Here’s a well-preserved Belgian poster for David Lean’s 1957 classic war movie. 

Personal story: I have actually been to the site where the bridge was built for the movie. It was shot in Sri Lanka, where I had the pleasure of living and working for a year. One sunny day, a group of us hired inflated inner tubes and floated for a couple of hours down a river, and at the end of the river journey is the site where the bridge was built. You can still see some of the hooks drilled into the rocks. There is also a cafe nearby which contains various items of memorabilia from the movie. 

I was told by my boss at the time that when it came to the scene of the bridge blowing up he, along with various local dignitaries, got invited along to the filming. Only the production cocked it up and set off the explosives too early, meaning the entire bridge had to be rebuilt and the sequence re-shot again on another day!

This poster showcases both the good and the bad of the Belgian poster format. I like that they are small and easily displayable, and the art from this era is usually good and often more interesting than that for the US/UK posters. However, the white space at the top was designed so that cinemas could add the screening details. Often this can add to the poster’s vintage charm, but in this instance if I was displaying this I would probably opt to cover up or crop off the scribbled writing. 

PS. Strangely ‘P.E. Janssen’ is also the name of the Dutch guy I bought my current house from – what a weird coincidence!

Update: more recently, I picked up this Spanish herald (postcard sized flyer) for the movie, also from the first release but with very different artwork. This is for sale here.