Robert Mitchum movie posters

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Robert Mitchum is one of my favorite movie actors. He was active during the 1940s to the 1960s. Playing both heroes and heavies, his sleepy-eyed, detached cynicism was the epidemy of 1950s cool. The tagline from the above poster, "the toughest private eye who ever wore a trench coat, slapped a dame and split his knuckles on a jawbone" nicely sum up his early film noir roles. 

His career started taking off in the 1950s, which was a difficult time for the movie industry. The old studio system was starting to come apart, with the studios losing the vertically integrated monopoly over theater chains which impacted their revenue and complicated distribution. Also, television was gaining greatly in popularity and that cut into how people were allocating their discretionary entertainment dollars.

Mitchum started in the stable of RKO, one of minor studios. At the time RKO was ran by the increasingly eccentric Howard Hughs, which led to a fair degree of dysfunction at the studio. Mitchum also had an early scandal when he was arrested, and briefly jailed, for marijuana possession in 1948. However, due to his image as a rebel and an outsider the arrest did not hurt his image. 

These images, and those after the jump, are taken from 100 Years of Movie Posters. There are more at that link.

Sword and sandals

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In the mid 20th Century Hollywood was producing successful movies such as Spartacus and Ben-Hur. In the 1950s and 60s the Italian film industry responded by producing their own historical/mythical themed movies. These films are known as sword and sandal films. They were low budget, focusing not on lavish sets, but rather featuring muscular men (most of the leads were body builders). In addition, they showcased buxom young ladies, both as heroines in need of saving and Eeeeevil vixens up to no good. They also featured sword fighting, manly grunting and dancing girls galore. 

Back in the day, when there were only broadcast channels on TV, they would be shown on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. They were a chore to watch. The plots were ludicrous, the special effects were cheesy, and the acting was bad. The inept acting was made worse by the awful dubbing they did for English speaking audiences. 

These images, and those after the jump, are posters for some of these films. They are from 100 Years of Movie Posters post Italian Epics. There are more examples at that link.  

Posters for cartoon shorts

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The old-timey movie going experience was more elaborate than today's trip to the multiplex (assuming people even bother going to movie theaters in these days of streaming services). It was full night of entertainment, with a feature film, a B film, newsreels and cartoon shorts. 

All were advertised to bring in viewers. Cartoons were a popular part of the package and these are posters of some of the cartoons of the day. These examples, and those after the jump, are from 100 Years of Movie Posters category Cartoon Shorts 1928-1964. There are many more examples at that link. 

Silent movie posters

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These are movie posters of silent films from the 1920s. Between their goofily maudlin stories and the sensibilities of that time, I'm sure they have oodles of PC sins oozing from them. Much less being green lit to be made, I wonder if they could even be viewed in these days of neo-Victorianism?

The posters are from Go to Cinema! at the PICRYL archives. There are more examples after the jump, and even more at the link.     

1940s war movie posters

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As WWII raged, war movies that were made captured the zeitgeist of the era. This is a small sampling of the posters made for those films. The style of the posters is striking -- they are full of angles, angry or determined faces, explosions and the color red.

They are from 100 Years of Movie Posters article War Movies 1930-1949. There are more examples at that link.

Tarzan through the ages

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These are Tarzan movie posters, in chronological order from oldest to newest. Regardless, no matter what decade, he is a big, goofy guy in a loin cloth hanging around the jungle with pretty girls and his ape buddies. In most of the posters it appears that his jungle had a bevy of wild critters and a handy barber shop as well.

They are from 100 Years of Movie Poster's archive: Tarzan 1918-2016. There are more after the jump, and more at the link.