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Published: August 17, 2006
I love going to the movies. In fact, I feel as if I do not go enough (due to skyrocketing ticket prices, concessions you need to take out a small loan for and a general disinterest in films grossly geared toward tastes other than my own). However, I have noticed that I am one of a few people who actually take time before and after viewing a movie to stop and observe the movie posters on the marquis and in the lobby.
No matter how frightful the movie, or idea of the movie, may seem I admittedly find movie posters themselves to be striking and provocative. They give little hints and ideas regarding a movie's subject matter, without giving away explicit detail. When artistically done, movie posters intrigue, titillate, intellectually excite and dramatically stir our senses. They have done this for decades now.
We can give Jules Cheret credit for a first-time achievement; he is the first printer of the movie poster. Cheret printed the poster for a short film titled Projections Artistiques in 1890. Since then, a long line of other artists have printed vintage movie posters through the latter 19th century and the early 20th century, culminating in the succession of the most valuable vintage movie posters created to date. Thomas Edison even printed posters for his early, small films. From that point on, 1912 to be exact, major Hollywood studios commissioned artists and lithographers to create movie posters.
Universal (the first), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (who used famous celebrity caricaturist Albert Hirschfeld), 20th Century Fox and Columbia movie studios developed various styles to compete for the public's eyes and attention to their flat sheets of Hollywood fantasy. Regardless of whether the film was shot in black-and-white or color, nearly all of these vintage movie posters were printed in blindingly bright color.
The scarcity of vintage movie posters makes perfect sense. From the Great Depression to the end of World War II, paper supplies had to be rationed and the vintage movie posters we now collect had to be printed in much smaller quantity than before or after this time. Despite an era of excruciating poverty and inhumanity belying Hollywood's golden age, movie studios remained frugal, giving movie theaters money for returned posters once the movies had stopped showing. This way studios cut the cost of reprinting by re-circulating the posters to the next town or city airing the same film. As a result of this low quantity, 1930's and 1940's vintage movie posters are among the highest priced movie posters. In the long run, simple economics gave way to high value.
As for value, pricing vintage movie posters can be elusive and confusing. According to David A. Lieberman on CineMasterpieces.com, there is no exact science or criteria for grading vintage movie posters. In other words, the market for vintage movie posters is fickle. The value or price is driven by what the purchasing party is willing to pay for any particular vintage movie poster. The movie–its rarity, acclaim and popularity combined–does not uniformly accumulate in a concrete value. Buyers set the price; they are never without their reasons.
For the vintage movie poster fanatic, the Internet is an embarrassment of riches. Websites such as FilmPosters.com and CineMasterpieces.com have much to offer in terms of information and variety. These two sites not only buy and sell vintage movie posters, but offer an array of other services and information as well.
FilmPosters.com sells a vast variety of contemporary and vintage movie posters; the site is organized by genre and is expansive. CineMasterpieces.com purchases and sells vintage movie posters; this site also has a large library of vintage movie posters and it offers sound advice on appraisal, restoration (linen backing, mostly), defects and counterfeits. The site will even authenticate posters and find posters for you.
There is a wealth and depth of data on vintage movie posters, but one thing you won't find on a paper page or webpage is the magic within them. A vintage movie poster has the mystical gift of transporting us - even if but for a second - to the past, to the elusive and wonderous world of Hollywood's golden age. For that, you'll just have to stand in front long printed sheet.
No matter how frightful the movie, or idea of the movie, may seem I admittedly find movie posters themselves to be striking and provocative. They give little hints and ideas regarding a movie's subject matter, without giving away explicit detail. When artistically done, movie posters intrigue, titillate, intellectually excite and dramatically stir our senses. They have done this for decades now.
We can give Jules Cheret credit for a first-time achievement; he is the first printer of the movie poster. Cheret printed the poster for a short film titled Projections Artistiques in 1890. Since then, a long line of other artists have printed vintage movie posters through the latter 19th century and the early 20th century, culminating in the succession of the most valuable vintage movie posters created to date. Thomas Edison even printed posters for his early, small films. From that point on, 1912 to be exact, major Hollywood studios commissioned artists and lithographers to create movie posters.
Universal (the first), Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (who used famous celebrity caricaturist Albert Hirschfeld), 20th Century Fox and Columbia movie studios developed various styles to compete for the public's eyes and attention to their flat sheets of Hollywood fantasy. Regardless of whether the film was shot in black-and-white or color, nearly all of these vintage movie posters were printed in blindingly bright color.
The scarcity of vintage movie posters makes perfect sense. From the Great Depression to the end of World War II, paper supplies had to be rationed and the vintage movie posters we now collect had to be printed in much smaller quantity than before or after this time. Despite an era of excruciating poverty and inhumanity belying Hollywood's golden age, movie studios remained frugal, giving movie theaters money for returned posters once the movies had stopped showing. This way studios cut the cost of reprinting by re-circulating the posters to the next town or city airing the same film. As a result of this low quantity, 1930's and 1940's vintage movie posters are among the highest priced movie posters. In the long run, simple economics gave way to high value.
As for value, pricing vintage movie posters can be elusive and confusing. According to David A. Lieberman on CineMasterpieces.com, there is no exact science or criteria for grading vintage movie posters. In other words, the market for vintage movie posters is fickle. The value or price is driven by what the purchasing party is willing to pay for any particular vintage movie poster. The movie–its rarity, acclaim and popularity combined–does not uniformly accumulate in a concrete value. Buyers set the price; they are never without their reasons.
For the vintage movie poster fanatic, the Internet is an embarrassment of riches. Websites such as FilmPosters.com and CineMasterpieces.com have much to offer in terms of information and variety. These two sites not only buy and sell vintage movie posters, but offer an array of other services and information as well.
FilmPosters.com sells a vast variety of contemporary and vintage movie posters; the site is organized by genre and is expansive. CineMasterpieces.com purchases and sells vintage movie posters; this site also has a large library of vintage movie posters and it offers sound advice on appraisal, restoration (linen backing, mostly), defects and counterfeits. The site will even authenticate posters and find posters for you.
There is a wealth and depth of data on vintage movie posters, but one thing you won't find on a paper page or webpage is the magic within them. A vintage movie poster has the mystical gift of transporting us - even if but for a second - to the past, to the elusive and wonderous world of Hollywood's golden age. For that, you'll just have to stand in front long printed sheet.
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