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I'm at a loss for words!
Film Posters : UK and Polish .....Did they lose the plot?
View them here:
http://www.telegraph...t-the-plot.html
The story of postwar Polish film posters is a strange footnote in the history of Communism. In 1947, J Arthur Rank, flour magnate and film mogul, signed a treaty with Poland to distribute British films there. Polish filmgoers were eager for escapist entertainment, while the British were looking for new markets after the United States placed a ban on the import of British films.
Along with the films came the posters and with their arrival a new front was opened up in the ideological war with the West: poster design. ‘In the Polish film magazines there were articles about how bad Western posters were, covered in guns and naked women,’ says Polish curator Ewa Reeves, co-editor of a new book that lines Polish posters up against their British equivalents. ‘So communist Poland decided to create something that would defeat Western posters.’
I'm at a loss for words!
Although I feel the British versions sell the film very well to a Western audience I think the Polish versions are very stylish and do the job equally well. There's a distinct revolutionary pop art feel to many of them and I'm a fan of that style.
I can see definite parallels between the concept of the posters and the familiar communist Russian look of art from the war era. Bold, powerful and strongly coloured art implying the might of the USSR seems to lend itself well to British movies. I don't think they lost the plot at all, they just targeted a culture that were used to a more disciplined and oppressive lifestyle than the West.
I've got an image of the communist poster for Hell Drivers. It's pretty neat. I've always assumed that Tom would have become Redname='julian_craster' timestamp='1280916531' post='460053']The story of postwar Polish film posters is a strange footnote in the history of Communism. In 1947, J Arthur Rank, flour magnate and film mogul, signed a treaty with Poland to distribute British films there. Polish filmgoers were eager for escapist entertainment, while the British were looking for new markets after the United States placed a ban on the import of British films.
Along with the films came the posters and with their arrival a new front was opened up in the ideological war with the West: poster design. ‘In the Polish film magazines there were articles about how bad Western posters were, covered in guns and naked women,’ says Polish curator Ewa Reeves, co-editor of a new book that lines Polish posters up against their British equivalents. ‘So communist Poland decided to create something that would defeat Western posters.’in their version and Cartley would obviously have been perfect for the oppression of the workers by the bourgoise.... accompanied by the capitalist thuggery of the American-Irish gangster in the fur-lined jerkin.........
But then, that's probably what Cy Endfield was getting at in the first place.......
my jaw nearly hit the floor when a coworker introduced me to the wonderful world of Polish film posters a couple of years ago. These conceptual masterpieces put the original American posters to shame every time; they are truly beautiful works of art. Trimming this list down to a mere 50 posters that I absolutely love was surprisingly difficult.
http://wellmedicated.com/inspiration...s-from-poland/
Polish poster for Black Narcissus (1947)
Stylish, great design, but it doesn't tell you much about the subject of the film. But does a poster always need to tell you what the film is about?
Steve
I would say so, IMO. Surely its purpose is to advertise the movie and attract audiences, not stand out as a work of art.
Attract audiences? I'm not sure you quite grasp the Command Economy system of the east back then...........name='ShirlGirl' timestamp='1280922582' post='460127']I would say so, IMO. Surely its purpose is to advertise the movie and attract audiences, not stand out as a work of art.
You will go to the pictures Comrade........
We need a mature Polish person on the forum perhaps........
Or maybe it was like it was in Britain before TV, when everyone went to the cinema regardless of what was showing. Often 2 or 3 times a weekname='Moor Larkin' timestamp='1280922990' post='460129']
Attract audiences? I'm not sure you quite grasp the Command Economy system of the east back then...........
You will go to the pictures Comrade........
We need a mature Polish person on the forum perhaps........
Steve
name='Steve Crook' timestamp='1280931047' post='460195']
Or maybe it was like it was in Britain before TV, when everyone went to the cinema regardless of what was showing. Often 2 or 3 times a week
Steve
That's exactly it - Henryk Tomaszewski, the doyen of Polish poster artists, quickly realised that his posters actually made no difference whatever to the box office: Polish audiences had been so starved of film entertainment during the war years that they flocked to see whatever was playing.
Which was a heaven-sent opportunity for Tomaszewski and his colleagues, as it meant that they could do what they hell they liked - and they took great pride in the fact that their posters looked nothing like the Western variety, which then became a matter of national pride too.
He must have been on the cusp of Black Narcissusname='Cheeky Bob' timestamp='1280957078' post='460409']Henryk Tomaszewski, the doyen of Polish poster artists
In 1947, along with kindred designers, among them Tadeusz Trepkowski and Tadeusz Gronowski, he was hired to produce posters for the state-run film distribution agency, Central Wynajmu Filmow. He and his friends accepted the jobs with the stipulation that their images would not be censored.
he suggested the mood of the films by applying filmmaking techniques." This included photographic montage, dramatic perspectives and bizarre cropping. While film directors criticized this approach as being too removed from their vision, Mr. Tomaszewski surprisingly had the backing of the Communist authorities in charge of the movie industry.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/14/ar...maszewski.html
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