The Name of the Rose

One classical way to illustrate a comedy, is to have a center design, surronded with portraits of the main, and supporting actors. The center design can vary. It can consist of the movies title and credits, a scene from the film, or a portrait of the main charachter.
Here’s an example of an artwork in that vein.



But something is very wrong here. The movie is not a comedy. It’s a drama and a murder mystery. So why does it look the way it does? Did the artist go nuts? Or did the people from the movie company have a meltdown?

Drew Struzan was engaged to make the artwork. Not getting a chance to see the film before working, he was told by the company that the poster should look like a comedy. So that’s exactly what Struzan did. Being an artist who always tries to be true to the films, Struzan became very disapointed when he found out what kind of film The Name of the Rose really was. How the company was thinking? If the idea was to attract an wider audience, it probably backfired since it hardly attracted the intended audience and made the comedy audience disapointed.

However, Drew Struzan is a great artist, and this artwork is just one of his many great ones. It just don’t fit with the film. You can’t blame Drew Struzan for that.

As a matter of fact, most posters for The name of the Rose are either dull or actually bad. The only fitting, and at the same time great artwork, is the Czech poster.

What's New, Pussycat?

Most people know Frank Frazetta as an artist in the fantasy vein. But hea has also created some magnificent artwork for comedies. It's not quite as crazy as it might sound. Keeping in mind that he assisted Al Capp with his comic Li'l Abner, the comedy posters are not that far fetched.

It started when someone at United Artists noticed his work in a magazine. This led to a proposal to make the poster for What's New, Pussycat? in 1965.

Frazetta made two different artworks for the poster. The one presented here, was the most used. The poster designs varied. The artwork was even reversed on some of them. But here it is on a 6-sheet version.

And speaking of Li'l Abner, look at the body of Ursula Andress in the artwork. Daisy Mae, anyone?

Lost Horizon

It took years to finish, and in 1937 the time had come. Frank Capra's Lost Horizon was viewed by an audience for the first time. The film was shortened so many times, and so close to it's world premiere, that poster artwork had to be scrapped, since the motifs no longer was in the finished film. James Montgomery Flagg, once the highest paid illistrator in USA, was one of the artists involved.

However, Flagg kept working and came up with new artwork that fitted the finished film, and this is the most known.

Flagg made other artwork as well. You've seen the one with Uncle Sam, haven't you? The "I want you" poster? Yes, that one. That's James Montgomery Flagg.

The 1989 Re-release

In 1989 The Adventures of Robin Hood was restored. For that re-release, Robert Rodriguez was comissioned to create a new poster. The result was a poster, similar in style to the old ones of 1938, but still with a distinct modern touch.