num_pages: 288
description: 'The General', 'Casablanca', 'Gone with the Wind' - we all know they don't make movies like those anymore. What is almost as sad is that they don't make posters like the ones that trumpeted 'Birth of a Nation', 'King Kong', 'G-Men' and 'Gilda'.The four decades between 1910 and 1950 were the golden age of the American movie poster, an era when wonderful films like 'It Happened One Night' and 'Top Hat' were promoted through the talents of legendary illustrators like Thomas Hart Benton, Norman Rockwell, Howard Chandler Christy, and James Montgomery Flagg, as well as a small army of unknowns. It was a time when big studios lavished fortunes on poster campaigns - from modest "one-sheets" to gargantuan "forty-eight sheets" that swamped the sides of buildings. Hollywood knew that the right image could seduce millions past the box office and into the theatre. Today such graphics fetch five-figure prices from collectors seeking a 'Casablanca' or a 'King Kong'.This small volume presents a world-class selection of these desirable posters [271 of them], many never before published. Each has been reproduced to the uncompromising standards of all of Abbeville's fine art books.
language: English
title: Reel Art: Great Posters from the Golden Age of the Silver Screen
titlecomplete: Reel Art: Great Posters from the Golden Age of the Silver Screen (Tiny Folio)
genres: Film, Media Tie In, Art
ratings_count: 35
publisher: Abbeville Press