24X36: A Movie About Movie Posters

Dir: Kevin Burke

2016

**

Finally I thought, a documentary about two things I adore – films and art. Movies posters is one of those things that help create cinephiles. For me, my interest in film came from; looking at all the VHS boxes in our local Chemist (who also rented out videos), Saturday matinees with my Grandmother and looking at all the cool posters either in the cinema foyer, video shop window or for sale in Woolworth. I have a couple of vintage posters in my collection (although I bought them new and looked after them) including Superman III (a good movie, I don’t care what anybody else says), Army of Darkness (why I didn’t get it signed when I met Bruce Campbell recently I don’t know), Delicatessen (I totally framed it and unbelievably my wife let me put it up), Driller Killer (believably my wife won’t let me put it up), Run Lola, Run (French Poster which is cool) and Bram Stoker’s Dracula I think, although it is ripped and my sister once threw butter at it (best not ask). I also have an excellent limited edition Mondo poster (1/50) of Aguirre, the Wrath of God which I bought back in 2010. I though I was going to watch a film about nostalgia featuring the great poster artist such as Bob Peak, John Alvin, Reynold Brown, Drew Struzan and Richard Amsel – and the film did – but only for around fifteen minutes. The majority of the film seemed to be collectors of Mondo posters, something I’m afraid I have little interest in. However, I do dig what many of these new young artists are doing and why they are doing it. Back in the day, studios saw their posters as advertising, but not as art. As a result, many of the great artists/graphic designers/illustrators/typographers went unappreciated. Shocking now when you think about it but none of the artists were allowed to add their signatures to their work, meaning that we have no idea who made some of cinema’s early classics. Who produced the iconic Frankenstein poster of the 1930s? No one knows. I would argue that the last iconic poster was probably made sometime in the late 90s, I’m not saying posters made since then haven’t been good, but I can’t think of many that can be truly described as ‘iconic’. One of the main problems was the shift in technology, photography and photoshop was a thing, it made making posters quicker, easier and cheaper but it seems so many studios were just so bad at it. Again, posters became more about advertising and many posters – of great films I might add – have just the giant head of the main star on it and nothing that suggests what the film is about. It’s the wrong kind of mystery that a movie poster should have. Many modern mainstream posters are boring and samey, so Mondo definitely has a place. Rob Jones, head of Mondo, is a colourful character and I would credit him in relaunching the art of movie posters and you don’t have to look much further than what the likes of Arrow Video and Scream Factory are doing now to see why. I just wish we could have seen more of the original artists. There was hardly any time spent looking at the work of Roger Kastel for instance, even though his posters – specifically Jaws – is more iconic than many of the actual scenes in the movie. Maybe I just wanted a film about Roger Kastel, I don’t know, maybe there isn’t that much to say and the truth is that the analysis of poster design is a bit dull at the end of the day but I’m sure, with the body of work Kastel is responsible for, that he must have a few stories worth sharing. I guess the clue was in the title, as most classic posters were actually 27x40 – it is the Mondo posters that are 24x36. I’m a nerd but I have never felt the need to measure any of my various collections of nerd items. I did like hearing from the new wave of artists and I think it is great for fans that they now have great art from some of their favorite movies that all generally had disappointing posters. Although there are also lots of fan art for films that had genuine ‘iconic’ posters (Jurassic Park for instance). Mondo have to make money from non-nerds too I guess. Content aside, the documentary itself is a little uncreative. It is just talking heads with questionable sound quality. I’m afraid they’ve made an interesting and creative subject appear boring and a little sad. Not without some interesting interviews but by and large this is a bit of a wasted opportunity.