This is an interesting example of how different artists can approach the same material.

These are both the French ‘grande’ and ‘petit’ posters produced for this Hammer Films melodrama. This 1966 movie isn’t a horror movie per se, but a very loose and sensationalised retelling of historical events at the Russian court. It was shot back-to-back with Dracula Prince Of Darkness, and makes for an interesting double bill with that, as it utilises many of the same sets and much of the same cast, including Christopher Lee in the lead.

Both of these posters would have been utilised at the same time, and it is one of the peculiarities of French releases from this period that different designs were created for each, rather than just reducing the original image in size. Often both of these were done by the same artist. I have in my collection the smaller poster for The Curse Of The Werewolf, for example, and the same artist (Guy Gerard Noel) also came up with a totally different ‘grande’.  

For Rasputin, the ‘grande’ is illustrated by Boris Grinsson, one of the most famous and collectible of French movie poster artists; I don’t know who the artist was for the ‘petit’ poster, but it seems he worked from essentially the same images and used a very similar composition. I like both posters, but I find the Grinsson version is much more moody and appealing overall.

Whichever you prefer, both of these posters are available to buy here.