‘A Hard’s Day Night’ (1964).
 
A friend collects Japanese movie posters. He’s rich enough to afford it. The walls of his house are almost covered with these bright, garish, beautiful film posters. Last time, I visited him I asked why he never exhibited them or at least scanned them digitally to share on the Internet. He said he thought of them as art—and as art they had to be viewed in person and not through a screen. I thought he was just being a pretentious twat—but there you go.

Fair to say, it was an impressive collection—a mix of Japanese features and American/British imports. But his collection went no further than the late-seventies to early-eighties. I wondered why? This, he explained, was because the best Japanese movie posters originated during the Shōwa period—the time of Emperor Hirohito’s reign 1926-1989—when the printing process meant the posters were by artists creating collages from cut-up photographs. These were airbrushed and colorized to glorious effect. There was an art and craft to making these posters—which remained roughly the same from the twenties to the seventies—which the digital era no longer employs.

Inspired by my dear friend’s collection, I’ve collated together a mix of images which exemplify some of the best in Japanese poster design—and let’s be honest, who wouldn’t want one of these hanging on their walls?
 

‘Batman’ (1966).
 

‘Bedazzled’ (1967).
 

‘King Kong Escapes’ (1967).
 

‘Evil of Dracula’ (1974).
 

‘Medea’ (1971).
 

‘House of Dark Shadows’ (1972).
 

‘Streets of Shame’ (1956’).
 

‘The Fantastic Voyage’ (1966).
 

‘Diary of a Shinjuku Thief’ (1969).
 

‘Young Miss’ (1930).
 

‘Some Like It Hot’ (1959).
 

‘Serpent Princess’ (1940).
 

‘Sisters of the Gion’ (1936).
 

‘Ginza no dora neko’ (1960).
 

‘Princess Yang Kwei-Fei’ (1953).
 

‘Nakayama scichiri’ (1962).
 

‘Repulsion’ (1965).
 

‘Kanashimi wa Itsumo Haha ni’ (1962).
 

‘The Woman in the Dunes’ (1957).
 

‘100 Monsters’ (1968).
 

‘The 1,000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse’ (1960).
 

‘The Wild Bunch’ (1969).
 

‘Double Suicide’ (1969).
 

‘Throne of Blood’ (1957).
 

‘Kwaidan’ (1964).
 

‘A Generation’ (1955).
 

‘Last Year at Marienbad’ (1964).
 

‘Onibaba’ (1964).
 

‘Shoot the Piano Player’ (1967).
 

‘The Paper’ (1967).
 
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Awesome Japanese Movie Posters from the Go-Go Sixties
East Beats West: Sensational Japanese posters of popular 70s films
Ichiban Bond: Gorgeous Japanese James Bond posters
 
Via Gura Fiku, 50 Watts, Cinema Fanatic and Eye on Design.