Recognize the similarities between the much-lauded 1989 Oscar winner, Driving Miss Daisy, and Vic Fair’s poster for the 1973 British melodrama, The Hireling? Hmmm.
Category Archives: British film posters
Slash Presents BAFTA
SlashFilm recently posted some cool retro posters from BAFTA (British Academy of Film & Television Arts) of Oscar-nominated films — and now winners!
The British Godfather
Eric Pulford was perhaps the most important figure in British movie poster history, conceiving thousands of designs in his storied fifty-year career. After buying a controlling interest in Downtons Advertising, he turned it into the chief film agency in England and employed numerous talented photographers and illustrators — most notably, “The Italian Connection” of Renato Fratini (From Russia With Love) and Arnaldo Putzu — to execute its brilliant print campaigns.
Mr. Pulford died in 2005 at the age of 89.
What A Putzu!
Arnaldo Putzu, the brilliant, though unfortunately named Italian illustrator, stormed British shores in the late 1960’s and lit up England’s theatre lobbies and magazine covers for years to come with his dazzling, colorful, handcrafted posters. And rumor has it that he’s still alive and well and painting in Rome!
Beauvais Beauties!
Starting out as an apprentice to UK legend, Tom Chantrell, Tom Beauvais sketched out quite a colorful path for himself, designing several memorable quads for Mad Max, Honkytonk Man, and Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid.
To learn more about him and British Film Poster artists in general, check out this interesting podcast by Sim Branaghan…
Tom Chantrell (1916-2001)
Tom Chantrell was a prolific British illustrator who did one of the more legendary Star Wars posters as well as the infamous Raquel Welch stunner for One Million Years BC and a whole slew of others. And judging by his obit, he seemed like one heckuva charmer!
The House That Strausfeld Built
For roughly 35 years, from post-WWII up until 1980, Peter Strausfeld created unique, limited edition movie posters in wood and lino-cuts for just one venue: the Academy Cinema theatre in London, England.
Think about it. That’s like if the Cinerama Dome or Grauman’s Chinese Theatre had their own personal movie poster designer back in the day. That said, Mr. Strausfeld’s painstakingly made posters are now extremely rare, but you can buy some affordable reproductions at various online print shops.
Gift Books!
Still looking for gifts for fellow movie poster fans? Check out The Art of the Modern Movie Poster from Chronicle Books.
It’s an excellent resource on the history of one-sheets, emphasizing International designs. In fact, after reading this baby, I discovered that a recently purchased poster of mine from EMoviePoster.com was created by Osvaldo Venturi, a prominent Argentinean artist in the 30’s and 40’s. And only $12!
Movie Poster Museum 