Film Posters of the 30s

Book excerpt: The 1930s was the cinema’s age of innocence, a time when the emphasis was on escapism and entertainment. Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn wereBringing Up Baby,Busby Berkely’s precision-drilled chorus girls wereFlying Down to Rio,Fred Astaire was donning hisTop Hat,and John Wayne was climbing on theStagecoachto stardom. As this stunning collection of poster art reveals, it was also the decade of the illustrator, with Al Hirschfeld, Hap Hadley, and Alberto Vargas setting new standards in graphic design. Color may have only just begun to appear on cinema screens, but on the hoardings outside, the hues were bold and dazzling as never before. Tony Nourmand is co-owner of the Reel Poster Gallery in London and a poster consultant to Christie’s; Graham Marsh is a designer and art director. Together, they have producedHorror Poster ArtandScience Fiction Poster Art,and collections of 20th-century film posters by decade.