These advertisements are scanned from the Picturegoer Magazine dated 7 April 1951

This magazine along with Picture Show was weekly and was full of reviews of the new releases as well as articles on films and film stars.

It was a way of getting to know what was happening on the silver screen – the cinema at that time, was a really good night out and people would go probably twice a week – so it was big business for the film makers, distributors and the thousands of cinema owners world wide.

I think I have mentioned before that in the 1951 F.Maurice Speed Western Film Annual there were 107 Western films released that year – incredible at more than two per week. Maybe a lot of them would be supporting films no doubt but nevertheless the Hollywood Studios were churning them out at this sort of rate

Vengeance Valley – Robert Walker and Joanne Dru both very good – Burt Lancaster – well he was good in his early acrobatic roles – if slightly over the top, but in later roles I am not so sure.

The stories of him threatening Film Directors does not sit easy with me.

Once such example was with Michael Winner the British film Director :

Burt Lancaster had a volatile temper, and on a mountainous filmset during the making of Lawman he attacked Michael Winner over some trifle. ‘You ****** moron, don’t you dare ******  tell me what to do!’ He grabbed Michael Winner and threatened to throw him off a 1,000-foot cliff. ‘

After recovering from the attack he was consoled by someone who knew Lancaster well. ‘It was a very good sign. Burt only threatens to kill his friends.’

ABOVE – I would have gone to see this one ABOVE because it had Victor Mature in the lead role – I have to say again though, that this is a film I can’t remember ever having seen

The advertisements BELOW were not featured in this magazine but were released sometime in 1951

Interesting to see that, at the time of the release of Iron man Jeff Chandler was quite a big star and this film also had Evelyn Keyes and Stephen McNally – both experienced and seasoned players – but Rock Hudson was not known and he comes a little way down the cast list

ABOVE – As the advertisement says ‘ This is the Big One’ and I suppose it was in 1951 – very colourful and spectacular – with a brilliant performance by Peter Ustinov

The ABOVE is a Musical that I like – I also like the 1935 version with Paul Robeson in fact I think I preferred that one

ABOVE – The F.Maurice Speed Western Annual for 1951 which is referred to in this article.