I must admit I had never heard of 1963 French film L’Aine Des Ferchaux (aka Magnet Of Doom) until this huge poster landed on my lap as part of a large lot I bought.

The movie is (apparently) a neo-noir directed by renowned New Wave director Jean-Pierre Melville (Le Samourai and others) and based on a book by the acclaimed author Georges Simenon (creator of the detective Maigret). A young Jean-Paul Belmondo stars as a failed boxer, drawn into a web of crime during a road trip across America.

This is a very rare and unusual 4-panel poster, which would have been displayed outside cinemas on the film’s first release. This one appears to have never been used. It measures a whopping 320 x 240 cm. Its a great image of an icon of French cinema. I sold it recently at auction.