Swiss James Bond movie posters
Title and top billing set in Stack
Swiss posters for 1970s re-releases of the first five James Bond films starring Sean Connery. The posters display each film’s title in both English and German, with one exception.
The green poster for Dr. No features the title and top billing set in Stack. The red poster for From Russia with Love features the title and top billing set in what looks to be an optically condensed and shaded style of Bookman Bold, possibly based on Letraset's version, using Swash alternates. The yellow poster for Goldfinger features the title set in Process. The orange poster for Thunderball features the title and top billing set in Chicago, in a open style for the English title and with an alternate N that might have been based on that seen in the similar Pointillé or Luminous. Interestingly, François Robert’s digital revision, known as Baudot, comes in a Pop Open style that achieves a similar effect as the titling on this poster. The additional German title, Feuerball, is set in Pin Ball. Finally, the blue poster for You Only Live Twice features the title and top billing set in Cooper Hilite which is reversed for the English title. Additional text on all posters is set in Helvetica.
Four of the posters were also printed in slightly alternate designs featuring French titles in the same typographic styles. It is unknown if a French version of the Goldfinger poster exists. It may be that a French version was unnecessary given that the English title was used for the 1965 release in France.
The fonts in use place these Swiss posters for the re-released films at 1973 or later, assuming they were all designed at the same time.
Designer is unknown.
Title and top billing set in what looks to be an optically condensed and shaded style of Bookman Bold Swash
Title set in Process
Title and billing set in Cooper Hilite
Alternate poster designs (bottom row) with French titles in the same typographic styles
2 Comments on “Swiss James Bond movie posters”
Outstanding addition, Patrick!
I browsed my catalogs for the condensed and shaded Bookman. This variety of Bookman Bold Swash a.k.a. “Sixties Bookman” is shown in a Typeshop catalog from 1973 as Bookman Swash Drop, without any further info. It’s also listed in Castcraft’s Encyclopedia of Phototype Styles from 1978, there as Bookman Outline Swash Drop Shadow. As you suggest, it appears to be related to Letraset’s version, and has about the same swash repertoire.
Thank you!
And thanks for the extra info on Sixties Bookman.