The curious case of the French Blow-Up posters

[Bruce]

We recently auctioned a French one-panel poster from Blow-Up, and we said it was from the first 1967 release, and then Thierry Brame, co-owner (with Holiday Russell) of All Poster Forum posted that it was a re-release. That set us on a journey researching that poster (and the ones from the other releases) and we came up with the following definitive answers (corroborated by all the leading French poster experts and by the fine research available on Ed Poole's LAMP site):

There are three releases, and they look very similar (almost everything is the same, except the R70s omits the 1967 from the top Cannes tagline)

THIS IS ORIGINAL:
"1967" in the top Cannes tagline
"ATELIERS LALANDE 91-WISSOUS - TEL 920.98.75.76"

THIS IS R69:
"1967" in the top Cannes tagline
"LALANDE COURBET 91-WISSOUS"

THIS IS R70s:
NO "1967" in the top Cannes tagline
"Ste EXPL Ets LALANDE COURBET 91-WISSOUS"

You can see a visual comparison here:
http://www.emovieposter.com/unused/blowup_research_reference_images.jpg

Now the above information showed we had just auctioned a R69 as an original, so of course we then contacted that buyer and told them what had happened and cancelled the sale.

We next went over our ENTIRE history of every auctioning versions of this French poster, and discovered that we have only once had an original, and that there were 4 times where we incorrectly identified a R69 as original and three times where we incorrectly identified a R70s as a R69 (because we were given erroneous information some years ago that led us astray).

Fortunately, we keep accurate records of every past sale, so we contacted those 7 buyers and offered to take back the seven posters for a full refund (including shipping both ways so they lose nothing) or to make a partial refund if the price they paid was too high based on the false info, EVEN IF YEARS HAVE GONE BY, and we long ago paid the consignors.

Once we have heard from all the buyers we will likely lose many hundreds of dollars, but it is well worth it, because it lets our buyers know just how much we stand behind everything we sell!

We then took a quick look at the Internet to see if we could find other examples that were being sold incorrectly. We found that Dave Lieberman of Cinemasterpieces had one for sale that was a R69 but was incorrectly identified as original, and we contacted him, and he promptly corrected it.

We went to Heritage's archive on their site, and discovered that they obviously had incorrect information (like we did) but they had DIFFERENT incorrect information than we did, resulting in their selling three different posters, one from each release, and identifying them incorrectly every time.

This is the original that they sold as R70s:
http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=161216&lotNo=53072>http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=161216&lotNo=53072

This is the R69 that they sold as 1966:
http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=693&lotNo=65245>http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=693&lotNo=65245

This is the R70s that they sold as R69:
http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=58024&lotNo=54052>http://movieposters.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=58024&lotNo=54052

Now hopefully they will go back and contact the two buyers to whom they sold they posters they incorrectly identified (there is no need to contact the third one, the one who got an original incorrectly marked as a re-release, because that person got an incredible buy and is surely happy!). But they may or may not have a policy of doing this. If they are followers of "buyer beware", which so many auctions are, then those buyers are simply out of luck.

I also don't know if they will go into their online archive and correct the above mistakes, as we do. We always correct any errors in our database, and remove all sales where the buyer never paid or they returned the items, to keep our database super accurate, but it takes a lot of time and money to do so.

IF ANYONE READING THIS OWNS AN EXAMPLE OF A FRENCH BLOW-UP POSTER, THEN YOU SHOULD TAKE IT OUT AND CHECK TO SEE WHICH RELEASE YOU HAVE. If you were incorrectly sold a re-release as either an original or as the wrong re-release, then contact the person or auction you bought if from and ask for a refund or a price adjustment.

Thanks much to Thierry Brame, Ed Poole and others who helped in this research.

[Tob]

Well done Bruce, I applaud your customer service, excellent.

[eatbrie]

Good job, Bruce.

FYI, this is not the only title.  The Fearless Vampire Killers and Rosemary's Baby come to mind. I own Lalande-Courbet versions of both posters and always thought they were originals, until I found Ateliers Lalande versions.  The Lalande-Courbet versions were sold, and are still sold, as first printings.  But they are not.  I talked to a friend of mine who is one of the foremost poster collectors in France.  He has owned the Lalande-Courbet versions for years and had no idea they were a 2nd printing.

My personal take on this is that the company changed names and was contractually obligated to reprint some posters with the new name.  Blow Up, Rosemary's Baby, Fearless, were not re-released a year after their original re-release.  They were still in theaters, since it was customary for a movie to stay up for a year or two, depending on its success.

T

[paul waines]

I won't be checking Blow-up, but will be checking My Dance of the Vampires....  Thanks Bruce and Thierry,

[eatbrie]

Apparently 1967 and 1968 are confusing years in France.  Maybe it has something to do with May 68   Too much freedom.

What I know is that when it comes to French posters, it is a learning experience.  I learn every day.  So many collectors are duped into thinking that they own an original when they don't.  This is why I try to post the printers below the pictures on the French posters part of my website.

T