Some Polish movie posters from the 1920s and 1930s, part 4

I love looking around digital databases. And if those databases are located in other countries, all the better.

Recently, I returned to Polona, a digital archive from Poland which features Polish books, magazines, newspapers, and ephemera - such as movie posters. Except for the first poster shown in the first post, a 1939 poster for When You're in Love (1937), and the last poster in the last post, a 1932 poster for Prix de beaute (1930), I didn't find any other posters related to Louise Brooks career, but I did find a number of rather attractive posters promoting American films of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. (Most of the posters in this digital collection date from the 1930s, when Brooks' career was in sharp decline and her films were seldom shown in Europe.)

Interestingly, these posters are predominately typographical in design, with very few images. The best of them play with design, varying the size, color, orientation and type of font displayed. There are more than 1700 posters. Here are a few that caught my eye due to their design or the film or stars featured.

This Sonja Henie poster displays a sleek design

Daughter of Shanghai (1937)

the French actress Simone Simon can be heard on RadioLulu

Madame Sans-Gêne (1925), starring Gloria Swanson

a religious film

Elmo Lincoln was the first Tarzan; this poster promotes a later western called All Around Frying Pan (1925)

from the Jules Verne novel Michael Strogoff

Laurel and Hardy

King Vidor's The Champ (1931) starred Wallace Beery

a 1932 poster for the 1930 Louise Brooks' film Prix de beaute

Tweet