SEX VARIATION (sei to ai no joken) (1972) - BLOG #100: MY FAVORITE JAPANESE MOVIE POSTERS (Part 1)
My 100th weekly Blog which i wanted to use to thank you all for following my Blog and supporting ILLUSTRACTION GALLERY for nearly two years now
100 Blogs where I had to find a new theme each week to hopefully make you appreciate, discover and enjoy some images which I love to find and share
In those 100 Blogs, you have obviously noticed how prominent the Japanese posters are. Indeed I love them as I believe they are among the best ones in the movie poster Art genre along some designed in Germany.
This Blog #100 will sample just 20 posters out of the vast collection of the Gallery (over 900 Japanese posters which can be viewed in the link below
Let’s start with one of the brand new acquisitions and an image which immediately struck me as powerful not only because of its high erotic content but mainly due to the incredible use of the black and white photo of a couple embracing and the superb colors of the Japanese font used
I know nothing of this 1972 sex documentary directed by Koji Wakamtasu but this superb image captures everything needing to be viewed
Enjoy this image and the other 19 and here’s to the next 100 Blogs!
All our Japanese posters can be found here
If you like this entry, check the other 19 parts of this week’s Blog as well as our Archives and all our NEW POSTERS
The poster above courtesy of ILLUSTRACTION GALLERY
4:21 pm • 13 June 2013 • 7 notes • View comments
CHARADE (1963) - BLOG #100: MY FAVORITE JAPANESE MOVIE POSTERS (Part 2)
Japanese posters enhance the beauty of stars as you will see in this Blog. But no other actresses is as revered in Japan as Audrey Hepburn is.
Her petite size, perfectly demure personality and sense of style made her an icon for the Japanese women who adore her. It is therefore natural that ALL her best movie posters come from Japan
Directed by Stanley Donen and starring Cary Grant, Walter Matthau and James Coburn, CHARADE, the Paris based espionage movie is one of Hepburn’s best
The two CHARADE posters above created for the 1968 (brown) and 1973 (blue) rereleases are perfect examples of how Japanese posters effortlessly manage to capture her elegance, conveying both fun and style while using colors and fonts to accentuate the action.
All our Japanese posters can be found here
If you like this entry, check the other 19 parts of this week’s Blog as well as our Archives and all our NEW POSTERS
The posters above courtesy of ILLUSTRACTION GALLERY
4:21 pm • 13 June 2013 • 4 notes • View comments
GODZILLA VS. BIOLLANTE (1989) - BLOG #100: MY FAVORITE JAPANESE MOVIE POSTERS (Part 3)
Cannot honestly have a Blog about Japanese movie posters and not mention of Japan’s best exports and one cinema’s most famous monsters: GODZILLA (Gojira in Japanese).
So far we count 28 Godzilla movies in Japan (+ the US produced version in 1997) where the monster was either played by an actor in a cheap foamy suit, a rubber toy-sized creature or more recently as a CGI creation.
In any case it is the King of all Monsters defending the land against all its enemies, human and supernatural. After being dormant (moviewise) from the mid 70’s till 1988, Goodzilla was revived and revamped with a series of movies whose posters were created by acclaimed sci-fi painter Noriysohi Ohrai (see his Star Wars poster in part 15).
Another sumptuous Japanese creation.
All our Japanese posters can be found here and the Godzilla posters here
If you like this entry, check the other 19 parts of this week’s Blog as well as our Archives and all our NEW POSTERS
The poster above courtesy of ILLUSTRACTION GALLERY
4:20 pm • 13 June 2013 • 9 notes • View comments
FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE (1965) - BLOG #100: MY FAVORITE JAPANESE MOVIE POSTERS (Part 4)
One of the most well know movies and among the most influential ones as the second part of Sergio Leone’s Man With No Name trilogy has become synonymous with the Spaghetti Western genre.
In Japan it is actually called Macaroni Western ?!?. Nevertheless the movie Per qualche dollaro in piu was released there in 1967 and other than cementing Clint Eastwood’s status as a demi god there, it also made Lee Van Cleef, Klaus Kinski and Gian Maria Volonte stars in their own right
The Japanese poster for the movie is the best one designed out of tens created around the world without showing any character faces other than the legendary poncho, the prospect of a gun duel and a menacing yellow sky enhanced by pink lettering.
A classic image
All our Japanese posters can be found here
If you like this entry, check the other 19 parts of this week’s Blog as well as our Archives and all our NEW POSTERS
The poster above courtesy of ILLUSTRACTION GALLERY
4:20 pm • 13 June 2013 • 20 notes • View comments
CAMELOT (1967) - BLOG #100: MY FAVORITE JAPANESE MOVIE POSTERS (Part 5)
Take an already sumptuous design courtesy of illustration’s giant, Bob Peak, and magnify it by adding complex letterings perfectly appropriate to the medieval content of this movie adapted from the Broadway stage to the screen by Joshua Logan and starring Richard Harris as King Arthur and Vanessa Redgrave as Guenievre.
Another the tour de force succeeded by the Japanese poster designers.
All our Japanese posters can be found here
If you like this entry, check the other 19 parts of this week’s Blog as well as our Archives and all our NEW POSTERS
The poster above courtesy of ILLUSTRACTION GALLERY
4:19 pm • 13 June 2013 • 1 note • View comments
JAZZ ON A SUMMER’S DAY (1959) - BLOG #100: MY FAVORITE JAPANESE MOVIE POSTERS (Part 6)
There is an incredible respect for the artists in the Japanese culture especially for the musicians, both local and international, with Jazz being one of the most highly revered musical genres in the country.
The poster above was designed in 1997 for the rerelease of the seminal 1959 documentary directed by Aram Avakian and shot at the famous Newport Jazz Festival featuring such giants as Mahalia Jackson, Louis Armstrong, Dinah Washington and Chuck Berry who rocked the place.
The designers choose as usual powerful shots of trumpet blowing Louis Armstrong balanced by the elegance of Dinah Washington wearing a southern belle hat. The result convey instant magic, grace and exudes joyful vibes.
All our Japanese posters can be found here
If you like this entry, check the other 19 parts of this week’s Blog as well as our Archives and all our NEW POSTERS
The poster above courtesy of ILLUSTRACTION GALLERY
4:19 pm • 13 June 2013 • 1 note • View comments
IROZEME (1970) - BLOG #100: MY FAVORITE JAPANESE MOVIE POSTERS (Part 7)
The power of an image will always trump its meaning especially when it is in a foreign language you understand nothing about yet you still manage to grab the essence of
That is the Art of the Japanese movie poster art and fonts which very often creates an instant emotion with its powerful beauty.
Perfect example with this poster for a 1970 sex movie featuring two Japanese geishas suspended in air about to kiss each other with very elegant font on the right side. Love it!
All our Japanese posters can be found here
If you like this entry, check the other 19 parts of this week’s Blog as well as our Archives and all our NEW POSTERS
The poster above courtesy of ILLUSTRACTION GALLERY
4:18 pm • 13 June 2013 • 48 notes • View comments
ALFIE (1966) - BLOG #100: MY FAVORITE JAPANESE MOVIE POSTERS (Part 8)
While there are many posters here which convey drama and terror, Japanese posters also magnify happiness and romance with the use of happy colors and bubbles
No better example than the super rare original poster created for the Japanese release of the British romantic comedy directed by Lewis Gilbert and starring Michael Caine and Shelley Winters.
There are too many different words to translate Happy in the Japanese language but this poster does!
All our Japanese posters can be found here
If you like this entry, check the other 19 parts of this week’s Blog as well as our Archives and all our NEW POSTERS
The poster above courtesy of ILLUSTRACTION GALLERY
4:18 pm • 13 June 2013 • 2 notes • View comments
The STORY OF A PROSTITUTE (Shunpu den) (1965) - BLOG #100: MY FAVORITE JAPANESE MOVIE POSTERS (Part 9)
A war drama totally unknown in the West but a hit in Japan in 1965 as directed by maestro filmmaker Seijun Suzuki
The superb poster with the torn couple against the pink washed mountain and the blue letterings is simply powerful and perfectly conveys the sense of dread from the movie.
All our Japanese posters can be found here
If you like this entry, check the other 19 parts of this week’s Blog as well as our Archives and all our NEW POSTERS
The poster above courtesy of ILLUSTRACTION GALLERY
4:17 pm • 13 June 2013 • 2 notes • View comments
BATMAN THE MOVIE (1966) - BLOG #100: MY FAVORITE JAPANESE MOVIE POSTERS (Part 10)
While the Manga culture dominates Japan, western comic book heroes are highly revered including the dark detective Batman.
However in the sixties, the character was mainly seen as a funny one (no)thanks to the hugely successful cut and camp TV series which prompted a theatrical release directed by Leslie H. Martinson and starring all the key characters: Adam West (Batman), Burt Ward (Robin), Cesar Romero (The Joker) and Lee Meriwether (the best and Sexiest catwoman)
The movie was a big hit in Japan. The poster above is a Press poster (also known as B3 sized), double-sided with a summary of the story and info on actors on the back. they were stickered on the theater windows to allow moviegoers to learn about the movie before the show.
All our Japanese posters can be found here
If you like this entry, check the other 19 parts of this week’s Blog as well as our Archives and all our NEW POSTERS
The poster above courtesy of ILLUSTRACTION GALLERY
4:17 pm • 13 June 2013 • 13 notes • View comments
