FILMFAX #165: A FIVE OUNCE TON OF INTELLIGENT FUN

Filmfax #165 is a satisfying triumph, but would anyone expect anything less from this scholarly publication? 

For #165, readers are treated to a headlining inspection of Sarah Douglas' domineering Ursa from the Superman saga, with special emphasis on the second, blockbuster installment. 

Accompanying Douglas' beautiful villainess is a detailed article on legendary editor/publisher, Hugo Gernsback, and how his imaginative curations inspired real-life inventions. This is buffered by overviews on Atomic Age, television programs and more "Rockets, Robots and Ray Guns in Comics." 

There's also a hardy set of articles on the proposed, William Faulkner adaptation of Irina Karlova's Dreadful Hollow, and how Howard Hawks even met with Maila (Vampira) Nurmi for a possible role. Such, in turn, is abetted by revealing interviews with writer/director Albert Pyun on his cult classic, The Sword and the Sorcerer, and Karen Sharpe Kramer, the ultra-fetching actress/model of Man With the Gun, Man in the Vault, The High and the Mighty, Bomba and the Jungle Girl, The Disorderly Orderly, It's a Mad, Man, Mad World and many more.

I love Filmfax to no end, and so do many others. I encourage nostalgic seekers to grab #165 while they can. It's far too edifying to miss! 

Collectible Time: Superman I & II Poster/Lobby Cards

Mel and I recently leapt on a Christopher Reeve Superman kick, and as is her way, my dear friend has commemorated the revisitation with five promotional reproductions. 

The first is a 11" x 17", British poster of Reeve with hands on hips and Jupiter and Saturn captured along a fiery swirl. The color scheme here is most pleasing and the design's smart simplicity satisfying.

Next up is a quartet of Superman II 11" x 14" lobby cards, two of which sport the movie's title at the bottom margin.

The first up shows Reeve and as Lois Lane, the lovely Margot Kidder, stationed in Kal-El's stunning Fortress of Solitude, with the second depicting Reeve combatting colossal Jack O'Halloran's Non, atop a car. 

The third submission, which is as much a traditional movie still as a lobby card, flaunts Sarah Douglas as the domineering Ursa, as she peers down at Peter Whitman's befuddled deputy. 

The fourth card/still includes all three Kryptonian villains, with Terrence Stamp's ruthless General Zod at the center, Ursa to the left of him and Non to the right. 

These reproductions are super-neat (pardon the pun), emblemizing not only two of my favorite superhero movies, but the special bond Mel and I shared when re-watching their theatrical cuts.

Thank you, Mel, for uplifting my spirits by further entrenching another awesome, movie-viewing memory.