Lon Chaney was one of the greats of silent cinema. A master of disguise, he would go to extreme (and – for him – extremely painful) lengths to transform himself into The Hunchback Of Notre Dame and The Phantom Of The Opera, amongst other horror movie icons. Still, he was perhaps an unusual subject for…
Chinatown
“Forget it Jake, It’s Chinatown…” This is the final line of one of my all-time favourite movies. Jack Nicholson has never been better than as private detective Jake Gittes, who becomes embroiled with wealthy businessman John Huston and his estranged daughter Faye Dunaway in 1930’s Los Angeles. Roman Polanski’s classic neo-noir has a great sense…
The Lost Weekend
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Billy Wilde’s 1945 Oscar-winning movie about alcoholism. This is a super-rare Belgian poster, featuring star Ray Milland as an alcoholic writer on the mother of all benders. The movie won four Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director for Wilder, and Best Actor for Milland. Interestingly, the liquor industry…
Lawrence Of Arabia
This is a Belgian poster for David Lean’s classic. Lean’s 1962 multi-Oscar winning movie is epic in every sense – from run-time to the vision and scale of its action sequences. It also features one of the all-time great lead performances from Peter O’Toole in the title role, and one of the most remarkable supporting…
Psycho
Here is another great little Belgian poster addition to my Alfred Hitchcock gallery. Psycho is of course one of The Master’s most famous movies, and for good reason. Knowing the plot now, its hard to imagine how audiences would have reacted back in 1960 seeing it for the first time. In the days before internet…
Viva Las Vegas
There are a ton of so-so Elvis movies and Elvis movie posters out there, but this is one of the better examples of both, I think. 1964’s Viva Las Vegas is notable for the chemistry between Elvis and co-star Ann-Margret (which was real – they began a well-publicised affair on-set). Aside from giving us the…
The KIllers
Ernest Hemingway’s 1927 short story has been filmed several times, including a 1946 version with Burt Lancaster. Don Siegel’s 1964 version stars Lee Marvin as one of the titular killers, and also features Ronald Reagan (as a baddie) in his final acting role before turning to politics. It was originally shot to be a made-for-tv…
The Great Escape
The Great Escape used to be on British TV pretty much EVERY Christmas afternoon. That’s how I remember it. The film is a heavily fictionalised account of a real mass escape from a POW camp. It’s undoubtedly one of the all-time classic war movies. Rarely if ever has such a fantastic cast been assembled, and…
Arsenic And Old Lace
This was one of the oldest posters I had until I sold it last year: an original 1948 first release Belgian poster for Frank Capra’s classic black comedy Arsenic And Old Lace. This 1944 movie was based on a very successful Broadway play, and features everyone’s favourite leading man, the one and only Cary Grant….
Touch Of Evil
1958’s Touch of Evil is one of the greatest Film Noirs of all time. It also contains one of the most famous long take tracking shots in history, courtesy of the great Orson Welles. Star Charlton Heston brought Welles onboard to both direct and star as the villain of the piece – a bloated, corrupt…