Those are all great… someone had a blast designing images for those iconic movies, and knocked them out of the park! Kudos to the artists.

Well I like Yul Brenner the best among many great.

All of them are striking, but I think the simplicity of the black and white plates have some resonance especially since it's for Guess Who's Coming to Dinner.

I agree with Eric. My favorite is Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Awesome. Though I found the Safety Last one to be really funny. Also, the Strangelove is awesome. Hell, there's not a bad poster in the bunch. I hope they build more of these.

I absolutely love the Grapes of Wrath and Guess Who's coming to Dinner posters. There all fantastic though.

@Eric and @The Check Spot: Yeah, the only reason I wasn't as taken with that one was because it reminded me so much of the cover for the recent Criterion release of My Dinner with Andre. But of course the two images carry different messages and the Guess Who poster is certainly striking.

@Brad Brevet: I could see the similarities, but out of all of them that was the one that you could really "read" into. That one and High Society and maybe Dr. Strangelove. All of these use symbols in a big way instead of having a giant face–a la Hancock.

That's not High Society! It's The Philadelphia Story!

Otherwise thanks for posting these– the TCM site was giving me trouble and I'm thrilled to see them so big.

@Katey: And now I look into what High Society is… and wonder how I've never heard of this bizarre remake.

@Katey: Yeah, High Society is part of the Frank Sinatra day on August 28. Rev up the DVR!

Excelent. Inteligent. More! More! More! More! More! More! More! More! More! More!

I like the "Grapes of Wrath" poster the best. They're all amazing, though.

Any idea if these are or will be for sale?

Those are amazing. I wish I could watch TCM more.

Can you please post some info on the artists who made them? I think everyone would love to know.
I'd be surprised if at least one wasn't done by Akiko Stehrenberger; she's amazing…

Probably a silly question, but it's not possible to purchase these is it?

@kooties and ModernMANdroid: For everyone interested, I have an email out to TCM asking about purchasing and the artists involved. I hope to hear back from them soon.

Brilliant work….

Wonderful posters how can someone get copies of all of them for a collection? Would love to know.

Please, who designed the TCM posters?
Any idea.
Thanks for showing them.
Love the website too.

@Chewtoy: I really wish they would let you buy these. I think i shall email and ask, I want all of them.
I really liked 'The Letter" as well as "Guess whose coming to dinner"

I am sorry I love TCM and I am even on the channel but those posters are freaking terrible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They are nothing more than some new jack graphic designer making crappy ads for great movies without even using any images from said movies.

Seriously…these suck!

Regarding them visually, a few of those posters are interesting, while others are quite striking, even, as graphical artwork, but they look like they were conceived as showpieces. I feel that they don't generate interest or exictement about the films they advertise, as much as they call attention to the graphical elements of their composition. An exception would be the image for "To Catch A Thief", mostly because it seems to borrow an image from the film

The classic films they attempt to illustrate are loaded with emotions, symbolic meaning, and possess also nostalgic associations that are not reflected in the designs. And yet, it is the designs that are appealing, even though they are more or less effectively divorced from any relationship to the dramatic experiences that the films deliver.

Thank you for posting them.

Tutti Rodar
Made You Look! Graphics

@Katey: @kimpunkrock:
I'm afraid it is closer to this far inferior remake. :-)

Hmm, that reply feature baffles me… soz, for the mix-up.

"To catch a thief" and "Guess who's coming to Dinner" are my faves, the first because you can tell exactly what movie it is for (okay you can do that with "High Society" but I like neither the Poster nor the movie), and the latter is a clever design that works even if you don't happen to know the movie in question.

The Rorschach Skull for Jekyll & Hyde looks great, too.

The posters and website were designed by the design & advertising firm called One Trick Pony.

http://www.1trickpony.com

Stay tuned for full site launch and more posters!

Great work from TCM, ALL I WANT TO KNOW IS WHERE DO I BUY THESE POSTERS AND WHEN ! ! ! !

No one as to where to purchase these posters .? ? ? ?

Someone let me know

Thanks

The emperors new clothes here I feel. This felt more like looking through a stock image library than viewing lovingly crafted one sheets. I was expecting to see interesting and unusual takes on the form and I'm sorry to say that – not one of these would have got through the first stage of approval for an actual movie release.

There was a fantastic exhibition on in London last year where real artists were asked to reinterpret classic film posters and all of the results are head and shoulders above this lot. Check out the link. The Blade Runner one is beautiful.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/keepsmesane/sets/72157601618281265/

@Keith:

The Magnificent Seven poster is a craven rip-off of saul bass' unproduced design for that same film back in 1960 [see link]. and if onetrickpony want to claim it's 'homage', they should remember the Clockers debacle…..this is pretty shoddy behaviour unless they are crediting saul bass accordingly.

http://www.thelooniverse.com/movies/west/saulbass/posters.html

@Jaworski

I can pretty much disagree, this was unproduced, rare artwork that they could have possibly never seen. Anyone who's seen this movie could come up with this design. As nice as both look, it's a pretty obvious concept.

Even the great Saul Bass is capable of producing an obvious concept. Sorry.

A lot of people have commented about how few of these posters use any of the imagery from the films. It should be noted that these are meant to be teaser posters. It's pretty common practice for films to have teaser posters with striking images without showing anything from the film itself – not even the title in many cases.

The final posters can be found on TCM's site:

http://www.tcm.com/2009/summer/index.jsp

Personally, I think for the most part, all of these posters are fantastic designs. The only downside is that the "summer of stars" theme means that some posters don't prominently feature the actors you would expect. Would any poster for Dr. Strangelove really highlight Sterling Hayden? A North By Northwest poster with James Mason front and center?

@Bernie:
You are obviously an accountant or an IRS agent because
you think "real artists" only show up in galleries run by art snobs. These posters
are all great, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde poster alone is better than all of those
on your flickr link, including the "beautiful" Blade Runner one, that looks like
it took ten minutes to make. I think you are the real victim of the emperors new
clothes scenario.

Wow, how did you guess. I am an IRS accountant by day and I put on exhibitions for art snobs by night. Didn't mean to upset the designer ;)