It's the season to be jolly... but it's also the season to kick back on the sofa and watch lots of films.
These days, we tend to choose what to pick after an aimless 20 minutes scrolling through the menus on Netflix or Disney+, but it wasn’t always like this. For years, that aimless scrolling was handled by the film posters which festooned cinemas, bus shelters and other public areas through the land.
The right poster can evoke a film without words, stir nostalgia and entice viewers into cinemas. We’ve taken a selection from Tony Nourmand’s new book 1001 Movie Posters: Designs of the Times (Reel Art Press, £80) to raise a smile — and perhaps even persuade you to revisit an old favourite. No Netflix scrolling required.
Pictures from 1001 Movie Posters: Designs of the Times, by Tony Nourmand, Graham Marsh, Christopher Frayling and Alison Elangasinghe, published by Reel Art Press (£80)
Yes, Ma’am: 1958 poster for science-fiction horror Attack of the 50 Foot Woman.
Classic Connery: ‘James Bond does it everywhere’ in Thunderball, 1965.
That Marilyn moment (1955)
This 1964 Audrey Hepburn classic was masterminded by Bill Gold, the man behind the posters for most of Clint Eastwood’s repertoire.
Robert Lowery was the second caped crusader (1949).
Hairy (1957).
The publicity for 1933’s King Kong was ‘a juggernaut’, with an accompanying novel, too.
A first: Walt Disney risked a fortune on the full-length Snow White (1937).
The first post-war French release of 1942’s Casablanca (1947).
Life is a cabaret, old chum (1927).
Where’s Wilfrid Brambell? Posters for The Beatles’s films, such as A Hard Day’s Night (1964), were based on the band’s album cover art.
A favourite of Steven Spielberg, Drew Struzan was responsible for the graphics for Back to the Future (1985), the ‘Star Wars’ films, ‘Harry Potter’ and more.
Man in black (2005).
