Survivors from forgotten world

Cast aside in their day, old film posters have kept two collectors busy for many years, writes Dan Carrier

THERE were hundreds made but because they were considered adverts, no one thought they were worth storing.
So when the screenings of Fitz Lang’s 1927 film Metropolis was over, cinema managers tore down the posters and binned them.
But 70 years later, film buff Bruce Marchant, who lives in Hampstead, tracked down one of five that remain – and sold it for the owner for £500,000.
“I remembered meeting a man around 15 years ago who had mentioned he had found one. When I heard a collector was interested in buying it, I tracked the owner down and persuaded him to sell,” says Bruce.
The sale was just the latest piece of diligent detective work the art dealer has undertaken to buy posters for movie classics.
Although hundreds were printed, including different versions for different countries, few survive.
Bruce, who has been running a gallery in Westbourne Park for 10 years with his business partner Tony Nourmand, explains: “They were designed to grab you as you walked past and encapsulate the film.”
Studios would have a week to promote a film and they never considered storing the posters after the run ended.
But now survivors are becoming increasingly collectible, as Bruce Marchant discovered. According to Bruce, film posters give an understanding of the times.
“They provide an insight into how our values have changed,” he says. “The flux of fashion, propaganda, prejudices and social mores can be found in a film poster. They are historic documents.”
Bruce and Tony met at school, and it was Tony who inspired Bruce into collecting the posters when he showed off his poster for Hitchcock’s Vertigo, starring James Stewart.
“He told me he had spent $500 on it and I said he was crazy. I said ‘give me your credit card, you are not fit to look after it’.”
But a few weeks later Bruce saw a poster for Humphrey Bogart’s African Queen.
“It is one of my favourite films and within a month I had spent $600 on it. I couldn’t wait to show it to Tony – I was hooked.”
The old friends found a new hobby and travelled to the States to find other movie poster dealers. He befriended one man with a warehouse full of posters in San Francisco and soon found his contacts in the art world admired his collection.
But it took off when a collector asked Bruce if he could find him some original Charlie Chaplin posters. Few survive but after visits to dealers and studios in the States, he managed to find what his contact wanted. The money was good, and the Reel Poster gallery was formed.

The Dealers’ Favourites

Although the Reel Poster Gallery sell posters from £100, Bruce and Tony sometimes find pieces they can’t resist keeping.
Tony’s top posters are:
The African Queen, 1952. “It was the first I bought and I love the film.”
City Streets, 1931, with Gary Cooper. “I have never seen the film and I don’t care if I never do – I just love the art work. It is very art deco.”
Tarzan, 1932, with Johnny Weismuller. “It was before he became famous so you can’t tell if it is him or not, but he swinging through the trees and casting a shadow – of an ape.”
The Man from Laramie, 1955, with James Stewart. “I love westerns directed by Anthony Mann – I collected 11 posters for this film, in different languages.”

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