There has been a bit of discussion over in the Post Auction thread about the quality of the imagery, design layout etc of the poster campaigns that Universal put out for first releases of their films compared to the later poster campaigns that Realart produced when they re-released many of these classic horror films.
Rather than have that discussion get mixed into the Post auction thread, I thought I'd start a unique thread on the topic, so that various POV about both releases & later RR could be expressed.
I own only one Realart poster. It's a 3 sheet for their 1948 re-release of
The Raven (1935). I'm sure the 1935 3 sheet was a sight to behold but no copies are known to exist. And from the research I've done, this RR 3sheet from 1948 is an only known copy.
In this case, though the original 1935 3sh art was likely better (and probably done in stone lithography, vs the cheaper method of tinted photographs), since no copy is known to exist, then this later example is better than none at all.
And as Benjamin and Rich both mentioned -- at the end of the day, (as with all poster imagery), it comes down to personal preference.
As a heads up to the forum, I may splinter off the related (and initial) comments made in the Post Analysis thread, and put them here, if it seems to add to the foundation of this thread.
C/U Detail shot of Karloff:
Vs the First Release 3 sheet (1935) - from pressbook: