Why Would I Want To Own An Old Movie Poster?
You may be wondering why someone would want to buy, or for that matter sell, old movie posters. Or you may be looking for a reason to own one.
Either way, what follows is intended to answer some questions. Please read it and take a look at the images on this site. Then, if you like, e-mail me with any comments or questions you have. Or, if you already know you would like to own one, or some, of the posters offered for sale on this website, just follow the instructions for ordering them.
What Is A Movie Poster?
Seems like an easy question, right? But the answer is a little involved.
A movie poster is, and was, an advertising poster created by a studio to promote its latest release. They were printed in limited quantities and meant only to be used (and used, and used) and discarded. They were made expressly for theatre owners, never intended for a mass market. And when they were no longer of any use, they were disposed of...Well, most of them were disposed of. Fortunately for us, enough are still left around to form what amounts to a visual record of the development of the cinema in the 20th Century, not to mention the styles and attitudes prevalent in society itself. But they were not meant to be solely decorative.
Starting with the silent film era, aside from newspaper ads and promotional appearances, posters were the only way to promote movies. Even with the arrival of radio in the late 1920s, posters remained the preferred form of advertising, since the studios saw radio as a rival for the publics leisure time, not to mention the nickels and dimes they spent on that leisure time, an attitude that carried over to the advent of TV in the late 1940s. (Because of this, even television advertising for movies didn't really begin until the 1970s, with the release of films like Jaws. Up to that time, the studios looked on TV as a threat rather than a tool for promotion.)
Thus other than surviving, and now deteriorating, prints of the films themselves, movie posters are almost all that is physically left of many titles. In some cases, such as the lost Lon Chaney silent classic London After Dark, posters are all that remain.
How Many Posters Were Produced?
Movie posters were produced in limited quantities, just enough to provide an adequate supply to theatres. For the period covered by this website (roughly 1940 to 1980), there were far fewer movie posters printed than there were comic books or trading cards. Before the 1970s, the number of one-sheet posters (I explain what a one-sheet is below) never exceeded 10,000 copies for a given movie, and that for a major release. Most movies were promoted with only about 3,000-5,000 posters, first of all because there were fewer screens (remember this is when there was only one screen per movie theatre, as opposed to the megaplexes that exist today); secondly because the posters were re-used over and over again as the film made the rounds of first-run, second-run and third-run theatres. Thus finding posters in excellent condition, even for lesser releases, is difficult, since most were used till they literally fell to pieces.
How Were They Distributed?
Initially, the posters were distributed by the studios themselves. By the 1920s most of the theatre chains that had risen up were affiliated somehow with individual studios (for example, the Loews chain owned MGM and showed only MGM features). By the early 1940s, though, the studios were fed up with having to manage poster distribution businesses that produced virtually no return. The solution was to set up National Screen Services (NSS), which handled paper promotional materials for all the studios, big and small. The posters were then distributed to poster exchanges to be rented out to local theatre owners for the run of the film, after which the posters were returned to the exchanges.
Why Are There Still Old Posters Around?
Poster exchanges, really warehouses for film posters, no longer exist in the same form today. These warehouses were set up or licensed by the NSS to stock and distribute posters to theatre owners in cities across North America. They existed from the 1940s to roughly the 1980s, when the studios decided to start distributing their own posters again. As a result, a lot of exchanges sold off their old stock and closed down.
Oddly, many of the vintage posters in circulation in the United States now have Canadian censor stamps on them and other indications they came from Canadian exchanges. This is because, when the Canadian exchanges were shut down, a lot of their stock was shipped back to the NSS in Los Angeles. As a result, many of these posters have survived and entered the marketplace. Others have turned up in finds in old theatres in different parts of the United States, though these finds have gradually become fewer and far between.
This means that virtually all the vintage posters in good condition have already surfaced and are gradually making their ways into the hands of collectors, leaving a declining number available for purchase. But is that any reason to buy them - investment and speculation - or do the posters have other inherent value?
Why Buy A Vintage Movie Poster?
Why buy anything? Two reasons: Because you need it. Or because you want it. And both have little to do with investment and a lot to do with emotion.
It can be as simple as this: Everyone has a favorite movie and/or a favorite movie star. Somewhere, somehow we have all been touched by films, whether mainstream Hollywood fare or small, independent or foreign (non-U.S.) releases. These films connect with us at a very visceral level. The sight of a poster can bring back a lot of the feelings originally associated with a given film. And the films don't necessarily have to be blockbusters or even especially well-known. I originally saw Gilo Pontecorvo's Burn in college. Very few people remember this movie, but as a history buff (the film deals with a 19th Century slave uprising), a Brando fan and an admirer of the film scores composer, Ennio Morricone, the movie resonated for me on several levels. The scene on the poster brings it all back.
But you don't necessarily have to know a film or even its stars to appreciate a good movie poster. And what makes a good movie poster can be very subjective. We react to the images, the colors, the title and the overall design of a movie poster without ever having seen, or even heard of, the movie. And that's as it should be, because that's exactly what posters were for, to excite interest. Because of this, of course, posters are often misleading and its very common for a poster to be better than the movie it promotes! (Oddly enough, the opposite is also true: Great movies were often advertised with terrible posters. If you don't believe me, have a look at the posters RKO used to promote Citizen Kane. Ecchh.)
So why should you buy a vintage movie poster? Because it means something to you, because you like the way it looks or even because you find it weird or funny. As with art in general, the reasons are personal and unique to you. This, by the way, is why they also make excellent gifts. A vintage movie poster says something about yourself and the person you are giving to; it says I know who you are, I understand you, I connect with you. It also says I didn't pick up something at random at Wal-Mart. I thought about it and I got you something unique.
OK, lesson over. Now you need to find out about the different kinds of movie posters that have been produced over the last 100 years.
Movie Poster Sizes
Posters have traditionally come in a variety of formats and sizes, with each type of poster designed to do a specific job in the promotion of a movie. Below is a list of the common American poster formats, followed by another of non-U.S. poster sizes.
ONE-SHEET: 27" x 41"
The one-sheet is the most common poster size. Studios sometimes issued several styles of one-sheets and lettered them (A, B, etc.) so they could be told apart. These were folded when they were printed. Rolled or "flat" one-sheets were not turned out until the late 70s, thus a poster that is folded is considered normal and can still be graded in near mint or mint condition (more on grading below) with the folding not effecting the grade.
THREE-SHEET: 41" x 81"
A large poster printed in two or three overlapping sections, though they occasionally appear in one piece. Generally displayed in theatre lobbies and in glass cases outside the theatre to advertise coming attractions. Never produced in great numbers, studios stopped issuing this size altogether in the 1970s. Three-sheets are visually the most impressive of poster sizes, but you're going to need a lot of wall space and high ceilings if you intend to display them.
SIX-SHEET: 81" x 81"
A billboard size, generally printed in four overlapping sections. Six-sheet and larger posters are rare and are seldom found for films released before 1950. Six-sheets were displayed outside a theatre, large enough to be seen and read easily from across the street or a passing streetcar.
HALF-SHEET: 28" x 22"
Usually printed on heavier paper or card stock. Because the format is horizontal, rather than vertical like the larger one-sheets, the title and graphics are re-arranged to match the format, sometimes making them look quite different from the more numerous one-sheet versions. Half-sheets were often displayed in the foyer or lobby of theatres and surrounded by lobby cards or stills from the movie.
INSERT: 14" x 36"
A narrow vertical poster usually printed on heavier stock or card, although later studio inserts could be on light paper stock. Inserts are often more attractively designed than one-sheets. They were made to fit into narrow vertical spaces, often between the lobby doors of the theatre.
LOBBY CARD: 14" x 11"
A poster printed on heavier stock featuring a scene from the film advertised and, commonly prior to the 1960's but afterwards as well, title art that is repeated on all the cards. Usually there were 8 cards to a complete lobby set, although sets of 4, 10 or 12 were sometimes produced. Lobby cards were displayed in glass cases in the lobby (obviously), the foyer or outside the theatre. Their purpose was to give the audience a better idea of what the movie actually looked like.
TITLE CARD: 14" x 11"
A lobby card. Usually there is one card in a set lobby cards that displays the title and top stars prominently in the graphics. Interesting, because the design is a variation on the design of the one-sheet for the movie. These cards can stand alone and some people collect only title cards.
WINDOW CARD: 14" x 22"
Printed on heavy stock and meant to hang, not at theatres, but in the windows of other businesses, usually neighbourhood grocery stores, candy stores, barbershops and the like. This was a common way of promoting movies in small towns. A 4" blank border at the top was used by theatres to print show dates and times, not to mention the name of the theatre (most, by the way, now long gone).
Non-U.S. poster sizes:
- Argentine One-sheet: 29” x 43”
- Australian Daybill: 13 1/4" x 30"
- British Quad: 30" x 40"
- Belgian: 14” x 22”
- French poster sizes: 24"x33", 47"x 63" , 63"x 94" , 94" x 126"
- German poster sizes: 23"x 32" , 37"x55"
- Italian Locandina:13"x28"
- Italian One-panel: 39"x55"
- Italian Two-panel: 55" x 78"
Grading and Condition
The prices of the posters on this website have been determined by several factors: condition, rarity, design and desirability of the title or the star. Of these factors, the most important by far is condition. Grading is admittedly a subjective exercise. My tendency is to be conservative in my grading. Thus what I may grade as Very Good may be similar to what a less demanding seller may grade a Fine or Very Fine. As a collector myself, I understand the importance of condition to other collectors.
You'll note I've placed a Condition Guide on every page with numbered grades and the criteria for each grade. Every poster listed on this site is graded according to these criteria, with any condition flaws noted in the description of each poster. This is in order to aid you to make an informed decision on whether to purchase an item.
Why Do I Sell Vintage Movie Posters?
The short answer is because its fun, but for a more complete response to that question, You'll have to go to my About Posteropolis page.
Thanks for reading this!
Dave Rosen
Posteropolis Vintage Posters & Memorabilia