In the 1950s and 1960s, cinema became more and more of a commercial phenomenon, and film companies relied heavily on the posters and playbills that were put up outside cinemas and on the streets. The attention paid to the creation of these posters led the majors to create beautiful posters to promote their films and it is no coincidence that even today those original pieces are sought after by collectors and enthusiasts, or sold at auction, as is happening at Sotheby’s in London these days.
The auction house has opened the sale of 102 posters and photographs until 8 February, most of them from those years, but also of avant-garde films, such as the expressionist photo taken on the set of The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920), auction price £1600.

The lowest starting price is £400, but it goes up to £30000 for a print of “The first James Bond film”, a phrase printed on the UK edition of the Dr.No flano starring Sean Connery. Also from the 1960s are the poster featuring Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastroianni to promote La Dolce Vita (base price £14000), as well as the Italian version of Si vive solo due volte (1967) and a beautiful American version of The Graduate (1967).
The Polish poster for The Birds, released two years earlier in cinemas, is from 1965. The name of the director is written “Alfreda Hitchcocka” on it. The poster is a work of art and the starting bid is £2600. One of the most beautiful posters in the sale starts at £8000. It is one of the representations of 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) in which a mysterious figure is wrapped in a red and blue iris. Starting price set by Sotheby’s at £8000.

There are also posters of Japanese animated films such as Hayao Miyazaki’s My Neighbour Totoro (1988), or Japanese versions of Hollywood films such as Sabrina, starring Audrey Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart, released in 1965 in Japan.
From £2000 an original version of Jacques Tati’s Mon Oncle, which could still double its initial value.