By Stephen D. Youngkin
Poster Art and Lobby Cards
Dec. 25, 2007
of
Contents
Chapter 3
Credits
(A Sample)
Biographical
Sketch
FAQ
On DVD
Photos
Poster Art
Saying . . .
With
The Author
With its signature “M” imprinted on an outstretched hand, poster artwork for M (1931) stood in sharp contrast to the commercial work being turned out by UFA (Universum-Film Aktien Gesellschaft), Germany’s major film studio from 1918-1943.
In a “post-haste” market, illustrators familiarized themselves with a film’s subject matter and reacted in the style of the times with Gothic, Expressionist and Art Deco artistic trends that were strongly cinematic. Appropriately stark and graphic, original poster images for M were eventually infused with powerful imagery and intense colors by foreign illustrators in France, England, Denmark, and eventually the United States.
| M – Nero-Films, 1931, directed by Fritz Lang, with Peter Lorre as "Hans Beckert", the child-murderer. | |
A German poster advertising the original release of M (Nero-Film, 1931). |
A one-sheet poster for the French version of M, titled M le maudit (M the Damned One), which premiered in Paris on April 18, 1932. |
A British trade ad for M, dated 1932. |
A Danish one-sheet poster for the 1947 re-release of M. |
An undated German one-sheet poster for M by artist Kurt Degen, from Zigzag Posters. |
A Spanish mini-poster for the 1967 re-release of M, titled El Vampiro de Dusseldorf (The Vampire of Dusseldorf). |
An updated version of the original German poster for the re-release of M in the 1970s. |
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| Der weisse Dämon (The White Demon) – UFA, 1932, directed by Kurt Gerron, with Peter Lorre as "the hunchback", a dealer in illegal narcotics. | |
Seven of the posters for Der weisse Dämon (The White Demon, 1932) featured the likeness of Hans Albers only. |
This is the only poster to picture all four starring players. A bald-headed Lorre looms in the background. |
The UFA publicity department recommended that local theaters order portraits of Hans Albers, Gerda Maurus, Trude von Molo and Peter Lorre, captured by a special sepia tone process, and place them in their foyers and ticket booths. |
A sepia-tone photo of Hans Albers, available to movie theaters showing Der weisse Dämon (1932). |
Gaumont-British’s advertising department marketed Lorre’s image as a “Continental player of sinister roles,” namely his “magnificent performance in M.”
| The Man Who Knew Too Much – Gaumont-British, 1934, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, with Peter Lorre as "Abbott", the leader of a band of anarchists operating in London. | |
A British one-sheet poster advertising The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934). |
A title card for the film's original British release in 1934. |
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The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre by Stephen Youngkin – now in its second printing and winner of the Rondo Award for "Best Book of 2005" – is available in bookstores everywhere, as well as these on-line merchants.
The Films of Peter Lorre (1982), also by Youngkin, is out of print, but copies may be purchased through Amazon and Barnes & Noble below. Interested in Lorre's radio and television performances? Check out Radio Showcase and Movies Unlimited. Netflix has Lorre movies for rent.
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