The Robe / Demetrius And The Gladiators
in Australian
The daybill of Demetrious And The Gladiators( 1954 ) has been reasonably easy to obtain for many years now. Nine have been sold on eMovieposter.com on their site alone. It is a different story with The Robe though. I have only seen one image of The Robe in daybill form and one only image of the Australian one sheet also. The Robe was a 1953 release in the U.S.A. and the sequel released nine months later in 1954. Is The Robe harder to find because it is being collected and kept because it has historical importance being it was the first film released in Cinemascope or for some other reason perhaps. There are many other 20th Century Fox films where I cannot find an image of such as the Aub. Mosely designed Sailor Of The King and another much sort after image is for An Affair To Remember but the list goes on. Many collectible Marilyn Monroe tiles which one would have thought would be harder to locate are in fact seen often in the market place which makes it interesting in trying to fathom out why certain titles are around today when others aren't?
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Picked this one up just recently. The green triangle is a piece of paper stuck over the original rating.
Popular stars of the fifties. My mother actually had pictures of Victor Mature on her bedroom walls as a teenager!
The image of The Robe daybill I have seen before is different in wording and design and has the For General Exhibition censorship rating on it. The top section of the poster above the 20th Century Fox logo has the 3 stars Richard Burton, Jean Simmons and Victor mature depicted along with the following wording at the top of the poster. ''The most awaited motion picture event of your lifetime... a new world of sight and sound!'', Both daybills printed by W.E.Smith. The ''most awaited'' wording would lead me to think this one came first followed by yours most due possibly to the overwelming box office success of the film but no one knows for sure.
The version I have seen has the three stars and the rest is palace scenes copied off the U.S. artwork. The version you have is the only version I have found from around the World that has Richard Burton only on the poster. It appears to have been copied from the left half of the U.S. half sheet disregarding the right hand side altogether. Very strange indeed.
Beneath the green triangle has FGE.
I presumed this was the original by W.E because I have never seen any other versions.
Perhaps they went with two styles, which are sometimes mentioned on press sheets. I have a lot from 1953, but no Robe unfortunately.
This could be a case for two styles as the majority of what is on one daybill isn't on the other. Oh where is a press sheet when one is needed ? Perhaps John may have one.
Have you got an image of the other version I can see?
Yes I do and I have sent it to you by email as I was having problems here. Let me know your thoughts after you receive it.
Both identical credits at bottom. Both full colour printings.
I think there were two styles of daybill released.
I'm calling mine 'Style B' - unless anyone objects.
I would like to say that this forum is proving really valuable in educating the field. Well done to D, M & C.
No individual will ever be able to amass all the knowledge on Australian movie posters, but collectively the hobby is moving ahead in leaps and bounds.