John Wayne in BORN TO THE WEST/HELL TOWN - Vintage Movie Tour Poster

A Finnish "tour" movie poster for the early John Wayne movie Born to the West (1937) This poster does not date from that era, however, because the film was not shown in Finland until 1953 after it had been re-released as "Hell Town" which dates this poster to late 1953 or possibly 1954.

You are looking at a "tour" poster printed for distribution to small regional cinemas and other venues (e.g. film-clubs, village halls etc) outside of the main cities following the initial theatrical run.

Incredibly, this particular example is actually a double-bill poster - as well as the graphics and text about the main feature, at the right-hand side you can see two images of Charlie Chaplin with small text above announcing, "In addition, the Charlie Chaplin delight, The Adventurer". As Hell-Town had a relatively short running-time The Adventurer was clearly added to the programme as a filler. This may be the only movie poster in the world to feature John Wayne and Charlie Chaplin! It is a non-standard size for the normal tour poster of the era, measuring 19.5" x 13.75" approximately If all that were not enough this poster is in C10 Mint Condition. This is not a grading that should be assigned lightly to a vintage original poster but the facts speak for themselves In excellent, clean condition, a rolled poster without folding creases. No nicks or tears to edges. No staining or handling creases. No pinholes, paste residue or clamping marks, unquestionably an unused example. The verso is also unmarked.

There are a couple of very minor printing flaws to the poster. On the red and darker-coloured areas there are a few tiny specks which you might believe to be surface scrapes to the paper - they are, in fact, microscopic areas where the colour has simply not been distributed evenly in the printing process. Similarly, there is a hint of a blue tinge to part of John Wayne's shirt in the image which is simply a transferrance of ink from the blue titles and pictures of the cowboys below which, again, has occurred in the printing process.

Unquestionably one of the best-condition 1950's posters we have ever handled and a superb item of movie memorabilia.

As well as describing the condition of our posters meticulously, we also take great care to research them and establish and provide accurate information concerning dates of issue, theatrical runs etc. Authenticity guaranteed! We are always happy to answer any questions about our listings. We describe all noticeable faults in our posters but for best appreciation of condition please examine the high-resolution images which accompany the listing.