TCM's 'Summer Under the Stars' Posters are Phenomenal
I can't decide which one is the best
In August, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will be celebrating their "Summer Under the Stars" marathon for the seventh year and in celebration of the event they have released a series of twelve posters and there are some real beauties in this gallery.
First off, for those that may be interested, here is how the series breaks down:
- August 1 – Henry Fonda
- August 2 – James Mason
- August 3 – Marion Davies
- August 4 – James Coburn
- August 5 – Harold Lloyd
- August 6 – Judy Garlan
- August 7 – Glenn Ford
- August 8 – Bette Davis
- August 9 – Cary Grant
- August 10 – Dirk Bogarde
- August 11 – Audrey Hepburn
- August 12 – Clark Gable
- August 13 – Gloria Grahame
- August 14 – Sidney Portier
- August 15 – Deborah Kerr
- August 16 – Elvis Presley
- August 17 – Jennifer Jones
- August 18 – John Wayne
- August 19 – Red Skelton
- August 20 – Miriam Hopkins
- August 21 – Gene Hackman
- August 22 – Sterling Hayden
- August 23 – Angela Lansbury
- August 24 – Fredric March
- August 25 – Merle Oberon
- August 26 – Yul Brynner
- August 27 – Ida Lupino
- August 28 – Frank Sinatra
- August 29 – Peter Sellers
- August 30 – Jean Arthur
- August 31 – Claire Bloom
TCM makes note the marathon will include 42 films that will be making their premiere on TCM including The Grapes of Wrath (1940), An Affair to Remember (1957), Les Miserables (1935), Mississippi Burning (1988) and Good Morning, Miss Dove (1955). Beyond that batch there are more films than I will even attempt to mention, but you can download the complete schedule in Adobe .PDF format by clicking here (right click and select "Save As" to save it to your computer).
There are several films I am going to be sure and DVR and I am particularly interested in the August 5 line-up of Harold Lloyd films. I have never seen any of his silent features, but have heard enough about them to know I should give them a once over. So check out the schedule for yourself and see if there's anything that catches your eye or perhaps an entire day you may to block off.
Now for the posters, beginning with my two favorites. The The Grapes of Wrath is just about as good as it gets, and I would love to have a copy of it hanging up on my wall with the poster for The Magnificent Seven on the opposite side. Take a peek over the next few pages and see what you think. Those two posters are followed up with specifically made artwork for Dr. Strangelove, To Catch a Thief, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Big Heat, The Letter, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, High Society, Jailhouse Rock, Safety Last! and Gilda.
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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 ;)
@MisterPleased:
hello misterpleased. why do you say 'THEY could have possibly never seen' saul bass' design when you are one of the people working on this project? why are you pretending that you're not involved with this campaign when you are employed by 1trickpony?
and as for the idea being obvious….hmmm, perhaps second time around for sure.
Hey Everyone,
The only thing I am concern about, when I laid my eyes on all of those Poster's was
WHERE AND WHEN CAN I PURCHASE THEM, and was very disappointed when someone said POSTER'S (NOT FOR SALE! ! ! ! !) Tried to WIN A SET. but my odds Hit the MOON.
Anyway a long shot If anyone hear's of any of them going on SALE , Someone Please Let me Know ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! , That's the only thing I want to hear. ! ! ! ! ! [email protected]
Well that's what I mean. I was involved and know for a fact that no one here saw this artwork. I didn't produce this work and the reason I say it's obvious is because its what we thought was a nice option. Sorry if something similar was done. Unfortunately it happens and it's not always a ripoff. Sorry buddy.
HAVE 37 TRADING CADS FROM AWAY BACK WHEN. I AM 77 YRS OLD AND THESE CARDS
ARE BEFORE MY TIME WILL MAIL COPIES IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN LOOKING AT THEM.
THEY ARE ALL ACTORS AND ACTRESES EG. ELAINE Hammersteim as Nadia Castleton in
"THE WAY OF A MAID" a Selznick Pict. Forest Stanley As "Mischa" in "Bavu,: a Universal-Jewel Production Betty Bkythe As the Queen, in "The Queen of Sheba" a Fox Production
NEED A MAIL ADDRESS IF MR OSBORNE OR SOMEONE WOULD LIKE TO LOOK AT THEM
I would love to see those cards!
email me at [email protected]
cheers
kim
i wish i could see the cards. im a huge card collector and i love tcm and old films and theres nothing that would mean more to me than to enjoy owning these old cards.
i tried to win the tcm sweepstakes for the summer under the stars 31 card set ending in aug this year but apparently i didnt win. i even asked 10 or so of my online friends to help me win and none of them were successful. they would have given me the cards they said if they won them. i wanted them so badly. im too poor to be able to buy cards now adays at the prices they charge. boxes of new cards are like $50-90 thats just crazy. back in my day they were $7-12 or so. if anyone can help me with trading cards like this… contact me at whodatxx at aol dot com.
The Jekyll and Hyde poster is particularly inspired. Great work!
Does anyone know the artist of the Jekyll and Hyde poster? I came across it not too long ago and I fell in love with it. I'm wanting to get that image tattooed on my forearm. But I would like to talk to the artist first. If anybody has any information please let me know!!!! [email protected]