A Tomb With a View
American International Pictures (A.I.P.) have a logo that just doesn’t make any sense.
Oh, I guess most of these things can’t be examined too closely. Why is the Columbia lady standing on a hill with a torch? What’s with the giant stone lettering and searchlights, 20th Century Fox? Shouldn’t MGM have killed that lion before mounting its head on the wall? In the ’30s Universal logo, why is that aeroplane circling the earth at altitudes likely to cause explosive decompression in the pilot? Why do RKO think a radio mast at the North Pole would be useful, and isn’t it awfully large?
But the AIP atrocity takes the bloomin’ cake. A drawing of a classical dome floats in a painted sky. The base of the dome is hidden by a drawing of – what? Treetops without trunks? Clouds? (But if those are clouds, what are THOSE?)
At any rate, after pondering over this edifice at the start of THE PREMATURE BURIAL, it’s amusing to see Ray Milland attempt the construction of a 3D replica as his tomb later in the story:
April 18, 2008 at 10:55 pm
I usually like to think of the AIP logo as a kind of still from a Terry Gilliam animated creation of the US Capitol building as a giant floating airship pootling across the sky (with the appropriate motor sound!) to wherever in the world an AIP film is needed!
I keep expecting an animated hand to come from the top of the frame and pick it up!
April 18, 2008 at 11:11 pm
Beautiful!
Or maybe it could drop bombs on “Hollyweird”.
“So politics is showbusiness for ugly people, eh? Well take THAT!”