Above: Italian poster for CONFIDENTIAL AGENT (Herman Shumlin, USA, 1945). Artist: Luigi Martinati (1893-1984).
The most popular poster I’ve posted on Tumblr in the past three months—and actually the second most “liked” poster I’ve posted in the three years I’ve been doing this—was this Italian design by the great Luigi Martinati for a lesser known Lauren Bacall vehicle, but one in which the late star was unusually front and center. (You can see more of Bacall’s posters here.)
The rest of the top twenty are a wild variety of old (three for films from the 1920s, no less) and new (two 2014 releases). I was especially pleased to see Dorothea Fischer-Nosbisch’s superb 1967 design for a Festival of Young German Film get such attention. A lot of other design greats are featured: Saul Bass, the Stenberg brothers, Macario Gomez, Karl Oskar Blase and Josef Fenneker. And there are not one but three posters featuring John Lennon. So here are the 20 most popular posters, in descending order, posted on Movie Poster of the Day over the past three months.
Above: US one sheet for INHERENT VICE (Paul Thomas Anderson, USA, 2014). Designer: Dustin Stanton.
Above: 1969 70mm re-launch poster for 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (Stanley Kubrick, USA/UK, 1968). Art Director: Mike Kaplan.
Above: 1969 German re-release poster for A HARD DAY’S NIGHT (Richard Lester, UK, 1964). Designer: uncredited.
Above: 1964 Japanese poster for A HARD DAY’S NIGHT (Richard Lester, UK, 1964). Designer: unknown.
Above: Spanish poster for DR. NO (Terence Young, UK, 1962). Artist: Macario “Mac” Gomez.
Above: German poster for a 1967 festival of YOUNG GERMAN FILM. Designer: Dorothea Fischer-Nosbisch (1921-2009).
Above: 1964 German poster for THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (Robert Wiene, Germany, 1920). Designer: Karl Oskar Blase (b. 1925).
Above: Japanese poster for THE TALE OF THE PRINCESS KAGUYA (Isao Takahata, Japan, 2013). Designer: TBD.
Above: Soviet poster for MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA (Dziga Vertov, USSR, 1929). Designers: Vladimir (1899-1982) and Georgii Stenberg (1900-1933).
Above: 1959 Czech poster for THE 400 BLOWS (François Truffaut, France, 1959). Artist: Josef Hvozdenský.
Above: US poster for THERESE AND ISABELLE (Radley Metzger, USA, 1968). Designer: uncredited.
Above: US one sheet for LOGAN’S RUN (Michael Anderson, USA, 1976). Artist: Charles Moll.
Above: Danish poster for STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (Alfred Hitchcock, USA, 1952). Artist: “B…. S x”.
Above: Six-sheet poster for ONE, TWO, THREE (Billy Wilder, USA, 1961). Designer: Saul Bass (1920-1996).
Above: Italian poster for TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (Howard Hawks, USA, 1944). Artist Luigi Martinati (1893-1984).
Above: 1920 German poster for ANNA KARENINA (Frederik Zelnik, Germany, 1920). Artist: Josef Fenneker (1895-1956).
Above: International one sheet for BRAZIL (Terry Gilliam, UK, 1985). Artist: Lagarrique.
Above: US one sheet for MOSCOW ON THE HUDSON (Paul Mazursky, USA, 1984). Artist: Craig (after Saul Steinberg).
Above: Poster for FILMS BY JOHN LENNON AND YOKO ONO (1972). Photographer: Iain Macmillan.
Poster sources are all credited on Movie Poster of the Day; click on the titles for more information.
You can see previous Best ofs here: One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Six | Seven
If you want to see more and you’re not on Tumblr you can follow me on Twitter and Facebook and get daily updates there. And every Friday I post a link back to my more in-depth pieces here.