3/27/12

Godzilla Movie Poster Collection (part three)

I have picked up more original, theatrical Godzilla posters lately, and I should (hopefully) soon be done with a complete set of everything that played theatrically in the United States (including GODZILLA 1985 and GODZILLA 2000). Here are my latest additions:
Whoops--the barcode isn't part of the poster. 
It's on the shrink-wrap of the frame!
First off, a word about the famous poster from the original, 1956 American version of the first film.  Real specimens are rare as hen's teeth, and can easily command a thousand dollars.  I have seen ONE real McCoy in the last several, several years on Ebay, and it was completely trashed....to make matters worse, the seller pulled it down, and didn't even complete the auction.  And yet, there are hundreds of copies on Ebay at any given time....this has to be the most-copied poster, and indeed, many of the ones on Ebay state in all honesty that they ARE reprints.  The problem is, some of these are done on big ink-jet printers, and they are of pitiful quality.  Some are photographically copied, and are quite blurry.  You will also see several of the 11x17" ones that various kaiju sellers offer.  These are excellent in quality, and very frame-worthy if you are limited on space.  They often come in huge protectors, sort of like expensive trading cards are put in. They are very affordable, and I would say nothing negative about them....but for my purposes, I'm looking for 27x41". So what is someone to do, who's looking for a full-sized KING OF THE MONSTERS poster?
I found the answer quite by accident, and the short version is, in the late 1980's (probably around or just after the time of GODZILLA 1985), a certain company offered a high-quality, super-sharp reprint of the KOTM poster, on heavy stock, and it's superb.  I bought one a few weeks ago from an honest Ebay seller....the problem is, many aren't so honest, and many THINK they have something really rare, when they don't at all.  In fact, there is one of these on Ebay right now, this week, for an $1800 Buy-It-Now....um, if this was a real 1956 movie poster, shouldn't there be some obvious clues? Or how about this: shouldn't it at least have FOLDS? Remember to use your head, folks, when you are looking at these types of things.  You should probably pay somewhere between $50-75 for one of these, and I can vouch for its awesomeness.
Next up is a real find indeed....I also recently scored an extremely nice 1964 GODZILLA vs THE THING poster.  This has been one of my top wants, and I've always been impressed with the marketing gimmick that kept Mothra a "secret" from the public.  Nobody does that sort of thing anymore! It's gorgeous.

Finally, for this round, we have a weird one.  There are two cases where classic Godzilla films were included in Double Features in the USA:  one being alongside another Toho film (MONSTER ZERO/WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS), and the other....not so much.  For some reason, GODZILLA'S REVENGE was paired with an obscure British pseudo-Hammer film called, in reality, NIGHT OF THE BIG HEAT.  Leave it to America to re-title it ISLAND OF THE BURNING DAMNED.  Even though it included both Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee, the plot is--and I'm not kidding here--aliens land in the wintertime and make it really hot.  Sigh.
I haven't yet framed this one, but I think I'm going to fold it in half when I do so, and just display the important part.  After all, I am fast running out of wall space!
In fact, I have room for one final full-sized, vintage movie poster...but what will it be? Stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion!

2 comments:

Philip said...

How would i tell if i have an authentic godzilla poster? I clean out houses and recently found several movie posters from this era hung on the wall. I also found other completed collections of things from the 1950's to the present. this person was a pack rat. Any idea?

Sampoerna Quatrain said...

Philip--
I'd be happy to share several tips with you, and show you several things to look for, but it's way too long to post here. Please send me an email at samtheq@juno.com and let's talk!