French posters have always been a problem when it comes
to dating original releases versus reissues but there are several things to
consider when trying to date French posters. Let's take a look at the main
ones:
1. Since the majority of the films shown in France are
imports, one thing to look for is the original production studio logo. The
standard practice internationally is that the original production company
logo is shown on the original release. Subsequent releases will quite often
only have the local distributor information. This is a standard practice but
there are a LOT of exceptions.
Also studio logos would change during the years, so
the look of the logo can tell you a lot. For example, Warner Brother-Seven
Arts was a variation of the WB logo and only existed from July 15th, 1967
until the end of 1969. So when you see the famous W7 logo you know that it
had to be within that time period.
2. Another minor way to check for issues is by the poster
artist. This isn't the best way to try to date a poster, but sometimes it
does work. The French film industry proudly utilizes great poster artists
and, unlike the US, placed their signatures in dominant places on the poster.
Consequently, when the poster was reissued, sometimes a different poster artist
would be used therefore helping with the release date. However doing the research
to find out which artist was hired for which release can be frustrating. We
are also compiling that information on our websites.
3. One of the major ways to help date French posters
is the printer. Printers were required to put their name and address of each
poster for tax purposes. The printer tag is normally found somewhere are the
bottom, left or right border in small print and will be followed by their
address..
Fortunately for poster collectors, printers seemed to have moved every few
years, making it possible to usually date the poster within a few years. The
problem with this form of dating is running down all the moves of the dozens
of different printers. We do NOT have a chart with this informaton YET...
but we ARE working on it. We are in the process of compiling the information.
4. In late 1960, a 'visa de censure' or Censor Certificate
number was placed on French posters. We have a complete article and log on
this in our Membership Section.
