10 Greatest Movie Posters Ever Made

Stunning film ads to cover your walls with...

Apr 21st 2009


2. Vertigo (1958)

Why it’s good: They don’t come a lot better than this – we can probably count on one hand that number of film one-sheets (‘ironic’ B-movie art not included) that you might conceivably want to hang on your wall even if you’d never seen the movie.

Saul Bass is responsible for most of them, and no list of best posters would be complete without at least one of his. This one just pips Bunny Lake Is Missing – although it’s a tough call – by arguably better capturing the essence of the film it’s advertising.

What would break it: It must’ve been a tough call to leave the already-highly-bankable mugs of Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak off the poster, but it pays dividends here. A tagline would further have detracted from the power of the dizzying graphic.

1. Metropolis (1927)

Why it’s good: It’s a proper, honest-to-goodness work of art, innit?

The moody sketching, the juxtaposition of harsh geometric angles, smooth robo-chrome and jagged, sinister font...it’s beautiful. And sepia. Sepia is cool.

Furthermore, it says everything you need to know about Lang’s masterpiece itself. We’re going to the future, aren’t we? And we’re going to have mixed feelings about it when we get there, right..?

What would break it: Well, obviously screenshots would likely have been rather weak, given that this is the 1920s, but really it's hard to see any changes not taking something away from this uniquely attractive, skinny-fit beauty. This one's about as close to perfect as they come.

Mark Powell

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Comments

    • DravenCage

      Apr 21st 2009, 11:27

      With the Cloverfield poster, the use of "SOME THING" rather than the single word "SOMETHING" really adds to the mystery of it as well.

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    • DravenCage

      Apr 21st 2009, 11:32

      With Cloverfield, the use of "SOME THING" on the tagline rather than the single word "SOMETHING" makes a lot of difference as well.

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    • DravenCage

      Apr 21st 2009, 11:33

      Sorry for posting twice (three times?), but the original comment didn't come up, so I thought there was an issue with it and posted again.

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    • filmgeek27

      Apr 21st 2009, 13:56

      Hard Candy is my pick of the bunch but some of my faves that aren't on the list are Manhattan (it's such an iconic image), Memento, Heavy Load, Sex and the City and Breakfast At Tiffany's

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    • TheTingler

      Apr 21st 2009, 16:32

      I personally think the Dark Knight poster featuring the Joker with his back to us (holding a Joker card in one hand and a knife in the other) is a far better poster - much more subtle.

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    • MarkPowell

      Apr 22nd 2009, 12:14

      @filmgeek27 - with you on Memento, that very nearly made this list. The recursive Polaroid thing is ace. Although - erk! - Breakfast At Tiffany's, eh? Oof, you're unlikely to agree wholeheartedly with the corresponding '10 worst' feature, then...

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    • Sproutacus

      Apr 22nd 2009, 21:22

      The Dark Knight poster is awful, too much information, the bat symbol is iconic enough and having it burned into the building like that is all we need to tell us that all is not right in Gotham. Thanks DravenCage, I'd never noticed that little "Some thing" gap before and I'd spend ages analysing that poster with a mate prior to the films release trying to work out what the film was about. Good marketing apparently?!

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    • spunkbag

      Apr 23rd 2009, 0:25

      Where the hell is the truman show poster, easily the best poster from the last 20, no 30 years

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    • pimpernel

      Apr 24th 2009, 19:48

      I have a cloverfield poster without the tagline... which is far better. It's even more mysterious. Plus I personally like the Casino Royale poster.

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    • ashley.russell

      Apr 25th 2009, 19:17

      I'd say most of the posters on this list here ---> http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/11/19/40-exquisite-independent-film-posters/ are as good as or better than the ones in this list. That's not to say these aren't good, its just there's so many good ones out there that a top ten list will never be enough to cover it. You should do a top 100 in the mag or summat.

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    • alecgoodhand

      Apr 26th 2009, 19:02

      How about the poster for The Phantom Menace where Anakin's shadow is in the shape of Darth Vader. I know the film was a disappointment but the poster gave me chills of excitement.

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    • FBMSales

      Jan 22nd 2012, 22:26

      Back to the Future? Apocalypse Now? Clockwork Orange? Donnie Darko? Pulp Fiction? Alien? Black Swan? The Exorcist?

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