly a big foam hand and some weak projection work.

The movie premiered today in 1958. It was directed by Nathan Juran under the pseudonym Nathan Hertz, and while it’s mediocre it isn’t close to being one of the worst films of the period. People remember

it because of Allison Hayes’ character, an unhappy wife whose growth into a giant gives her all the physical power she could ever want, but none of the emotional strength she needs to deal with her philandering husband Harry.

She’s desperately in love with him, though he’s a heel. When she eventually hunts him down the film becomes a feminist parable. We don’t think that aspect was intentional, but it’s definitely there by virtue of a male screenwriter creating a colossal feminine problem then determining how his male characters react to her. Guess what? She’s fifty feet tall and still can’t break through the glass ceiling.

The 50 Foot Woman has the power to deal with dirty Harry in a way he understands—dominance. Good. But she’s also mad as hell and has busted out of her social niche. Bad. There’s no attempt to reason with or negotiate with this newly empowered woman. Because she brings upheaval to the world elimination is the only solution. Yes, this movie has almost everything—an examination of gender roles as they relate to money, a discussion of emotional violence within marriage, and ruminations about male privilege. The one thing it doesn’t have is a budget—for efx, good actors, multiple takes, or anything else. But that’s why it’s so endearing. Like the random growth spurt central to the plot, everything significant about Attack of the 50 Foot Woman is a total fluke.

Attack of the 50 Foot Woman, Creature from the Black Lagoon, Spartacus, Ben-Hur, The Incredible Shrinking Man, Allison Hayes, Yvette Vickers, William Hudson, Reynold Brown, Nathan Juran, Nathan Hertz, poster art, cinema, movie review, sci-fi

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HISTORY REWIND

The headlines that mattered yesteryear.

March 23

2011—Elizabeth Taylor Dies

American actress Elizabeth Taylor, whose career began at age 12 when she starred in National Velvet, and who would eventually be nominated for five Academy Awards as best actress and win for Butterfield 8 and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, dies of congestive heart failure in Los Angeles. During her life she had been hospitalized more than 70 times.

March 22

1963—Profumo Denies Affair

In England, the Secretary of State for War, John Profumo, denies any impropriety with showgirl Christine Keeler and threatens to sue anyone repeating the allegations. The accusations involve not just infidelity, but the possibility acquaintances of Keeler might be trying to ply Profumo for nuclear secrets. In June, Profumo finally resigns from the government after confessing his sexual involvement with Keeler and admitting he lied to parliament.

March 22

1978—Karl Wallenda Falls to His Death

World famous German daredevil and high-wire walker Karl Wallenda, founder of the acrobatic troupe The Flying Wallendas, falls to his death attempting to walk on a cable strung between the two towers of the Condado Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Wallenda is seventy-three years old at the time, but it is a 30 mph wind, rather than age, that is generally blamed for sending him from the wire.

March 22

2006—Swedish Spy Stig Wennerstrom Dies

Swedish air force colonel Stig Wennerström, who had been convicted in the 1970s of passing Swedish, U.S. and NATO secrets to the Soviet Union over the course of fifteen years, dies in an old age home at the age of ninety-nine. The Wennerström affair, as some called it, was at the time one of the biggest scandals of the Cold War.

March 21

1963—Alcatraz Closes

The federal penitentiary located on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay closes. The island had been home to a lighthouse, a military fortification, and a military prison over the years. In 1972, it would become a national recreation area open to tourists, and it would receive national landmark designations in 1976 and 1986.

March 20

1916—Einstein Publishes General Relativity

German-born theoretical physicist Albert Einstein publishes his general theory of relativity. Among the effects of the theory are phenomena such as the curvature of space-time, the bending of rays of light in gravitational fields, faster than light universe expansion, and the warping of space time around a rotating body.