Mid-auction analysis - OMGs!, LOLs!, WTFs!, whatev....

[MoviePosterBid.com]

I'm actually surprised that some of you don't really understand the basic reason for collecting stills, or posters, or anything else.

it's simple:

you say to-may-to, I say to-mat-to

[brude]

I used to collect stills -- best scenes from special movies.
But like lobby cards (for me), they lost their appeal.
There are just too many posters I would rather have and only so much money.
Alas and alack...
Maybe I should go to law school.... 

[Bruce]

I have seen far more stills than any of you, and I can tell you it is no science in determining originality, but rather a great educated guess (and some people are far more educated in this area than others).

Obviously, snipes and stamps on the back are very helpful, but still not a guarantee. There is NO one who can always tell an original from a re-release, restrike or repro, and if anyone wants to make that claim, I will put them to the test and they will fail.

But as long as you buy from someone who gives an unlimited guarantee on originality (and you have reason to believe they will be around for many years) then you are doing all you can.

Bruce

[MoviePosterBid.com]

I used to collect stills -- best scenes from special movies.
But like lobby cards (for me), they lost their appeal.
There are just too many posters I would rather have and only so much money.
Alas and alack...
Maybe I should go to law school.... 

dump the wife and kids and see how much you can collect

 

[brude]

dump the wife and kids and see how much you can collect

 

Dumped the wife(s) but the young 'uns are 'lifers'...   

[eatbrie]

There is NO one who can always tell an original from a re-release, restrike or repro, and if anyone wants to make that claim, I will put them to the test and they will fail.

Just as I thought.  This answers my question perfectly, Bruce, and is the one and only reason why I will not collect them.

[eatbrie]

But as long as you buy from someone who gives an unlimited guarantee on originality (and you have reason to believe they will be around for many years) then you are doing all you can.

This is good, but it doesn't help me, since, per your previous answer, I'll never know either way.

T

[Dread_Pirate_Mel]

Yeah, but if I wanted to see scenes from the movie, I would just watch it.  I don't see what a photo does to enhance the experience.  To me, the poster is what is suppose to get you excited about the film; it locks down on a piece of advertising what the film could be, is, and may be later...  If you are just into film, just watch movies no need to collect things.  Posters represent whole summed up experiences; stills little snip-its of what I've already seen. JMO  

I agree with Charlie. Lobby cards can be cool but artistic and creative posters blow them away. 

[MoviePosterBid.com]

what Bruce is really talkng about is this

except in cases when you absolutely know this is an original still from the original release of the specified movie, it is through the education of dealing with large quantities of this type material over many, many  years that you are able to identify what is real and what is not.

people will say "it's an intuitive guess" but what that really means is that "in the opinion of an expert who has vast experience, this item is an original".

this is part of the skill of being an expert, like Bruce, Grey, Sean, myself and hordes of others and it is most definitely why each of us is are among the people you can trust (there are so many others like Ken Schacter, Ron Moore, John Hazelton, Franc in NY etc etc etc)

[Louie D.]

Stills are great and I have thousands of them

Great to hear.  90% of my collection is made up of stills.  Is your collection made of of some particular genre?

[Louie D.]

I agree with Charlie. Lobby cards can be cool but artistic and creative posters blow them away. 

But you only show an example from a movie made in the 70's.  Lobbies in the teen's though the 30's showed much more artistic inspiration.

[Louie D.]

Obviously, snipes and stamps on the back are very helpful, but still not a guarantee. There is NO one who can always tell an original from a re-release, restrike or repro, and if anyone wants to make that claim, I will put them to the test and they will fail.

I agree, Bruce, but it all depends what you are looking at.  If the item in question was from an Educational comedy short in the 30's, I think the snipe on the back would be a 99% guarantee of authenticity.

[MoviePosterBid.com]

Great to hear.  90% of my collection is made up of stills.  Is your collection made of of some particular genre?

mostly very specific Louie.

I have well over 1000 stills 1900-now featuring gambling going one or in a casino or in a saloon with casino equipment or horse racing, pool players and the like

then of course I have a couple hundred Raymond Chandler as well as some Harryhausen. Also Lon Chaney Sr. I have some amount of Uni-horror stills and then beyond that if I thought there was something about a particular still I liked, I would buy it

[Louie D.]

mostly very specific Louie.

I have well over 1000 stills 1900-now featuring gambling going one or in a casino or in a saloon with casino equipment or horse racing, pool players and the like

then of course I have a couple hundred Raymond Chandler as well as some Harryhausen. Also Lon Chaney Sr. I have some amount of Uni-horror stills and then beyond that if I thought there was something about a particular still I liked, I would buy it

Cool.  I am kinda specific too, if you didn't know, but there are also certain films for the 30's that I have been trying to collect every still from.

[MoviePosterBid.com]

there are also certain films for the 30's that I have been trying to collect every still from.

most people don't realize what a Herculean task that is

[paul waines]

most people don't realize what a Herculean task that is

Absolutely,  I've been missing, and looking for 1 from Ghost of Frankenstein, 1 from Son of frankenstein, 4 from Invisible Man, 4 from War of the worlds, 5 from Forbidden planet,  for over 35 years. First release F.O.H. Stills are very easy to recognise, but never turn up.

The people who have them, if they still exist, don't part with them. As an example, I have 6 from The Mummy's Ghost. A fellow I know has  3 (i think, maybe 4) there's one I need from those he has, but he wants £500 for the 3 and won't split them.  So I have two hope's and one of them is Bob...   

[Charlie]

Who is this Bob guy everyone keeps referring to?

[MoviePosterBid.com]

Paul.. think of this.. you're talking about completiong FOH sets of 8
Louie is talking about completing US still sets which can number from 50 to over 300

[Mondo Hazardo]

I love stills now. When you collect favorite actors and directors like I do there's nothing that beats them. After 15 years of collecting I've decided that poster art can really detract of the love for a film. I'd say that over 70 % of the art for posters either does not fit the movie or is just bad. They also have the nasty habit of looking bad when damaged much more quickly than stills. And then there's this nasty habit of being so big that you can only show a few of them (basically the reason why I started a gallery, so I can show more), so that most of your collection is on a pile folded or unfolded.
I have over 6000 stills on flickr now, slowly added to them: http://www.flickr.com/photos/hazardous_operations_movie_posters_and_stills/

Still collecting also appeals to my "completist" urges. When I was a kid I used to cut black and white photos from TV guides and making my own pictorial film encyclopedias.

Wim

[paul waines]

I do have many "stills", Rich, but have never contemplated getting everyone from a particular film, especially originals..... The mind boggles.

If I had the time and money, I would have ago. So it's a lotto win I need before going there... My problem is it would be from a film like, Bride of Frankenstein.

Most likely all the Universal Monster movies.

[CSM]

Who is this Bob guy everyone keeps referring to?

Bob Sacamano of course!

[MoviePosterBid.com]

Paul, while it is not a specific goal for me to get every still from all Raymond Chandler movies, largely because of the enormous task it is, I wouldn't mind being able to get them. However, unless I'm able to find near complete collections of them, and considering  my age, I doubt I would ever be able to complete such a task

[Harry Caul]

Paul.. think of this.. you're talking about completiong FOH sets of 8
Louie is talking about completing US still sets which can number from 50 to over 300

How does one even go about determining how many stills were issued for a particular movie?  Is it listed in the press book or something?

[MoviePosterBid.com]

How does one even go about determining how many stills were issued for a particular movie?  Is it listed in the press book or something?

usually they can tell by how many keybook stills there are, and I'm certain that historians know exactly how many stills there are. One way to get an idea is the numbers on the still itself.
the first few letters/numbers are the studio release info and it would be followed by a dash & a number. that last number is the order #. if your still says C809-126 (made up #), then you can be sure there are at least 126 stills for that movie.

there are also of course people who have gotten studio files in days past with complete sets of stills.
I think the general number is approx 150 for certain studios and less for lesser studios. But you can find some films with absolutely incredible numbers of stills.

[MoviePosterBid.com]

I might mention, film historian Allan Asherman who I knew since I was a kid had one of the best collections of horror-sf stills ever assembled.

Unfortunately, he lived in a basement apartment  in Manhattan and one day back in the late 80s or so a watermain burst right out in front of his building. he was forced to evacuate due to the coming flood and that building was completely flooded below street level, and he lost everything. I would bet he knows exactly how many stills there are for most or all of the classics