Snow White & The Seven Dwarfs 1937

Practically nobody in the entertainment business thought Disney's first feature length project would be a success. It was generally known as “Disney’s folly”. Disney proved everyone wrong. It was a tremendous hit. And as usual it took some advertising to make it a hit.

Several posters were designed to promote the movie. And, as usual the quality varied. From quite awful or really boring, to nearly fantastic art.

Movie posters come in different styles, classified as Style A, B, C, and so on. One version is sometime classified as “international”. Not entirely uncommon is the fact, that the Style A poster often is the one least interesting as art. These are first and foremost considered as pure marketing devices. The Style A poster for Snow White, is no exception. Straight and very forward in it’s message, but oh, so dull.

In 1936, Disney recognized an illustrator by the name of Gustaf Tenggren. Having seen his illustrations for different fairy tales, Disney thought Tenggren could be useful for the over all look of Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs. And Disney was right.

But Tenggren not only designed the look of the movie. He also produced art for posters. The B and C style posters are Tenggrens unmistakeable artwork. They are both fine works of art, but the really outstanding poster is the B style, presented here.

Frankenstein 1931

This is how the Swedish audiences were presented the movie Frankenstein back in 1932. The Swedish censors banned the film in 1931, as did many other countries back then. In February 1932, it was passed by the censors, after cutting seven seconds from a version only 52 minutes in length. It would take until November that same year before the movie premiered in Stockholm.

When promoting the film, the Swedish audiences were presented a poster looking like no other movie poster at that time. No monster. No mad Doctor. Not even a glimpse of the laboratory. Just a lonely man, with a lantern, walking through what might be a forest. The poster even lacked credits. Not one single person had his or her name on the poster.

This is a classic example of “less is more”. Instead of an overloaded “in your face” artwork, we find an expressionistic artwork that triggers the imagination. Who is the man with the lantern? Where is he going? Can the monster be lurking behind that black tree? Or is the figure with the lantern the monster?

It’s a fantastic poster. One of a kind. I would really want to know who the artist was.