Movie Poster Art of Reynold Brown:
Looking at the Details
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The Movie poster illustrator Reynold Brown (1917-1991) was one of Hollywood's most important poster illustrators with over 250 ad campaigns to his credit. He worked during the time that poster illustration was key to the success of a movie for it was the poster and its companion ads in print media (newspapers and magazines) that could assure the success of a movie. Brown was in demand because he could bring the audience in. What were the key features of his posters? Here is a look at some of the detail images from the posters so you can look at and study the features. The poster's illustration featured a number of elements that showed up in almost all of them. All of these elements have one purpose, attracting attention and convincing the viewer that the movie would feature something of interest to that viewer. |
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The Stars |
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 From "The Black Shield of Falworth" actor Tony Curtis. |
Portraits of the main stars of the movie, especially if they were considered important "draws" were featured. Brown had the special ability to do exceptional portraits of the stars. Working from a few images to determine the look of their features Brown could draw the stars with a wide range of emotions and head angles. | |
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The Theme |
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 Ship indicates sea going adventure in "Against All Flags." |
Thematic elements: Pictures that told the viewer what was the movie's theme, such as western, science-fiction or drama. The theme might be presented in the costumes of the characters or various scenes from the movie. Brown often did montage scenes combining different scenes from the movie with many characters. These were done in exceptional detail so that the images could be blown up to bill board size. |
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A Touch of Romance |
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Romantic or Love interest: Most movies tried to get in at least a bit of romantic interest or there was some sort of sexual exploitation. One of the most mild was the two key stars kissing (See right, "Backlash"). If there was to be a love conflict then perhaps the source of conflict, another man or woman, would be shown. Women could be expected to be placed lower within the poster and were generally, although not always, smaller. (Portrait sizes were usually determined by contracts with the stars.) |
"Backlash" |
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A look at a few of Reynold Brown's finest movie posters and a discussion of their important features. The points made above are further discussed in this area. The posters are shown complete and then with some details to show important elements. |
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