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I had so much fun selecting tag lines from Golden Age movie posters for last Thursday’s post that I thought I would revisit the topic in Part 2. A bit of light summer reading!
As with Joan Crawford and Bette Davis from last week’s post, I ran across other movie stars who inspired tag lines based on their star images. Bob Hope was renowned for his exquisite timing in which he delivered one-liners and asides with a precise, rapid-fire delivery. His comic persona was a unique combination of boasting and belittling, self-promoting and self-deprecating. In the poster for My Favorite Blonde (1942), Madeleine Carroll has Hope in a compromising position. She says, “Did you like the kiss Bob?” As I read Hope’s one-liner response, I could almost hear his voice speak the line, “I’ll tell you as soon as the water on my knee stops boiling!”
Other Hope-inspired tag lines gently deride the comic, much like he did to himself. For example after the title “Where There’s Life (1947),” the tag line continues with “There’s Hope In the King-Size Comedy of a Cut-Rate Clown Prince!” A “disclaimer” at the bottom of the poster assures viewers: “If you laugh yourself sick at this picture . . . sue Bob Hope!” Another poster references classic westerns to belittle Bob’s misadventures in the Old West: “Covered Wagon . . . Stagecoach . . . Red River . . . AND NOW Bob Hope [and] Rhonda Fleming in Alias Jesse James.”
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One of my favorite Golden Age movie stars, Barbara Stanwyck, constructed her star image during the pre-Code era playing tarnished dames unashamed to use sex to their advantage. After the Code, her tough dame persona retained echoes of her early characters. Her posters include tag lines that remind viewers of her star image. In the pre-Code romantic drama Purchase Price (1932): “She took another woman’s place—on her wedding night.” For Illicit (1931), a ponderous drama about a woman who believes marriage ruins love, the poster tag line is juicier than the film: “Married love or illicit. Which does the modern girl prefer?” The poster for Breakfast for Two (1937), tells us: “She got her man with a sock in the eye!” A poor verb choice undermines the salacious connotation of the tag line for My Reputation (1946): “Barbara Stanwyck will be famed for all time as ‘Jess’ in ‘My Reputation.’” Famed? I am not sure that “fame” is a verb; if it is, it’s certainly ill-advised. Understanding Stanwyck’s illicit star image makes the tag line funnier for The Bride Wore Boots (1946): “Bob catches Babs with her boots off!” (Bob is Robert Cummings.) However, there is no explaining this tag line for Ladies of Leisure (1930): “Zippy Daring Peppy Gay.”
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Despite the restrictions mandated by the Production Code, which also covered publicity and promotion, some posters managed to be suggestive, or just a bit naughty. The tag line for the Tracy-Hepburn comedy Without Love (1945) provoked the imagination: “She was a bashful bride! He walked in his sleep!” For Kept Husbands (1931): “Every inch a man—bought body & soul by his wife!” Anytime “inch” and “man” are used in a tag line for a romantic comedy, you know what everyone is thinking. The poster for Red Light (1949), starring Virginia Mayo and George Raft, is more obvious: “Raft takes everything he wants . . . and Mayo takes everything he has in Red Light.” Some of the tag lines are more odd than suggestive. The poster for The Big Hangover does not have a very memorable tag line: “MGM’s romantic story of today’s youth!” But, at the bottom left, a tiny dog asks: “Are women born that way or do they teach each other?” That’s right, a dog says this via a word balloon! Finally, the poster for H.M. Pulham, Esq. should give you pause: “There’s a girl like Marvin Myles hidden in every man’s life” A girl like Marvin?
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Films can be outrageous or ridiculous for many reasons—genre, storyline, bad casting. That doesn’t mean they are not fun to watch, or even well-crafted. These films can inspire terrific posters and tag lines. The poster for Freaks (1932) boldly asks the question: “Can a full grown woman truly love a midget?,” an offensive tag line by today’s standards. The silent flapper flick Bare Knees (1928) celebrates the decade’s “modern girl”: “A peppy comedy-drama dedicated to the American flapper. God Bless Her and God Dress Her!” Planning a vacation? I would avoid Voodoo Island, or you will likely meet your death—by plant. Voodoo Island (1957): “The weird jungle of cobra plants that feed on women—and rip men apart!” From the sublime to the ridiculous: Cecil B. DeMille’s The Sign of the Cross (1932). The long, long tagline reads: “Circus Maximus Spectacle for the People. 60 Christians will be executed in various and diverting ways. 100 dancing girls. Combat between dwarfs and Amazons. Boxing with spiked gloves. Wild tigers, elephants, lions, leopards. Chariot races and other wonders.” I can’t leave this category without referencing at least one William Castle flick. The tag line for The Tingler (1959) does not represent the most clever of writing: “When the screen screams you’ll scream too . . . if you value your life!” If you can picture a screen screaming at the audience, it is a terrifying image, though I doubt if that is what the writer of the tag line meant. At the bottom of the poster is the inevitable Castle disclaimer: “The Tingler will break loose in the theatre while you are in the audience. As you enter the theatre, you will receive instructions . . . how to guard yourself against THE TINGLER!”
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Sometimes press agents and professional writers of sell-copy completely miss the boat, or simply run out of good ideas. When I talk about 3-D in my film history classes, I consider it technology, not technique. In other words, it has been generally exploited as a gimmick for spectacle, rather than as a technique to enhance the story. My favorite example of the gimmicky nature of 3-D is the poster for Bwana Devil (1952), which promised viewers: “A Lion in your Lap! A lover in your arms! In thrilling color.” While a good-lucking lover in your arms sounds nice, who really wants a lion in their lap? Another tag line idea that needed work is part of the poster for The Big City, which explained that it is a “Roaring drama of city love!” City love as opposed to rural love, I suppose. Columbia wanted to take advantage of Judy Holliday’s newfound respect as an Oscar winner for her next film The Marrying Kind (1952). At the top of the poster, a classy tagline pronounces: “Columbia Pictures Corporation proudly presents MISS JUDY HOLLIDAY in a role that matches her Academy Award-winning performance in ‘Born Yesterday.” But, the figure of Holliday on the poster is depicted with her mouth wide open bleating, “Shaddup!” to her husband. Very classy; very tasteful.
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A title like Dracula’s Daughter (1936) should spark the imaginations of promotional writers. Instead, the writer for this film came up with this: “She gives you that weird feeling.” Blind dates give you a weird feeling; Dracula’s daughter should evoke terror and dread. Likewise, the tag line for The Invisible Man (1933) is a disappointment: “Beware the Luminous Man,” which sounds like the latest superhero movie. Finally, I don’t know what happened to the writer of the tag line for There’s Always a Woman (1938). Perhaps he needed a vacation. The tagline for one of the posters for There’s Always a Woman is—get ready for it—“There’s always a woman!” In all fairness, another poster for this romantic comedy sported, “There’s never a dull moment,” but that familiar cliché is little better.
The tag line for Fire Down Below (1957) suffers from a combination of bad writing and bad strategy. The line substitutes the pronoun “it” for the “fire” of the title, but that is not clear when you read it: “Three of the biggest in one of the best. Rita Hayworth is the man-burnt woman of it . . . Robert Mitchum is the woman-scorched man of it . . . Jack Lemmon is the wild that sets it off . . . .” Say, again?
Despite all of the poorly conceived and written tag lines, I found several that were just plain cool. The tag line for Vice Squad starring Edward G. Robinson is perfect for its b-flick sensibilities: Vice Squad (1953): “Stops you. . . like a slug in the chest! Shocks you . . .like a kick in the face! Holds you. . . like a gold diggin’ woman!” And, the tag line for one of the coolest films ever produced just rocks that cool. Thunder Road (1958): “Robert Mitchum roars down the hottest highway on earth!” I have no doubt.