Hitchcock Poster Art

• 26th Apr 2011

From The Mark H. Wolfe Collection

Edited by: Tony Nourmand and Mark H. Wolfe

Hitchcock made 50 films. That’s a lot to cover – more so when you consider the varied examples of poster sheets each film has (especially when you reach the golden age of Hitchcock). This book runs in order from first to last with alternative designs and text to introduce each film, sometimes talking about the film and other times the poster art.

Towards the end of the book you’ll find a large selection of lobby cards (mainly from the golden era as they had the budget to produce them). These materials come courtesy of co-author Mark H. Wolfe who has a devotion to and knowledge of the subject area worthy of this volume. Fans will be familiar with the more popular titles, but looking back at Hitchcock’s British output may make you head out to find these films.

If you’re interested in discovering Hitchcock’s earlier all but forgotten works, you’ll find them here in their retro glory. Those only interested in the Hollywood years will also find enough to keep them interested in the many alternative designs for the promotion of his bigger films.

One glaring omission – the Saul Bass orange poster for Vertigo isn’t in here. Versions of it are represented in other designs. But when you consider that you can find the spiralled image just about anywhere in the world, you really ought to have it in a book about the posters of Hitchcock’s films – no matter how overused it may be.

This is still a great collection for a great price, so worth making room for on your shelf. It’s surprising how contextualised and shocking some of the images still are considering it that many of them are over 50 years old.

Steven Hurst

www.reelposter.com