Favorite Movie Posters; 1900 - 1939
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Gone with the Wind (1939)
Perhaps the most classic of golden-age movie posters. The heat of the Atlanta fire transfers impeccably to that of the characters' romance.
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The shade of the camp brings an ominous tone to this powerful character played by one of the greats of the era.
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I love simplicity, and as big as this first "talkie" was (at the time), this film does a superior job of simplifying its main attraction to a white outline.
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Battleship Potemkin (1925)
The Russian colors are prominent in the poster for this classic. Great use of repetition and imagery.
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King Kong (1933)
There are many great posters for this classic creature feature. This one identifies the film's obsurdity the best.
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Are they shadows, outlines, silhouettes, what's going on? Another Eisenstein film gets a classic poster to its name.
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I like the posters for this film with the face of the monster, but this poster makes it even more mysterious and reminds me of a stamp.
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The Kid (1921)
Chaplin shares the poster with the kid. Their similar 'look back' poses have become as classic as the film itself.
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Such a bold poster for its time. West's white silhouette to maroon background is as perfect as her starring in a film with her own last name.
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One of the lesser-known posters for the film, but it once again brings a modern simplicity that wonderfully creates the feeling of this modern love story.
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The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934)
Such an unusual poster for the time, it darkly paints a haunting picture with the young girl's face and the creepy scarlet-colored shadow sneaking its way into her face.
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Like its title, this poster was grand, with its propelling use of lines and spacing between characters and title letters.
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Beau Geste (1939)
Not unusual to put a big star front and center; but it was to put him looking off-poster and cringing.
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Gunga Din (1939)
Not having Gunga Din pictured on the poster is fine when you have three laughing mega-stars in red, green and yellow.
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From a distance the poster looked like usual 1930s flare, but then you get close and observe all the strange detail...
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Robin Hood (1922)
Fairbanks loved to mug on the cover of most of his movie posters (see "The Three Musketeers" (1921), "The Mark of Zorro" (1920), etc.), this is the best example.
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I think this poster may have influenced Apatow as I find recent examples like This and of course This one too
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Footlight Parade (1933)
Like "42nd Street" this poster shows great gams and repetition, but also features in the bad-ass Cagney (he wishes he were that tall).
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As You Desire Me (1932)
This poster shows more than an outline of Greta and you kind of fall in love with her character without watching a minute of the film.
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Movie posters have changed so much over the last century so I wanted to catalog my favorite posters from each era.
This list features 40 years of classic Old Hollywood and Golden Age posters. Many were alike but these 65 were standouts.
This list features 40 years of classic Old Hollywood and Golden Age posters. Many were alike but these 65 were standouts.