[HN Gopher] Downloadable movie posters from the 40s, 50s, 60s, a...
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Downloadable movie posters from the 40s, 50s, 60s, and 70s
Author : bookofjoe
Score : 381 points
Date : 2025-10-18 21:48 UTC (8 days ago)
(HTM) web link (hrc.contentdm.oclc.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (hrc.contentdm.oclc.org)
| JKCalhoun wrote:
| This reminds me, so many films, so little time.
|
| I confess, I like the style of a lot of the earlier movie
| posters.
| bdz wrote:
| >so many films, so little time
|
| I've started watching one film every day 3 years ago. Much less
| time investment than one would imagine. It all comes down to
| finding a good system to plan what to watch not just sit down
| and have an analysis paralysis. Once (after a few months) I've
| figured out my current plan where I _have to_ watch certain
| films it became incredibly easy to keep up.
| ghaff wrote:
| The nice thing about films is that they're generally pretty
| much self-contained. A lot of modern TV series are serialized
| and committing to a multi-season set of episodes is a big
| chunk of time.
| bdz wrote:
| Yeah I could never really get into any TV show at all for
| this very reason
| pwython wrote:
| So now having watched over 1k movies in the past 3 years,
| what are you favorites?
| layer8 wrote:
| It's all a blur. ;)
|
| (not the OP)
| bdz wrote:
| Honestly there are just too many good ones, I could give a
| list of at least 50 films I'd recommend without any
| hesitation at all. But I try to watch as little Hollywood
| as possible, mostly asian and european cinema.
|
| Right now I'd say Tokyo Story (1953) is the best film I've
| ever seen.
| skylurk wrote:
| > Tokyo Story
|
| I watched it because it's on every list of best films, so
| expectations going in were high. It's not overrated. I
| don't cry from movies but I did when watching this one.
| Very subtle and relatable.
|
| Edit: Since we're here, "The Fall" (2006) and "City of
| God" (2002) are some of my other favorites.
| JKCalhoun wrote:
| (I know you didn't ask me.)
|
| To pick a decade, the 1930's surprised me with a number of
| good films that I had not seen. It's also the first
| "modern" decade in a sense -- the films are starting to
| have the kind of narrative you expect from a film (and have
| sound).
|
| "Love Me Tonight" (1932), "Stella Dallas" (1937) were new
| to me and enjoyable.
|
| It was the era of the classic big-spectacle Hollywood dance
| numbers that I knew of but had not seen. These greats from
| 1933 alone: "42nd Street", "Footlight Parade", "Gold
| Diggers of 1933".
|
| Fritz Lang's "M" (1931) if you have not seen it. The
| infamous "Freaks" (1932) that, by its reputation, I thought
| would disturb me more than it did. "Captain Blood" and the
| "The Adventures of Robin Hood" are Errol Flynn in his
| prime...
|
| Bonus link: Ginger Rogers in the classic opening to "Gold
| Diggers" -- and her impromptu Pig Latin verse:
| https://youtu.be/UJOjTNuuEVw
| JKCalhoun wrote:
| There's the "1001 Movies to See Before You Die", the "AFI
| 100"...
|
| Neither of these are bad lists to start with. The "AFI 100"
| is going to be all American films (some Hitchcock films get a
| pass because they were filmed in the U.S.?).
|
| "1001 Movies..." has a number of film critics contributing --
| and all the usual suspects are on the list. Fortunately it
| includes a good deal of foreign films, silent films, art-
| house films... So it covers a larger gamut of course.
|
| The wife and I are now up to the 1980's and finishing up a
| Turkish film from 1982. I suppose we're 5 years into this,
| perhaps a couple years still before we've done the 1000.
|
| Why go in order? Partly context -- you can see how films have
| "evolved", see when new ideas show up. But also there is some
| pragmatism: if left to my own devices, skipping around, I
| might leave until last the silent films, the French New Wave
| (sorry, I've been only slowly coming to enjoy them), the
| several-hours-long films, Warhol's films, etc.
| oliyoung wrote:
| To echo everyone else
|
| https://1001films.fandom.com/wiki/The_List
| ghaff wrote:
| I'm not sure that art deco is really the right term but there's
| definitely a 30s/40s poster styleI find quite attractive. You
| also see it wit a lot of travel/national park/etc. posters from
| that era.
| EvanAnderson wrote:
| The National Parks poster style is often called the Work
| Progress Administration (WPA) style. There was a series of
| these done for astronomy education in the early 2010's that
| are wonderful examples of the style:
| https://www.wired.com/2013/12/nordgren-planetary-posters/
| ghaff wrote:
| Yeah, definitely WPA style for the US but there's a lot of
| other poster art that is similar.
| JKCalhoun wrote:
| Minimal palette for easy screening...
| ghaff wrote:
| That's probably fair given silk screening.
| ssenssei wrote:
| I was looking to add a few posters to my room, and this came at
| the right time. The only one that interested me was: Colossus:
| The Forbin Project, as I love Michael Colombier's OST in that.
| Other than that, it's hard for me as a 23-year-old to find movies
| I've seen here. The earliest I can think of is Indiana Jones, and
| The Rocketeer, and those are in the 90s.
| ghaff wrote:
| I'm fairly familiar with films and I would say a lot of that is
| relatively obscure. I've certainly seen some but definitely a
| minority.
| berkes wrote:
| The first Indiana Jones was released in 1981. Still not 70's
| but it has stood the time pretty well. Maybe except for some
| special effects.
| cormullion wrote:
| The poster for Colossus:Forbin was very disappointing. The
| title sequence graphics for the movie were great - but the
| poster doesn't show a computer at all, although the movie is
| all about them.
| mrep wrote:
| You can just google image search the poster, save the image,
| upload it to a poster printing website and print it.
|
| I've done it 9 times and I've even gotten a 10 x 5 foot poster
| made of the park city ski map.
| kingforaday wrote:
| Recommendation on a solid online printing shop?
| throwanem wrote:
| Bay Photo, https://bayphoto.com. Good prices, great
| service; I use them for my own work, at sizes beyond what I
| can do in my own shop. Next time they disappoint will be
| the first.
| mrep wrote:
| I've used https://www.uprinting.com/ for all mine and it
| has been great so far.
| andrehacker wrote:
| ++ for reference to "Colossus: The Forbin Project"
|
| I only discovered that film about a decade ago, and it quickly
| became a favorite.
|
| What's wild is how it's shifted from pure sci-fi to something
| that feels eerily plausible, especially with how tech has
| evolved in just the last five years.
|
| Colossus: In time you will come to regard me not only with
| respect and awe, but with love. Dr. Forbin: NEVER!
|
| Never ?
| d99kris wrote:
| On a vaguely related note, two accomplished film poster artists
| passed away in the past month: Renato Casaro [1] and Drew Struzan
| [2].
|
| [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renato_Casaro
|
| [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drew_Struzan
| hydrogen7800 wrote:
| I recently sold a bunch of movie posters for a relative's
| estate, and only just came across the name Drew Struzan.
| Several of his posters were in the collection, including this
| one [0], and I was stunned by the sale price.
|
| [0]https://auctions.emovieposter.com/Bidding.taf?_function=deta
| ...
| voidfunc wrote:
| Anyone know of a similar site for mid-century Airline and Train
| travel posters?
| NaOH wrote:
| The Library of Congress has a bunch at
|
| https://guides.loc.gov/travel-posters/sample-images
|
| and this site got some traction here recently:
|
| _David Klein 's TWA Posters_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44952696 - Aug 2025 (9
| comments)
| rawgabbit wrote:
| This is cool. I found:
|
| North by Northwest.
| https://hrc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15878coll...
|
| Goldfinger / Dr No.
| https://hrc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15878coll...
|
| Ten Commandments.
| https://hrc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15878coll...
| noir_lord wrote:
| They have Day of the Triffids and The Omega Man as well - it's
| a neat collection, I've spent a couple of years not deciding
| what I want on the walls of my home office but some of those
| kitsch older sci-fi posters are a strong candidate - I saw a
| fair few of them as a kid.
| eterm wrote:
| Weird, the date and "National Screen Service Number" on North
| by Northwest is wrong, it's showing 1949 instead of 1959.
| boomboomsubban wrote:
| I'm assuming entries were done by hand, aa I've noticed a
| couple typos in my casual browsing.
| garbuhj wrote:
| The ten commandments link just opens the other poster again
| Barbing wrote:
| >Goldfinger
|
| "Miss" Galore they say :)
|
| Apparently leaking her name to the press prevented big wigs
| from forcing it to be changed.
| peterhajas wrote:
| Ten Commandments:
| https://hrc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15878coll...
| rawgabbit wrote:
| Thanks for the correct link.
| datahack wrote:
| I always wondered if the south by southwest conference was an
| homage to this movie somehow.
|
| Great finds.
| jauntywundrkind wrote:
| Different subject matter (space), but if anyone has
| recommendations, I would love love love the chance to see a
| poster form childhood.
|
| It was sometime around international space year ish (1992), and
| was a poster of a hybrid ship, part Space Shuttle and part large
| sailing ship, a gallon or what not.
|
| I kept it for many years as it fell apart but ultimately got rid
| of it. I love the motif, the idea of endless exploration. Every
| now and then I do a little web-searching for it, but no luck. Any
| suggestions welcome!
| ThinkingGuy wrote:
| You might try posting this question on
| https://www.reddit.com/r/tipofmytongue/
|
| They specialize in finding and identifying obscure childhood
| memories like this. Good luck!
| bookofjoe wrote:
| Note upper panel of this poster:
| https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/international-...
| bookofjoe wrote:
| See also: https://www.ebay.com/itm/226297744144
| layer8 wrote:
| Tangentially related:
| https://www.utterlyinteresting.com/post/bizarre-movie-poster...
| dang wrote:
| Related ongoing thread:
|
| _Movie posters from Ghana in the 1980s and 90s_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45712807 - Oct 2025 (91
| comments)
|
| Also:
|
| _Bizarre Movie Posters From Africa That Are So Bad, They're
| Good_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37259525 - Aug
| 2023 (24 comments)
| layer8 wrote:
| I had remembered this from two years ago (different URL at
| the time): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37259525
| dang wrote:
| Ah good catch! I added that above.
| xaxaxa123 wrote:
| Very cool
| sizzzzlerz wrote:
| I really want to see The Shoemaker and the Elves!
| shermantanktop wrote:
| For a moment the art style on that one made me think of Maurice
| Sendak.
| 999900000999 wrote:
| Good find, already added Shaft in Africa to my wallpaper.
|
| How much is a large digital picture frame,I guess just mounting a
| tv sideways could work.
| CaptainOfCoit wrote:
| LED walls are cool (and cheap via China) otherwise, and you can
| start small and then expand if you want since it's relatively
| modular, just a bunch of square LED panels linked together. You
| would need a driver though which you may or may not be able to
| hide behind/somewhere else, makes it kind of bulky compared to
| just a vertical TV :)
| myself248 wrote:
| The coolest way to display these is to have them sublimation-
| printed onto fabric (not silkscreened; silkscreening applies
| the ink heavily enough to reflect sound, while sublimation
| printing leaves the fabric still soft and porous), then wrap
| them onto frames containing sound-absorbing material. Hang them
| around the place and they improve your acoustics and aesthetics
| simultaneously.
|
| https://www.avsforum.com/threads/diy-custom-printed-movie-po...
| 999900000999 wrote:
| Very cool, but this looks a little outside of my skill set,
| is there a service I can just pay for?
| troupo wrote:
| I honestly feel like switching to photography imperceptibly
| destroyed the art of the poster compared to elaborate detailed
| posters (theater, circus, ads) of the 19th century. And this
| continues to this day.
| riazrizvi wrote:
| "The Soul of - ", who now? My lord, different times for sure.
| reality_inspctr wrote:
| who's gonna train a model on these?
| shermantanktop wrote:
| If you're ever in Manhattan and you like this stuff, I recommend
| https://www.posterhouse.org/
|
| Fantastic graphic art and poster museum. Not focused on movies
| per se but we had a great time there.
| asah wrote:
| +1000 every time I swing by PH I'm impressed. Unlike other NYC
| museums, there's never a line and you can be in/out in
| 30-45mins. Also, located on 23rd st right near 3 subway
| stations serving a slew of lines. It's a regular stop when I
| have a few minutes to kill on my way to other things.
| macrocosmos wrote:
| Great website also.
| noefingway wrote:
| Very cool stuff. Brings back a lot of memories from my youth
| spent in movie theaters on Saturday afternoons watching the sci-
| fi/horror double features. I have several posters printed by the
| S2 Art Group (they used to have their lithograph machine in the
| Paris hotel in Las Vegas), one of my favorites:
| https://www.cinemasterpieces.com/62014/s2frankteaser.jpg the eyes
| follow you everywhere.
| HelloUsername wrote:
| No 2001, Star Wars, Godfather..
| EugeneOZ wrote:
| Many of them seem to be trying to exploit women's or men's
| sexuality.
| baobabKoodaa wrote:
| Because sexuality equals exploitation?
| krapp wrote:
| In the commercial context of movies and advertising, yes?
|
| Particularly where depictions of non-white women and
| "degenerate" lesbians are concerned, depictions of female
| sexuality are almost always exploitative.
| empthought wrote:
| Precisely how do you define "exploitative?" In the
| commercial context of movies and advertising, every
| depiction of anything is "exploitative," in that it is
| leveraging the depiction to make money for the movie
| financiers or advertisers.
| krapp wrote:
| I mean, precisely, the phenomenon of the male gaze[0].
|
| [0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Male_gaze
| empthought wrote:
| That isn't exploitation. If you read that entire article,
| the concept of "exploitation" doesn't occur once.
| tumdum_ wrote:
| How boringly US centric :(
| slig wrote:
| What's the best open weights AI upscaler?
| mh- wrote:
| SeedVR2, from what I've seen.
|
| https://github.com/IceClear/SeedVR2
|
| https://huggingface.co/models?other=seedvr
| sfblah wrote:
| How can I have a rotating version of this in a poster-sized
| digital frame in the easiest possible way?
| alias_neo wrote:
| I'm not sure if you're asking seriously, but a smart TV usually
| has a USB drive and in portrait orientation it should be able
| to play them as a slide show.
|
| If you want less expensive and thus less easy, a decent size
| monitor and a Raspberry Pi or similar playing them as a slide
| show is also an option.
| fennec-posix wrote:
| Only been able to find one movie that was done on Mystery Science
| Theater 3000:
|
| The Beatniks:
| https://hrc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15878coll...
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