Kroger Babb - Later Films

Later Films

Following the success of Mom and Dad, Babb renamed his company Hallmark Productions, continuing the marketing approaches of Hygienic Productions while going beyond health and sex education films. He would later set up a larger distribution company, named Hallmark's Big-6.

Babb cheaply acquired the rights to what would become "She Shoulda Said No!" shortly after Robert Mitchum and Lila Leeds were arrested for marijuana use. Its original producer had struggled to get it distributed as Wild Weed, and Babb quickly presented it as The Story of Lila Leeds and Her Exposé of the Marijuana Racket, hoping that the title would draw audiences. When it failed to stir up much interest, Babb instead focused on the one scene of female nudity, using a photo of Leeds in a showgirl outfit, and retitled it "She Shoulda Said 'No'!", with taglines such as "How Bad Can a Good Girl Get...without losing her virtue or respect???" According to Friedman, Babb's midnight presentation of the film twice a week made more money than any other film at the same theater would earn over a full run; Friedman proceeded to use the film in his own roadshow double features.

Babb's associates agreed with his belief that "Nothing's hopeless if it's advertised right", stating that he "could take any piece of junk and sell it." One film Babb presented in the 1950s was a passion play and the story behind putting it on, filmed in 1948 in Lawton, Oklahoma. Initially called The Lawton Story and filmed in Cinecolor, the quality of the film was considered so poor that telephone poles could be seen behind the crucifix and upon release, it was described as "the only film that had to be dubbed from English to English." He recut and redubbed this, retitling it as The Prince of Peace; it was so successful that the New York Daily News called it "the Miracle of Broadway."

Another film, Karamoja, was marketed as a shocking portrayal of a tribe from Uganda who wore "only the wind and live on blood and beer." Scenes included "the bleeding of cattle and drinking of the warm blood, and self-mutilation as a form of ornamentation," as well as a full-color circumcision scene. Karamoja proved less controversial than many of Babb's other films and grossed less.

Babb never repeated the overwhelming success of Mom and Dad, and he followed much of the exploitation industry in turning to burlesque features in an attempt to make more money. One notorious attempt was his acquisition of the American theatrical rights for Ingmar Bergman's Sommaren med Monika (Summer with Monika). About one third of the film was cut, and the remaining sixty-two minutes emphasized nudity by retaining a skinny-dipping scene; the result was titled Monika, the Story of a Bad Girl. Suggestive advertising art, including promotional postcards, portrayed the nude rear of Harriet Andersson.

Babb's final film was his presentation of a European version of Harriet Beecher Stowe's book Uncle Tom's Cabin. This was described by Friedman as one of the most "unintentionally funny exploitation films ever made," filled with "second rate Italian actors who could barely speak English."