SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS
Vol. 1 No, 1
March 1966
Dell Movie Classics
Art: Bob Jenney (attributed)
For those of you who want a bit of cheese to go with their holiday snacks, here is the Dell Movie Classic edition of SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE MARTIANS. A top candidate for "so bad it's good" (kinda) fare.
Together with THE CAT AND THE CANARY, Universal's THE OLD DARK HOUSE (1932) was a model for the "haunted house" films that followed. With superb performances by Melvyn Douglas, Ernest Thesiger, Charles Laughton, Gloria Holden, Lillian Bond, and, of course, Boris Karloff, it exemplifies the motif of the stranded travelers caught in a storm with no way out except to ask for shelter in a creepy, out-of-the-way house filled with bizarre characters, mystery and the uneasy threat of physical violence. Directed by James Whale, it is second only to THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN in his oeuvre.
The lovely Lillian Bond proves herself a worthy scream queen along with Gloria Holden. Miss Bond, a British actress that got her start in Hollywood with the famous Ziegfield Follies, also appeared in THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY.
Today MONSTER MAGAZINE WORLD features a Lillian Bond gallery (with many photographs by the famed Hollywood photographer, George Hurrell) and THE OLD DARK HOUSE filmbook from FAMOUS MONSTERS #66 (June 1970).
