Star Wars Non-Oscars Unfolded Quad Poster 1977

More about this item:

UK Quad "Style-C" unfolded poster for "Star Wars" (1977), this being the "non-Oscars" version, with artwork by Tom Chantrell.

Perhaps Chantrell's most famous poster. For the full story about this poster, please see Sim Branaghan's book "British Film Posters" (2006). In a nutshell, the Hildebrandt team produced the initial Quad poster design & this went to print before producer Gary Kurtz gave the commission to Tom Chantrell (the key characters in the Hildebrandt design were deemed too anonymous & Kurtz wanted them to feature more strongly). Chantrell's poster, of course supplied the goods & it is this design that is now instantly recognised as the image that launched the "Star Wars" global franchise.

There are two versions of Chantrell's "Star Wars" Poster. This one is the rarest. A couple of weeks after the launch of the film in the UK, "Star Wars" was nominated for the Oscars & text to this effect was hastily added (lower right). However, due to the way in which blockbusters such as this were "rolled out" across the UK, only the larger metroplitan cinemas were showing "Star Wars" before the switchover & thus the "non-Oscar" version of the poster (as shown here) is the rarer of the two types to be found.

This Poster also provides an interesting insight into the way Chantrell created his designs. Clearly influenced by the composition of "The Dirty Dozen", Tom replaced the firing guns with light sabres but in order to achieve the right body shapes, he photographed his wife Shirley, posing as Princess Leia. Shirley & the Chantrell's twin daughters, Louise & Jaqui, were frequently pressed into service to be photographed as models for various posters that Tom worked on.

This particular poster is near mint condition (slight crease upper left corner only) & in rare unfolded form having never been used. It would be hard to find another example in such fine unrestored condition. Like everything sold from this site, this poster will come with written provenance attesting to the fact that it was owned by its creator & comes from the Chantrell archive.