Search Results: European Cinema from Royal Books, Inc.

Los Angeles: Paramount Pictures, 1976. Vintage photograph on the set of the 1976 film, showing director Bernardo Bertolucci giving instructions to actors Robert De Niro, Gerard Depardieu, and Romolo Valli. Director Bernardo Bertolucci's epic film was a gargantuan undertaking, requiring the resources of three European countries and a trio of American movie studios. Set in the small town of Parma, the film follows two best friends born in 1901 whose lives diverge drastically as a result of their class differences and the rise of Fascism in Italy. Set in Parma, Italy, shot on location in Rome, Lombardia, and Campagnia, Italy. 6 x 4 inches. Near Fine. Eureka 135. Olive Films 345.

Nice: Self published, 1957. Sixteen vintage photographs from the 1957 Cannes Film Festival. On the versos of 11 photos is a rubber-stamp for photographer "L. Mirkine," photographer "Pierre Manciet" on the versos of remaining 5, and names corresponding to the image subjects on the versos in manuscript ink. Housed in a manila envelope with "Festival 1957 Cannes" on the recto in manuscript ink. The collection features images of Jean Cocteau (in the arms of Ann Heywood and June Laverick as he talks to James Robertson Justice), Patricia Smith, Izolda Izvitskaya, Roman Karmen, Don Murray, Grigoriy Chukhray, Oleg Strizhenov, Jacqueline Pagnol, Giuletta Masina, Eleanor Rossi Drago, Nadia Gray, Nicole Berger, Maurice Ronet, Melina Mercouri, William Wyler, Maëa Flohr, Mylene Demongeot, and John Kitzmiller, among others. The 1957 festival marked it's tenth anniversary, prominent jurors included André Maurois, Jean Cocteau, Marcel Pagnol, Michael Powell, Dolores del Río, Claude Aveline, and Alberto… Read More

Paris: Sygma, 1975. Vintage oversize borderless reference photograph from the 1975 French film, showing actors Jane Birkin and Gérard Depardieu. Mimeo snipe and stamp of Sygma on the verso. A surgeon at a public hospital in a small French town faces harassment from a rival surgeon and his incompetent sons, who hate competition. 12 x 8 inches, with a wide right margin, Very Good plus, with moderate edgewear and a short closed tear on the right edge.

Rome: Zebra Films / Cineriz, 1960. Collection of 64 vintage borderless single weight film still photographs for the 1960 Italian film. Starring actress Signoret is prominently featured, looking pensive or embracing costar Mastroianni, and in stunning group images with her female costars. Numerical annotations in manuscript pencil on the versos, five with Contino's rubberstamp, and two are dupes made by the original developer. Based on an original screenplay, about the 1958 Merlin Law making brothels illegal in Italy. Adua (Signoret) and her three friends are prostitutes whose brothel in Rome is shut down. Adua convinces them to pool their savings to open a restaurant to generate a living, instead of returning to prostitution. Their permit is rejected because of their lurid history, but a former client agrees to buy the building and hire them to run a brothel fronting as a restaurant, charging them rent. The restaurant is ironically successful and Adua even romances Piero (Mastroianni), but her… Read More

Paris: Zebra Films / Cineriz, 1960. Original oversize program for the 1960 Italian, here under the original title. Illustrated in red, with black-and-white stills from the film. Starring actress Signoret is prominently featured, looking pensive or embracing costar Mastroianni, and in stunning group images with her female costars. Also included is an original press packet, detailing film credits, a synopsis, and brief star biographies. Based on an original screenplay, about the 1958 Merlin Law making brothels illegal in Italy. Adua (Signoret) and her three friends are prostitutes whose brothel in Rome is shut down. Adua convinces them to pool their savings to open a restaurant to generate a living, instead of returning to prostitution. Their permit is rejected because of their lurid history, but a former client agrees to buy the building and hire them to run a brothel fronting as a restaurant, charging them rent. The restaurant is ironically successful and Adua even romances Piero (Mastroianni), but… Read More

Rome, Italy: Produzione Gallone / Filmsonor, 1951. Original souvenir program, printed in Italy, for the 1951 Italian-French-Spanish film. With several full-color illustrations of Roman warriors and women, and black-and-white films stills and on-the-set images. Based on the powerful and influential wife of the Roman Emperor Claudius, who conspired to kill him and was executed as a result. The classic adulterous figure has been portrayed in film since the Silent era, and actress Felix, a prolific and popular Mexican celebrity, marked the third appearance of Messalina on screen. A healthy credit for director Carmine, whose 100-plus films leave a considerable impression in early Italian cinema. 9.25 x 12 inches, saddle-stapled color illustrated wrappers, 12 leaves. Very Good plus, with foxing and light curling.

Paris: William Morris Agency, 1950. ry Good Plus overall, with faint foxing and slight curling.

N.p.: N.p., 1945. Vintage program for the 1945 German film. Text and titles in German. After being released from prison for murdering his first wife, a factory owner remarries, but lives in fear of blackmail and the secret being exposed to his second wife. 7.25 x 10.5 inches. Bifold. About Near Fine.

N.p.: N.p., 1947. Vintage program for the 1947 German film. Text and titles in German. A sawmill administrator at the center of a remote forest contends with the wishes of the factory heiress, who wishes to borrow an astronomical sum in order to open a nightclub in town. 7.25 x 10.5 inches. Bifold. About Near Fine.

Hollywood: Prime, 1973. Vintage borderless photograph from the 1973 film, showing actress Florence Cayrol. Stamp of Prime Pictures on the verso. A sword-and-sandal film about an all-female society of Amazon warriors as they select their new queen, who must mate with the Greek king Theseus to carry on the bloodline of the tribe. Shot on location in Italy and Spain. 8 x 10 inches. Very Good plus, with a light crease at the bottom right corner.

New York: Joseph Brenner, 1951. Vintage pressbook for the US release of the 1951 German film. The doctor of an invalid heiress marries her out of pity, not expecting her to live more than a few years after their marriage, but begins to fall in love with her. Shot in Rome and Naples, Italy, and in Bavaria, Germany. Single leaf, bifold, 10.5 x 13.5 inches. Very Good plus, with light edgewear.

N.p.: N.p., 1962. Four vintage borderless studio still photographs from the 1962 film. Rare. "Love at Twenty" is anthology film on the titular theme by five filmmakers, Shintaro Ishihara, Marcel Ophuls, Renzo Rossellini, François Truffault, and Andrzej Wajda, united with a score by Georges Delerue and photographs of Henri Cartier-Bresson. Truffaut's short is the second of five films which follow his alter-ego, Antoine Doinel (Jean-Pierre Léaud). The films in the Antoine Doinel series are "The 400 Blows" (1959), "Antoine and Colette" (1962), "Stolen Kisses" (1968), "Bed and Board" (1970), and "Love on the Run" (1979). Antoine, now aged 17, falls in love for the first time to the lovely Colette (Marie-France Pisier), whose feelings, though tender, are not reciprocated. Set in and shot on location in Paris. 8 x 10 inches. Near Fine. Criterion Collection 185.

Paris: Cinedis, 1960. Archive of correspondence, gift lists, and journalist lists from representatives at Cinedis, notably Christian de la Maziere, briefly the impresario of press relations (and former Waffen-SS soldier), and Maryse Martres (Martin), who managed much of the company's press and advertising responsibilities. Text in French. Represented in the archive are more than 50 leaves and an advertising catalog, including several checklists detailing the names of various associates who have contributed in some way to Cinedis, and a few notes of correspondence thanking de la Maziere and Martres for gifts received. Dates noted for gift lists include 1957-1958, 1958-1959, and 1959-1960, many with annotations in manuscript ink noting addresses, and some of the lists note in manuscript ink gift ideas for each recipient, being cravate (ties), bloc notes (note pads), montre (watch), crayon Balmain (pencils), echarpe (scarf), and other items. Regarding the budget for these gifts, several leaves… Read More

Paris: C.A.P.A.C., 1966. Vintage borderless photograph from the 1966 film. A compendium of four short films from the master French comedian, a contemporary and collaborator with legends such as Jacques Tati and Jerry Lewis, who legacy was threatened with obscurity when ongoing legal disputes kept his work from being available for almost 40 years. 5 x 7 inches. Near Fine. Criterion Collection 655.

New York: Janus Films, 1961. Three vintage studio still photographs from the 1958 film. Based on the 1948 novel by Jerzy Andrzejewski. The last film in the "war" trilogy that began Polish director Wajda's career as a director, preceded by "Pokolenie" (1955) and "Kanal" (1957). A strong anti-war statement, framed in the personae of two men given orders - from the part of the resistance that opposes the new Communist regime, and on the last day of World War II in Poland - to murder a leading communist. One of Wajda's favorite performers and a friend, Zbigniew Cybulski, plays the man who eventually pulls the trigger and kills the communist leader, with unexpected results. 8 x 10 inches. Near Fine. Rosenbaum 1000. Criterion Collection 282.

Barcelona: Various Film Studios, 1971. Collection of 158 Spanish film heralds for American genre and drama films released 1923-1971. Nearly all heralds were printed in Barcelona, by printers Marti y Mari, I.G. Viladot, Juan Barguno, Melguizo, Jose Sabadell, Graficas Valencia, and others, upon the Spanish release of international films. Most are for American films, a few Spanish productions, and notable others include English's "The Adventures of Captain Marvel" (1941), Tourneur's "Cat People" (1942), Fleming's "Gone with the Wind" (1939) and "The Wizard of Oz" (1939), Hitchcock's "Shadow of a Doubt" (1943), Beebe's "The Shadow of the Eagle" (1932), from Blystone's "Our Hospitality" (1923) to Hough's "Twins of Evil" (1971). Film handbills, or heralds, were essentially mini film posters, and were produced as an economical way to promote both international and regional films, distributed by press agencies and theaters shortly before the film's local release. Many were released with specific text on… Read More

Paris: Franco London Films, 1952. Vintage Spanish program for the 1953 French / Italian film. With a tipped-on cover plate illustration by French poster artist Georges Allard. Includes an introductory essay by Clair, and duotone full-size photo-illustrations of the cast. Text in Spanish. A young composer, bored and irritated with the world of the present, gives himself over completely to daydreams of romance and adventure, hopping through time from the French Revolution to the Jazz Age. Saddle-stapled, 16 pages. 12.25 x 9.5 inches. Near Fine, with just a touch of fading to the card wrappers and a faint corner crease on the front and rear of the outer Mylar wrapper. Godard, Histoire(s) du cinema.

N.p.: N.p., 1968. Vintage borderless reference photograph from the 1968 French film. With manuscript ink annotations and stamp of photographer Gerard Cossevin on the verso. While hiding out on a Peruvian island, an emotionally numb young woman has sex with a group of sailors on a beach. Meanwhile, her wealthy husband and his strange chauffeur search for her, to no avail. One of the first films to receive an X rating from the MPAA, purportedly written by director Romain Gary about his marriage to actress Jean Seberg. Shot on location in Mauritania. 9.5 x 7 inches. Near Fine. Bier, p. 723.

Beverly Hills, CA: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer [MGM], 1972. Complete set of eight vintage color studio still photographs from the US release of the 1971 Italian film. A police detective investigates a string of murders where the victims are paralyzed and disemboweled. Set and shot on location in Rome. 10 x 8 inches. Near Fine.

N.p.: Plaza Pictures, 1968. Vintage one sheet poster for the US release of the 1968 Italian film. Woody Strode began his career as an American decathlete and football star, and went on to become a film actor, working in American and international films. Both a modern, Marxist re-imagining of the Christ story, and a poetic and allegorical depiction of Congolese independence leader Patrice Lumumba, the film was to debut at the Cannes Film Festival, but did not screen due to the festival being canceled in support of the May 1968 Paris uprising. 26.75 x 38 inches. Folded as issued. Very Good plus, with closed tears to top corners, two chips to bottom corners and pinholes.