Here's an interesting 2008 article about Noriyoshi Ohrai's STAR WARS work...
http://www.starwars.com/collecting/news/misc/news20080103.htmlI have a Japanese B2 and an Argentinian one sheet (28x40) of this classic EMPIRE image, truly one of the finest in the entire series. I sold the only daybill I had to another APF member several months ago. It is a nice piece, but the artwork is so reduced to fit the smaller poster size, that I opted to keep the larger ones for myself. Like T, I think the Japanese version is VERY desirable because it seems to be the first time that it was used. It is still available on Ebay, usually under $100 and rolled.
As for non-English movie posters, I used to feel the same way. I liked my credits in English, especially when it came to an American-made movie. I quickly got over that when I realized that there are literally thousands of beautiful posters I was missing out on because of my self-imposed 'language barrier.' I have become much more cosmopolitan these days.
However, I do not agree that American posters ALWAYS play second fiddle to any other country's entries. That is just bogus. All countries produce great pieces of movie art and, they all produce their share of the bad.
Here's the Argentinian, which is not as glossy as the Australian...but very impressive, nonetheless.
