Best Movie Posters of the 1940s

What Are The Best Movie Posters of the 1940s? The 1940s were a remarkably prolific time for cinema. This period includes iconic figures from cinema including Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, Michael Curtiz, Ingrid Bergman, Katharine Hepburn, Betty Grable, James Stewart and Laurence Olivier.

About 1940s movie posters

The 1940s were a remarkably prolific time for cinema. This period was the prime of adroit directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, who directed such classics as Notorious, Spellbound and Shadow of a Doubt. 

Orson Welles graced the 1940's with the iconic Citizen Kane, The Lady from Shanghai and The Magnificent Ambersons. The talented Michael Curtiz, who directed the highly successful classic Casablanca, along with Yankee Doodle Dandy and Mildred Pierce, and Carol Reed, who presented the world with Odd Man Out, The Fallen Idol and The Third Man.

The 1940's also bestowed cinema fans with an array of sensational movie stars like Rita Hayworth, Ingrid Bergman, Katharine Hepburn, Betty Grable, James Stewart, Laurence Olivier, Cary Grant, Clark Gable, Robert Mitchum and, of course, the unparalleled Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. 

Most, if not all, all-time favourite film lists will undoubtedly include an assortment of 40s movies such as the Christmas paragon It's a Wonderful Life and other notable titles like Citizen Kane, Bicycle Thieves, Casablanca, The Philadelphia Story and Brief Encounter. 

Best Movie Posters of 1940-1949

Movie posters are considerably more than just a marketing concept. They showcase the incredible work of the world's most distinguished illustrators and designers from around the world like America, France and The United Kingdom, whilst expertly connoting a film's intended vibe to its audience.  

It's been perceived over the years that a great movie poster won't always translate into a great movie. In the same way, a great movie won't always translate into a great poster. A film poster should be responsible for encapsulating a movie's tone, narrative, and visual style in a singular image. Many movie posters showcased in the 1940s demonstrated an impeccable style and perspective almost incomparable to some of the lazily executed works we see today. This featured collection of vintage posters are proficient, daring, and absolutely unforgettable.

A notable characteristic of 1940's cinema was the decades gritty and captivating noir genre. This specific genre that depicted fatalistic stories of brooding detectives and treacherous women was stylishly represented by titles such as The Blue Dahlia, Gilda, The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, and The Postman Always Rings Twice. 

These movies are enduring masterpieces, saturated with sombre alleyways, mean streets and cynical attitudes. They also inspired some of the most extraordinary poster art in cinematic history.

In the 40s, movie posters truly evolved into an art form of their own. Film studios began to develop artwork for their own movie posters by hiring highly renowned artists and illustrators such as Al Hirschfeld, Ted Ireland, John Held Jr., Armando Seguso, Hap Hadley, Clayton Knight, and Louis Fancher to help with selling their films using brilliant concepts, elegant artwork, and bold original ideas. 

MGM Studios were known for their extraordinarily polished posters and pastel colour schemes on white backgrounds. 20th Century Fox was widely known for using vibrant, dynamic colours and themes to promote their movies. The increasing public passion for colour photographic quality prompted Columbia Pictures to develop the "fake colour" process, which colourized black and white photos. Every studio eventually adopted this process.