EXTRACTS: Illustrators issue 24 © 2018 The Book Palace (96 PAGES in Full edition)

2 FrenchMovie Posters Pardon my French, mes amis, this time we are going to take a close look at the history of the cinema posters made in the land where cinema started, in another fascinating account by the always dependable Monsieur Cordoba. There was a time when you couldn’t think of movies without thinking of the posters that accompanied them. Sometimes you’d even go and check a film because the poster would entice you into the theatre. Although nowadays most posters are done with photographs manipulated digitally, in the past this domain actually belonged to artists who did the full-colour images by hand. In France, movie posters derived from the word “affiche” and their creators were known as “affichistes”. The word “affiche” (pronounced “ah-feesh” and meaning to stick or put up something) was used as far back as the 18th century. By 1780 one- ABOVE: ‘Metropolis’ (1927), poster designed by Russian expatriate Boris Bilinsky. Perhaps the first real French movie poster artist, Bilinsky incorporated the text into the image, making for not only a great poster, but a carefully-designed one as well. It was later re-used in 2010 as the cover for the restored DVD release from the Master of Cinema Series produced by Eureka in the UK. FACING PAGE: ‘ The Phantom of the Opera’ (1947), from the first post- war release of the film (originally shot in 1943). The poster was done by another Russian expatriate, Constantin Belinsky. This Arthur Lubin production was nominated for a total of four Academy Awards, winning the categories of Art Direction and Cinematography. To match this “Triumph of Colour”, as the poster proclaims, Belinsky created this absolutely stunning illustration of the Phantom in action during one of this story’s most iconic, riveting scenes. All images courtesy of Heritage Auctions