BOOKS ON FILM POSTERS

If you only buy one book on movie posters this month… you’ve got a big, coffee-tabletroubling decision to make. For a panoramic view of cinema history as told through its posters, tackling cultural, political and typographical changes, go for Ian Haydn Smith’s Selling The Movie: The Art Of The Film Poster (White Lion Publishing,

★★★★★). But for a zoom-in on one model-making maestro’s work and the artwork used to sell/celebrate it, grab Richard Holliss’ Harryhausen: The Movie Posters (Titan Books, ★★★★★).

Holliss’ volume curates more than 200 posters and promos, covering 16 films (from 1949’s Mighty Joe Young to 1981’s Clash Of The Titans). Smith’s title count is many times that, but he too gathers examples of individual flicks with multiple posters in sundry styles. Such diversity is a dying art, argues Smith; not only that, the form’s future itself is “uncertain”, what with digital screens of every size, built for moving rather than still images. As such, there’s an elegiac edge to both books.

But there’s also a sense of vibrancy, shock and awe here, aided by ace reproduction. From Taxi Driver to 10,000 Years B.C. - where Raquel Welsh’s fur bikini is pushed as a bigger selling point than Harryhausen’s dino – many of the usual suspects are covered (although not, um, The Usual Suspects). But there’s a raft of rarities too; some real beauties (a La La Land poster styled like a retro jazz record) and some genuine duds: an ad for Land Of The Pharaohs with Joan Collins in anachronistic swimwear. Sex doesn’t always sell… Matthew Leyland