Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Studio Logos on Italian Locandinas

Here are two Italian Locandinas for the 1965 film "Thunderball" starring Sean Connery:



The one on the top is an original from 1965, the one on the bottom is a 1977 rerelease. There are no dates on the posters. We have to rely on other information to know which is which.

The original has more color saturation, but even without that we know it is an original because of the hexagonal United Artists logo in the lower right corner:

Bottom of Original 1965 Thunderball locandina with hexagonal United Artists logo, lower right corner.



The 1977 rerelease poster has the Transamerica "T" logo:

Bottom of R1977 Thunderball locandina with United Artists Transamerica "T" logo, lower right corner.



The reason for the logo change is that the United Artists studio was bought in 1967 by Transamerica. In 1967 Italian posters for United Artists films had a transitional logo like this one on a four -sheet for the 1967 film You Only Live Twice:

Bottom corner of Original 1967 You Only Live Twice four-sheet with United Artists transitional logo.



The Transamerica "T" logo was adopted in 1968 and remained in use until 1981. The presence of this logo tells us the second locandina could not have been issued earlier than 1968, nor later than 1981. In that period there were only two Italian rerelease years for Thunderball, 1971 and 1977. The printer name "Rotopress" indicates this rerelease probably wasn't done before 1973, the earliest year for any Rotopress Italian poster titles, according to Ed Poole of Learn about Movie Posters. Armando Giuffrida of Rome's Metropolis Bookstore believes Rotopress went into operation in the mid-1970s. This poster therefore must have been printed in 1977 for the Italian Thunderball rerelease of that year. Giuffrida thinks the "UA 11/4" at the bottom center of this poster is a printer code rather than a date.


Visit the Movie Poster Page!

No comments: