1001 Movie Posters: Designs of the Times
“So why did the world need another film poster book? The answer is fairly simple: because the public will love it.”
There is no shortage of movie poster books on the market. Since the 1960s, there has been an explosion in the market for vintage film posters, with countless titles written on everything from posters featuring Charlie Chaplin to the visual delights of softcore pornographic posters. Less specialized, the general movie poster history survey is strongly represented in the field, ranging from pocket companions to encyclopedia-length tomes. Why publish yet another one?
1001 Movie Posters: Designs of the Times is a massive text topping over 630 pages and weighing nearly three pounds. Unlike a lot of other film poster books, it is elegantly printed with a stylized, cool-toned portrait of Marlene Dietrich on the cover surrounded by matte black. It looks fantastic on a coffee table, and even comes with a satin red ribbon bookmark that matches the shade of her lipstick.
The posters were all selected by Tony Nourmand, a film poster scholar and former dealer who also happens to own the publisher, Reel Art Press. His choices indicate a true love of the medium, presenting an exhaustive history of fabulous graphics from the dawn of film to the present day.
The book begins with posters promoting the advent of cinema, so novel that the experience is what is being advertised rather than any type of narrative film. Soon, storylines and stars take center stage and the Golden Age of Hollywood sparkles through the pages accompanied by text briefly explaining a film, an image, or an artist. Nourmand took great pains in researching the designers of many of these posters—a genre within graphic design often lacking attribution. In many instances, this is the only recently printed record linking an artist to a given work.
The book is also peppered with photographs, typically showing how an artist drew from an image to create the finished poster. Some rarely seen images also show the posters as they appeared in the wild, being put up by billposters along city streets or decorating billboards along highways.
The scope of the collection is also deeply international. Not only sticking to the country of origin printings of each film poster, readers can compare the Polish release for Godzilla against the Japanese original, the Czech design for Jules et Jim alongside its French counterpart. There are even instances where maquettes (the preliminary designs) are showcased next to the finished product.
So why did the world need another film poster book? The answer is fairly simple: because the public will love it. Like the market for the physical posters themselves, audiences can’t get enough of the nostalgia that only film posters can bring. The world can print a hundred different movie poster books, and they will all be happily devoured.