Film Posters of the 40s: The Essential Movies of the Decade

From the iconic “Casablanca” to Orson Welles’s seminal “Citizen Kane”, from the optimistic “It’s a Wonderful Life” to the exotic “Thief of Baghdad”, the films of the 1940s are now recognized as some of the greatest of all time. Just as the forties was the decade hailed nostalgically ever since as Hollywood’s golden age, it also saw the emergence of a dark new undercurrent in pop culture – the sinister world of gumshoes, gangsters, double-crossing dames, and blind alleys that comprised film noir. Long before the era of the television trailer and satellite media junket, studios lured audiences to theaters with graphically bold poster art, gorgeously illustrated by classically trained artists adept at capturing the nuances of Veronica Lake’s seductive glance, Humphrey Bogart’s world-weary eyes, Bette Davis’s icy stare, and hundreds of other stars at their best and most glamorous. All of the era’s legendary stars are included in this volume: Lauren Bacall, Robert Mitchum, Barbara Stanwyck, Rita Hayworth, Cary Grant, Henry Fonda, Marlene Dietrich, and more. “Film Posters of the 40s” brings to life in lavish full-color an era in film history that will never be forgotten.