Joan Crawford – Muy Espantoso!

Submitted by Douglas Wood January 12th, 2011
Certifikitsch Winner

This is a Mexican lobby card for William Castle’s, I SAW WHAT YOU DID (aka I SAW WHAT YOU DID AND I KNOW WHO YOU ARE!) starring Joan Crawford. The film came out in 1965– this was the period when Joan was reduced to making a lot of low-budget horror films like STRAIT JACKET, BERSERK and TROG– all very worthwhile cinematic endeavors for lovers of kitsch. In Mexico, they retitled it, “Bromo Macabra!” which means “Macabre Joke!” (The story concerns two teenagers who make prank phone calls to strangers, then become the target for terror when they whisper “I saw what you did, and I know who you are!” to a psychopath who has just murdered his wife.)

I love Joan’s crudely cut-out head stuck at the end of the telephone receiver. And somehow the copy sounds even more hysterical when written in Spanish– “De un lado… risos innocentes! Del otro… alaridos de terror!” (which translates roughly into– From one end– innocent laughter, from the other screams of terror!”)

12 Responses to “Joan Crawford – Muy Espantoso!”

  1. Allee Willis

    I’m completely wild about that phone graphic. Joan has the perfect expression for the mouthpiece. I also like that it looks like she has an Abraham Lincoln beard.

    Mexican movie posters always make a film look extra kitschy.

    I love the use of salmon pink.

  2. windupkitty

    Oh man, completely cool! I love lobby cards and there’s a real market for Mexicna one now…years ago, there was someone who came across an entire warehouse of them…amazing stuff…this is one is beyond fantastic!!!

  3. Douglas Wood

    Windupkitty– thanks. I didn’t realize these were popular right now. I tried selling some on ebay a few years ago and they didn’t do very well. I bought a stash of about 15 of them when I was in San Miguel, Mexico and stumbled upon an antique store where a bunch of lobby cards were sitting in an old cardboard box. I bought every one that wasn’t too badly ripped or written on.

    • windupkitty

      Yeah, ebay is so hit and miss..sorry to hear you haven’t made a profit!!! But yeah, I remember reading that some years ago, someone found just massive amounts of lobby cards in some storage unit/warehouse or old building in Mexico…a friend of mine gave me a lobby card for The Nasty Rabbit (a fave z movie of mine) and it was aaaaamazing (hence my further investigation into Mexican lobby cards)…..

      • Douglas Wood

        Just checked out The Nasty Rabbit on Netflix and see that it’s described as a “satire” which usually isn’t nearly as much fun as bad movies that take themselves seriously. Do you agree with their assessment or is it genuinely bad and the Netflix guys missed the point?

  4. Iamfluff

    “I saw what you did and I know who you are” Oh how I remember watching that with my sister! Great suspense! I LOVE Mexican film sensibility. You find heaping gobs of it in their own productions. My mother was a huge fan of weird movies, the kind that those evil infomercials have since replaced for late night TV viewing. My mother considered learning Spanish just because every time she passed the Mexican stations, things looked SO INTERESTING.
    Somebody ought to box up a DVD of Joan Crawford’s stint on the soap opera where she replaced her daughter for a few days.

    • Allee Willis

      I remember hearing about Joan replacing her daughter on a soap opera but I never saw it. Would absolutely kill to see it! Love that story about your mom. Thank God you inherited that kitsch gene.

    • Douglas Wood

      Glad to hear your son inherited the kitsch gene from you and your mom. Now don’t be stealing any juicy soap opera roles from him.

      I’m reminded of the first time I saw MOMMY DEAREST in a theatre. When Joan says to her children, “I’m going to give you what I never had,” without missing a beat, my friend said, “welts.”

    • Allee Willis

      Now that I see your mom’s name written out I love it even more than when you mentioned it yesterday! Did her whole family have those kinds of first names? And could there be any better name than DeLoice to come before Fenwick?!!! I picture that person living in Peyton Place.