A good classic Hollywood movie memorabilia collection will do something that a good Hollywood movie does.
It will tell a story.
Most of all it will be your story: the story of your life, your enthusiasms, taste, and your lucky attendance at this sale or that.
But, with almost limitless scope for a collection I think theming makes sense.
Not least, with reselling in mind.
Collectors move in packs. Themed sales absolutely make sense for dealers and buyers alike.
Genre is a great way to theme your collection.
So here’s a quick guide to three Golden Age of Hollywood genres that might make good bases for your collection.
We’re taking a Golden Age definition, loosely, of around 1930 to 1960, and this guide leaves out a load of interesting areas you might wish to explore elsewhere.
Horror
An iconic moment from Bride of Frankenstein with Elsa Lanchester and Boris Karloff moving audiences with more than just fear.
Horror is:
A celebration of our love of being scared. Not for everyone, the horror genre has dedicated fans and is a mainstay of modern fan convention and cosplay scenes.
The films are often transgressive and carry countercultural messages or social criticism. And sometimes they’re just a chance to bathe in the adrenaline of shock and graphic violence.
With some rich - sometimes shocking - visuals in promo materials and lots of scope to shop for costumes and props, there’s plenty of interest for collectors here.
Five key films:
Freaks (1932) is one of the ultimate cult films, but it wasn’t an independent and was made by studio director Tod Browning. It was considered so shocking that it was banned until the 1960s in the UK and is still much debated today. What does it say about disability and society? And banning and rarity means value for collectors.
Bride of Frankenstein (1935), James Whale’s classic sequel is one of the greats of the Universal Horror sequence and features a landmark Boris Karloff monster turn of real humanity.
House of Wax (1953) was the film that did most to revive Vincent Price’s career by spotting his sinister side. It was full of mid-50s gimmicks - shot in 3D, with a stereo soundtrack - and major marketing made it a massive hit. A big melodrama and a great representation of 50s film making.
The Fly (1958) is a b-movie horror that is a classic of the genre’s fans way with rediscovery and reassessment. Made quickly and cheaply and based on a Playboy magazine short story, not even the cast (including Vincent Price) took it that seriously. Reviewers at the time didn’t like it, though its financial success inspired two cash-in sequels. But now it’s seen as a classic sci-fi/psychological horror and was given a big-brained remake by body-horror master David Cronenberg in 1986.
Psycho (1960) is one of the films that brought down the curtain on the Goldren Age of Hollywood, as one of its key figures, British director Alfred Hitchcock, turned his back on Technicolor to make a low-budget, black-and-white film tackling some heavy-duty Freudian stuff with no respect for its one big star. It’s now considered one of Hitchcock’s most successful films and has a huge place in popular consciousness.
Original posters from Freaks are very rare and can make huge money at auction.
Collector’s tip. The Universal Horrors of the 1930s are among the most valuable film posters in collecting history ($198,000 for a Frankenstein, for example). But time moves on, and if you want to find value you need to buy before scarcity and taste set the bar high. Take a look at the 50s horror scene for striking imagery in good condition, large posters - an undiscovered classic, ripe for critical reappraisal would be perfect.
Westerns
Henry Fonda leading John Wayne into a battle he doesn't want to fight in Fort Apache, one of John Ford's western masterpieces.
Horse operas. A huge genre taking in all sorts of others: war movies, action and adventure, comedy, musical….
They’re American. And could only be American. Because they’re about America and America’s myth. And a lot of what they say isn’t accepted any more.
The films are generally set in the Old West or the Frontier or the Wild West, the vast stretches of land beyond the eastern seaboard cities of early American settler colonies into which the country expanded through the 19th century.
Some of the earliest movies ever made were Westerns (one shot in Blackburn, Lancashire), and Hollywood’s location on the West Coast made it the perfect place for galloping through desert and scrub on big and small screen alike.
5 Key Films
Destry Rides Again (1939) reminds us with the casting of German star Marlene Dietrich (playing a character called Frenchie from New Orleans of course) what an international scene the real old West’s land (and sometimes gold) rushes were. It’s a rip-roaring movie, also starring James Stewart, and showcases a lot of what would now be recognized as Western cliches.
Fort Apache (1948) was the first of director John Ford’s Cavalry Trilogy and starred John Wayne, the greatest partnership in western history. Henry Ford and Shirley Temple add even more star power to this exciting and tragic movie.
High Noon (1952) is a very action-light Western that’s mostly taken up with talking about violence. John Wayne hated it so much he called it “unAmerican”, and one of its writers was on the Red Scare blacklist. It’s now widely regarded as a classic, features Grace Kelly’s first substantial role, and has been widely ripped off, parodied and pastiched.
The Big Country (1958) has no doubts about the glories of the west and a cracking cast, including Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons and Charlton Heston. Feuding ranchers battle over water rights in astounding scenery with loads of big action set-pieces to give the movie an epic feel.
Shane (1953) is a classic gunslinger movie based on the real life violence of conflict over land - something like a war according to some historians. The makers used a big budget and wonderful locations well enough to make Shane a Western classic despite the star Alan Ladd hating guns and the villainous Jack Palance hating horses.
Jack Palance, about to cause some trouble for the outgunned farmers of Shane.
Collector’s tip. Westerns were movies of big personalities, heroes and stars. You could easily pick out someone like John Wayne, John Ford, or Gregory Peck as a central point to your collection. The making of these movies, and what they say about America is a fascinating study in its own right.
Noir
Marilyn in Niagara, where she was a classic noir femme fatale. Click the image to own the original and discover how it inspired the world's most precious art work.
No-one has successfully defined what a Film Noir is. But lots of people recognise them when they see them.
They’re usually crime movies that eschew the simple dynamics of good cops chasing bad robbers. There’s corruption, cynicism, dishonesty and deceit.
I once saw the central theme of noir described as “everyone’s fucked.”
Most classic noirs were made in the 40s and 50s. Lots of them had input from European film professionals who were fleeing the Nazis in their own continent. They’re usually relatively low-budget and shot in black and white, often in visually imaginative ways inspired by artier Euro flicks.
A French critic invented the term, and American film makers weren’t consciously operating within a genre when they made their movies - often quickly for little money, with some stylistic choices forced upon them by limited means.
Since the genre has been recognised (around the 1970s), directors around the world, but particularly in France and Japan have made Films Noirs and modern Hollywood makes big budget Neo Noirs by the bucket load.
Five key films:
The Big Sleep (1946) is like a who’s who of film noir. Based on a Raymond Chandler novel, directed by Howard Hawks, written by Jules Furthman, William Faulkner and Leigh Brackett and starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Bogart is Philip Marlowe, the root for all subsequent private detectives. For evidence that Film Noir is a very vibes-based genre consider the story of Hawks asking Chandler about one of the central incidents in the film, who had committed a murder. Chandler had to admit he didn’t know. And it doesn’t really matter.
The Killers (1946) based on an Ernest Hemmingway story, this is apparently the only film of his work that the author liked. Who can you trust? No-one in this tale of double- and triple-crossing gangsters and their women. Burt Lancaster was cast as a relative unknown so the audience wouldn’t have expectations of what his character might do. Ava Gardner too. In a very typical noir moment, two would-be assassins both succeed in killing each other - no-one wins.
Out of the Past (1947) lands at the top of a lot of Films Noir lists. It’s menacing, dark, corrupt, doomed and beautifully played by Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer (as a classic Femme Fatale). Who’s double-crossing who? Who isn’t!
Key Largo (1948) is another Bogart and Bacall classic, with Edward G Robinson as a gangster using a Florida hotel to do a deal that ends up in disaster. It’s got something like a happy ending, but the shadow of the war hangs everywhere around the rain-drenched hotel.
Sunset Boulevard (1950) is the film that shows us that Hollywood itself is noir. Gloria Swanson plays a fading star - chewing the scenery - with William Holden as a writer who we meet floating face down in her swimming pool at the start of the movie. It’s sometimes described as a black comedy and it’s hard to imagine one darker.
Reader, she married him. Bogart and Bacall smouldered off an on-screen in a series of dark thrillers now recognised as films noir.
Collector’s tip: Films noirs aren’t always big hits, and there’s a lot of value to be found in the genre. You could focus on Bogard or William Holden or any number of glamorous Femmes Fatale actors for your collection. The Maltese Falcon, which may or may not be a noir, is the most collectible of all in this area, with posters of the right sort making hundreds of thousands of dollars and the statue prop at the heart of the story selling for over $4 million in 2013.
Genre collecting
There are three examples of fascinating genres that would provide years of collecting interest.
And it’s only touching the surface.
Musicals, epics, romance and melodrama, comedy… Hollywood captured all of human life.
Looking on the brighter side of Hollywood with Laurel and Hardy, whose career survived the end of silent films and lasted well into the Golden Age. Click the image to buy it.
The best advice for most collectors - even those looking for monetary returns - is to follow your passion and build a collection that you’ll love.
Buying movie memorabilia today
Always buy from reputable sources and look for good-quality authentication (where possible) and provenance for every item you consider.
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