An irresistible come-on, the world's most famous poncho, rare subways, a Neorealist mystery, beautiful women on Vespas, etc.
Dear Friends and Movie Lovers:
Hello from Hollywood. Highlights this month include the enticing French HAUTE TENSION litho above, along with this great Italian FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (one of the best Italian Eastwood/Leone posters) and a mysterious 1 Sheet for Rossellini's PAISAN, about which I will go into some detail below. If you're not interested, scroll down for more great items
I've only seen one other copy of this poster, and there's not much to go on: printed in the standard U.S. 1 Sheet size, in the USA, the distributor credited - "States Commercial Corp." - sounds phony, and I can't find any record of it. The official U.S. distributor was 'Burstyn-Mayer', a small arthouse specialist, and their 1948 black and white posters were heavy on text/reviews, with a single sad image. Thisposter is completely different, with a bold illustration and use of red; it's a style similar to some Noir-ish U.S. 1 sheets from the same era, but without a tagline and only minimal credits text. (And the same design was later featured on posters in other countries)
So... my best guess is that MGM, who produced the film and released it in Italy in 1946, commissioned the image and printed the poster soon after its Italian debut, for use in English-speaking territories outside of the USA. If anyone has more info, please let me know. In the meantime, I'm listing this stunning poster for one of the masterpieces of Italian Neorealism as-is, with more questions than answers.- just because I wanted to share it with you - MM
