To Bathe in Filmic Waters

This is a continuing series of lists dedicated to the endangered art of movie posters. Each volume of Magnificent Movie Posters will contain five evocative, hand-picked examples intended to show just what movie posters are supposed to look like. Other volumes can be found here, and please click on each image for a larger version!

Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace | George Lucas, 1999
American Advance One-sheet by New Wave Creative

Perhaps my favourite poster of all those associated with the newer Star Wars films, this advance or “teaser” One-sheet was released amid the pre-Episode I hype and clamour to great effect in 1999. It manages to sum up the central plot-line of the three prequel films and at the same time offer something to think about, all with one single image. Not many people knew what to expect when going into The Phantom Menace, yet this simple shot not only sets the tone for the newer films – Anakin Skywalker’s gradual transformation into the evil figure of Darth Vader – but also manages to encompass it somewhat. At its most innocent the poster shows a young and impressionable Anakin kicking around in the dust of Tatooine, but when looking a little further one can then take in the subtle yet looming Vader-shaped shadow on the wall behind and all that this inclusion means.

The War of the Worlds | Byron Haskin, 1953
American One-sheet by Unknown

This iconic poster for Byron Haskin’s The War of the Worlds motion picture is one I’ve been looking to include since the very first volume of Magnificent Movie Posters, it is however one that I shall credit as Unknown thanks to my inability to find any information about its artist. It is a poster that as a child struck a certain fear into my heart, and it wasn’t until many years later – undoubtedly directly because of this – that I finally took the plunge and picked up an edition of H.G. Wells’ novel before taking on the movie. Whether it be the raucous use of colour, thrill of the Sci-fi genre or just the overall image this this poster manages to produce, it is certainly a memorable one. There is also something of a love for proper Hollywood cinema that the poster manages to evoke, and for that it will always be a favourite of mine.

Sunset Blvd. | Billy Wilder, 1950
Polish One-sheet by Waldemar Swierzy

Yet another evocative Polish poster to make the list, this time for Billy Wilder’s Sunset Blvd. which was released in 1957 in Poland, 1950 in America. The piece was created by perhaps the most famous Polish poster artist of them all, Waldemar Swierzy, who was born in Katowice in 1931 and later went on to become a graduate of the Cracow Academy of Fine Arts. The work of Swierzy has been the subject of many art shows, not just in his native Poland, and the graphic artist/illustrator even went on to later become a well-respected professor at the Poznań Academy of Fine Arts. This particular One-sheet for Sunset Blvd. is typical of Swierzy’s poster work; an eye-catching use of colour and love for illustrating faces or facial expressions. These days Swierzy’s posters have become extremely collectible, often being sold for upwards of $5,000 in art galleries and on auction websites.

Le Samouraï | Jean-Pierre Melville, 1967
French One-sheet by René Ferracci

French artist/designer René Ferracci became very popular in the mid-sixties for his work on such posters as François Truffaut’s The Bride Wore Black and Jean-Luc Godard’s Made in USA. It was a time during which French cinema – thanks to the Nouvelle Vague - saw an upturn in interest; and thanks to Ferracci, auteurs such as Truffaut, Godard, Renoir, Melville and Bresson had someone they could turn to who would be able to complete their works with suitably effective posters. This instantly identifiable poster for Jean-Pierre Melville’s harrowing noir Le Samouraï is a great example of Ferracci’s work as it successfully blends photography and traditional poster art to create something else entirely. The expressionless portrait of Alain Delon as the film’s protagonist Jef Costello is quite remarkable, as it captures much of the man’s persona in a single stroke, with dark eyes that show a certain sleepless anxiety.

Stage Fright | Alfred Hitchcock, 1950
Polish One-sheet by Marek Freudenreich

This frightening poster for Alfred Hitchcock’s 1950 crime thriller Stage Fright allows us once again to visit Poland and marvel at the abstract nature of its poster artists. This particular artist, Marek Freudenreich, was only 11 years old when Stage Fright was first released in the USA yet went on to become a Professor at the Warsaw Academy of Fine Arts and eventually contribute his art for the Polish release of the film in 1966. Simplicity and black/white are usual themes that can be found in Freudenreich’s work, and as with many of the country’s poster artists he always created his work by hand and from scratch – indeed, even with the above example it is easy to see that the vertical and horizontal lines are mere pencil marks that have been inked over. It’s difficult to say how the skull-like mosaic relates to Hitchcock’s film but it certainly makes for a striking poster nonetheless.

Thanks for reading, and expect another volume of Magnificent Movie Posters very soon! Meanwhile, please feel free to name your own examples of posters that you believe are “magnificent” enough to be featured.

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