Cynically Sentimental

Mostly film reviews, with the occasional personal musing, interesting photo/cartoon, and audio/video clip. I am a film historian, lecturer, writer, librarian, and would-be layabout.

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#RomanceComicsTuesday -- I Couldn't Help It!

"I hungered for love! I needed men's kisses! It was like a sickness . . . Man after man -- date after date. I didn't even try to control it any more. There was no cure for this terrible disease of mine . . . there was only torment."

Linda's childhood trauma (father deserted the family, mother became bitter against men) makes her indiscriminately seek male affection. But she finds The One (a caring guy who really loves her) and will marry him and be happy.

Note: in the montage of Linda's "dates," note the person of colour in the upper right-hand corner. This is an extremely shocking suggestion of interracial "dating" for the time, even though it's just a tiny image.

I don't know who wrote this story, but Bob Powell did the art and he definitely made this one guy's face non-Caucasian and the colourist went along with it.

True Love Problems and Advice Illustrated 25 (1954).

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#SwipeFile 111: Bare Shoulders, Thighs & Haystacks

Zoe Mozert painted Jane Russell for “The Outlaw” poster & suddenly “bare shoulders, thighs and haystacks” became a thing.

Summer Storm (’44), Susana (Mexico, ’50), Passion’s Mistress (’49, Rodewald art), Woman Hunter (Australia, ’51), Play-Girl (’50, George Gross art).

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#RomanceComicsTuesday -- Take me! I'm Yours!

Pre-Code romance comics sometimes surprise one w/ their portraits of psychologically & emotionally vulnerable protagonists.

Rita is "not nice looking" so she becomes a "hot number" to attract boyfriends.

No fear, she eventually finds true love.

Darling Romance 7 (1950)

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#SwipeFile 110 --  Steven Spielberg’s Non-Union Mexican Equivalent Artwork

The box cover of the Laguna VHS release of Pablo y Carolina (’55) was “inspired by” the Working Girl (’88) key art.  The new artwork (by Gioser Art Studio) doesn’t even try to make the woman resemble co-star Irasema Dilián, except by giving swipe-Melanie Griffith short hair (which Irasema had in Pablo y Carolina).  Good likeness of  Pedro Infante, though (possibly a swipe from somewhere else).

UPDATE to #SwipeFile 75: Mystery of the Screaming Woman --

The Mexican lobby card for Black Christmas (’74) borrows the poster image of Susan Strasberg from 1961’s Scream of Fear; the cover of “Monstruos” 12 (1963) uses a different publicity photo from that film as its inspiration.

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Romance Comics Tuesday: All the Evil Consequences!

A handful of romance comics stories dealt with drug abuse, mostly pot smoking. As with alcohol, family issues, social anxiety & peer pressure were factors that triggered drug use in young women, with evil consequences (such as kissing). Fortunately, Claire is sent to rehab and kicks the habit!

Romantic Love 6 (1951)

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#SwipeFile 109: Multiple Mermaids

The Mermaids of Tiburon (’62) poster lent its mermaid face (and the mini-sub) to the poster for its re-release as The Aqua Sex (’64), but dropped the shark.

The poster for Anak ni Dyesebel (Daughter of Dyesebel, ’64), an adaption of a Filipino comic book series, borrows the Tiburon mermaid's pose (changing the face to match the performer in the movie), keeps the shark, drops the mini-sub.

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#RomanceComicsTuesday --

Even in pre-Code romance comics, substance abuse was not often discussed.  In this rare example from Love Diary 37 (1953), social anxiety leads to alcohol dependency for shy Janie.

"With a drink inside of me, I can be just as friendly as any girl in town!"

"You're a weakling and an alcoholic -- who can't face any of life's challenges without a drink!"

Don't worry, she kicks the habit! (And reconciles with Mark)

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#SwipeFile 108 -- Even more faux-Frazetta (see SwipeFile 71 & 72)

Frazetta’s “Rock God” cover for Creepy 32 (’70) inspired:

Dos Narraciones Completas 41 (?, Mexico), mashed-up w/a swipe of Stephen Hickman’s painting “Norhalla of the Lightnings.”

Jacula 47 (’71, Italy), reprinted on Jacula Collezione 24;

Espanto 13 (’78, Mexico) cover by López – this is a swipe from pre-prod art (it's signed, but I can’t read the artist signature) for 1974’s “Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell” which in turn appears to have been inspired by “Rock God.”

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#RomanceComicsTuesday -- Catfight!

While romantic rivalry was the topic of a number of romance comics stories, this usually resulted in bitter dialogue exchanges -- only occasionally did actual interpersonal violence erupt.

"Aieee!"

Young Romance 5 (1948), Great Lover Romances 17 (1954).

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#SwipeFile 107 – Rock, Paper, Swipers

Rock > Film or Film > Rock? It goes both ways!

The key art for “The World’s Greatest Sinner” (’63) w/ prod-dir-star Timothy Carey’s head on a snake’s body seems to have inspired the cover of ’74 issue of the Argentine music mag “Pelo.”

Barry Godber’s painting for King Crimson’s 1969 LP “In the Court of the Crimson King” is a classic.   It “inspired” an ad for Syd Barrett’s ’70 LP “The Madcap Laughs,” and was blatantly swiped for a ’77 newspaper advert.

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#RomanceComicsTuesday – Tears on My Pillow, Again

Sleepless nights for romance comics protagonists. "During the night everything didn't remain fine . . . "

"Oh, why can't I be popular?"

"Nobody cares! Nobody understands! Everybody's against me!"

"What man would marry a girl like me . . . unable to cook a meal, darn a sock or even sew a button!"

New Romances 10 (’52), Sweethearts 71 (’49), Boy Meets Girl 15 (’51), First Love Illustrated 28 (’53)

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#SwipeFile 106 -- Bats Out of Hell or, Corben Copies

                Richard Corben's image of a bat-creature in his “Den” comic (Heavy Metal, 1973), was borrowed by artist López for the cover of Espanto 33 (Mexico, 1979).

                Corben revisited & revised his bat-creature for the album cover of “Bat Out of Hell” (1977), and this revision inspired the classic* exploitation poster for “Bruce Lee Fights Back From the Grave” (USA release ’77).

*And by "classic," I mean "classically misleading" because the film has nothing to do with anything shown on the poster, except for a spliced-in, 10-second clip at the very beginning of the movie where "Bruce Lee" literally leaps out of his grave and the poster art is shown. After that, it's a routine crime film made in South Korea and has nothing to do with Bruce Lee.

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#RomanceComicsTuesday – No Fun for You! (More Parenting Fails)

"Dancing! Oh, no! Cathy's not permitted to dance!"

"Modern girls -- coated with cosmetics -- shameless in dress and manners -- thank goodness YOU'RE not like them!"

"Isn't that dress bit too flashy?"

Oh, Dad! You just don't understand!

Boy Meets Girl 10 ('51), First Love Illustrated 37 ('54), Top Love Stories 12 ('53)

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#SwipeFile 105:  Borrowed British

Pacemaker Pictures released several British films* in the USA in the ‘60s, creating their own posters based on original UK promotional materials. 

Note the “upgrades” on the posters from the source stills: the vampire-beast now has googly eyes and the dentally-challenged, derby-hatted grave-robber is holding a knife instead of a dead rat.

These posters were later cannibalised for adverts for entirely different #horrormovies in the ‘70s.

*The Vampire-Beast Craves Blood (originally The Blood Beast Terror) and The Fiendish Ghouls (originally The Flesh and the Fiends).

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#RomanceComicsTuesday:  Talk to the Back!

Watch your step, ladies! You never know when you’ll cross that red line and your fiancé will turn his back on you and walk away!

“It’ll be nothing, Jill!  Suddenly, I’m not too eager to spend the rest of my life arguing!”

“With your twisted ideas, marriage wouldn’t be love, it’d be some sort of never-ending contest! Goodbye, Carol! You can cheat your way through life alone!”

New Romances 11 (’52), Romantic Adventures 26 (’52)

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#SwipeFile 104 – Silk Swipe Saga

Silk (’86) had distinctive “key art” of star Cec Verrell (who somehow lost her shirt & jacket) with a pistol (Concorde VHS shown here, but the theatrical poster had the same image).

This pose was recreated for the Dutch video box of Top Squad (Ba wong fa, ’88) – substituting Cynthia Rothrock (though it doesn't look a lot like her) for Verrell -- and for Silk 2 (’89), starring Monique Gabrielle.

An alternate Silk VHS cover “inspired” part of the video box art for the German release of Policía de narcóticos (aka Occupation: Killer, Mexico, ’84). The male on the box doesn't resemble star Valentín Trujillo in the least.

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#RomanceComicsTuesday: Man-Haters Gonna Hate (Men)!

"You sound like a man-hater, Bobbie! Don't you ever date?"

"Why, Miss Joyce! You sound like a . . . man-hater!"

In romance comics, most man-haters -- no matter how justified their "hate" was -- eventually changed their opinions of the opposite sex.

Clockwise: Faithful 1 (’49), Young Romance 3 (’48), Love Tales 37 (’49), Love Diary 4 (’50)