Film posters of the 30s

The 1930s were the cinema's age of innocence when, despite the miseries of the Grant Depression, or perhaps because of them, the emphasis was on escapism and entertainment. With the coming of the talkies, the Marx Brothers and Laurel & Hardy had supplanted Chaplin as the kings of slapstick comedy. Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn were Bringing up Baby, Busby Berkely's precision-drilled chorus girls were Flying Down to Rio, Fred Astaire was donning his Top Hat and John Wayne was climbing on the Stagecoach to stardom. This was also the decade that set the mould for the Hollywood of the future, firmly establishing a range of genres such as the Western, the gangster movie, the screwball comedy and the musical, while stars like Grant and Hepburn, Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo became international icons. As this stunning collection of poster art confirms, the 30s were also the age of the illustrator, with Al Hirschfield, Hap Hadley and the incomparable Alberto Vargas setting new standards in graphic design. Colour may only just have been making its first appearance on the screens inside the cinemas, but on the hoardings outside the hues were bright and vibrant as never before.