Monday, July 27, 2009

Everything Old is New Again 01

I love Turner Classic Movies.

I wish I had that channel, but if I did I'd be watching it all the time and that's not good.

I love movie posters, too, though lately there haven't been any that I'd like to possess: too much Photoshop; not enough art.

This Summer, TCM is having a "Summer Under the Stars" and to celebrate they've created a series of nicely done, simply designed, artfully created movie posters for classic movies. They're a bit obtuse but you can get the idea from the images.

For example, the example to the upper left is (of course) "Gilda" starring Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth, and the poster below it is Harold Lloyd's "Safety Last!"

Those are really nice posters. In fact, they're better than the posters that trumpeted the film when they first opened. All of them, in fact, are nice examples of design and hinting at subject. So much so, that I'm deviating from doing reviews this week and will do a little puzzle of sorts where you (the reader) try to figure out what the title of the movie is from the posters displayed. The next day I'll post the answers (using that film's original posters) and give you two new ones to figure out.

I'll do this through Friday, and return Saturday with the usual scathing review for that day. Sunday will be a "Don't Make a Scene" from either an Oscar winning film or a screamingly entertaining film from the 60's.

So, put on your thinking caps and we'll see how you do. I'll provide an easy one and a tougher one each day.




First, the easy one:

And the tougher one:


Answers tomorrow.

4 comments:

Walaka of Earth 2 said...

Okay, so how does this work? Are there clues in the posters or are we just supposed to know them? I mean, I could never get "Safety Last" from that Harold Lloyd image; he hung off of stuff all the time, and even if that specific image is lifted from that particular film, I never would have known that. (I did get "Gilda.")

So, maybe some hints?

"Yojimbo_5" said...

Really? This is tougher than I thought?

Okay, Hint #1-check out the shadow on the roof-top.

(When all else fails, ask Otis)

Hint #2- It's not "Chinatown," but it is an essential film noir by one its meisters. "Burning cigarettes" is a major clue.

Walaka of Earth 2 said...

I saw the shadow, and I would guess "To Catch a Thief"... does that mean that is the most "classic" cat-burglar movie? Couldn't it be any of a bunch of cat-burglar movies? Or am I over-thinking?

Haven't got the second one, and wasn't sure that was cigarettes... looks like a bottle of perfume.

Maybe the sun has addled my brains.

"Yojimbo_5" said...

Answers will be displayed tomorrow with two new posters.

If you're still unsure about the first one, check out the view.