Man, there was
a lot of
promotional and
advertising art created to sell
Dino de Laurentis' Flash Gordon movie in the various world markets. The artwork at top is particularly interesting to me because it's an original painting that doesn't use any of the familiar art elements seen on most of the other International posters, but
does include the comic strip's Prince Thun of the Lion Men (there
is a Thun in the movie - briefly - but he doesn't have a tail) and other characters and creatures that don't appear in the movie at all (including what appears to be the witch queen, Azura).
I wish I had a better scan of the second poster - the rope-swinging Flash is pretty dynamic.
thats interesting, the top poster is obviously done by someone who had seen the series but not the movie,The king of the lion men is in it, There's some odd woman in the top right hand corner, both of which aren't in the film.
ReplyDeleteAs I noted in the post (does anyone actually read them?) those non-movie characters appear to be from Alex Raymond's comic strip.
DeleteKeep your pants on, I was just re-Iterating .
DeleteOne of the region 2 DVD versions of the movie I have includes some Thun concept art in the gallery section, showing the true Lion Man design. A shame that in the movie, they just had a normal guy as Thun with no make up or prosthetics.
ReplyDeleteAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!
ReplyDelete(giggle)
Man, I miss the days when every country/region would come up with their own poster art - led to some awesome creations. I remember as a kid visiting Spain (where I was born, but raised in Canada) for the summers and really tripping out on all the different advertising art for movies (and tv). Alot of theatres would paint elaborate murals on the outside of the building as well which were just stunning (hate myself for not taking photos at the time).
ReplyDeleteStill never watched this movie. I like the top poster a lot.
ReplyDeletehttp://scifihorrorfantasy.wordpress.com/
That is some really nice art work Chris. I always find it interesting that most of the time the foreign poster art work and designs tend to be better than the U.S. versions. Although a lot can be said about this film good and not so good, like yourself I tend to concentrate on the good. This film's poster helped me through a tough time in 1980 when I had to go to Philadelphia for training on a new job I was taking. Being from the suburbs I always felt lost and vulnerable in any big city. Passing this poster everyday as I weaved my way through the city was a security blanket type of thing that helped me take my mind off of where I was at. Keep laying this great art work on us.
ReplyDeleteOne of my all-time favorites. I love that French title: "The Flash Guy".
ReplyDelete