Thanks for posting. A great film. Personally, I believe the reason it didn't do well had more to do with the theme, which was that bad people can wield great power through the media alone. Its cynicism (and honesty, in my opinion) wasn't something a lot of people wanted to hear in the 50s. It was a broadside at the blacklist and a drive-by aimed at newspaper columnists like the weaselly Walter Winchell.
But, of course, that's why I love it. Its "hero" is a heel and a toady and a supremely well-played one by Curtis. The script pops and snaps, the cinematography is beautifully film noir and it has a great jazz soundtrack to boot. One of the greats. Btw, I agree with your take on the posters. The wc, style B half-sheet and insert are the best. Dave ----- Original Message ----- From: Neil Jaworski To: [email protected] Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2010 9:09 PM Subject: [MOPO] ON TOPIC: TONY CURTIS / Sweet Smell Of Success Hallo MOPO-ers It's hard to be depressed about the death of Tony Curtis, in the sense that he lived a full, long and largely happy life in the company of some beautiful women and left us with several films to treasure. That said, he is one of my favourite actors of all time and - frankly - blistered the screen in (one of my All Time Top 5 films) The Sweet Smell Of Success. It was a risky move for a teenster icon to be cast against type and - in retrospect - the film's failure at the time can probably be traced to the public's unwillingness to accept Curtis as anything other than "the boy with the ice cream face." Bringing things back on topic: I think that the campaign for TSSOS is fascinating in that this unsuccessful film had a fantastic print campaign. In this sense, the film's failure is markedly dissimilar to the contemporaneous-ish Night Of The Hunter (great film / diabolical, garish, inappropriate, awful campaign). I own a window card for TSSOS and I think this is the best paper for the film, in that it features the key "21" scene between JJ and Sidney. This may be the only time I have ever favoured a WC over other paper. It also has some great 'hep' blurb. http://granadamovieposters.com/photos/sweetsmellwcreduced.jpg After the WC I think the Style B half-sheet is very strong: both our 'heroes' look good, it references several of the key scenes and feels very New York. There's great (and different) 'hep' blurb here also: http://movieposters.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=694&Lot_No=28800 It's much stronger than the 1/2 sheet Style A which seems a bit arty and oblique and doesn't convey any of the energy of the film. http://www.emovieposter.com/imagearchive/poster/158745.html Likewise, I can't warm to the 1sh. The faces - especially Curtis - are not particularly well rendered or specific to the film. Curtis looks like Liberace: http://movieposters.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=58021&Lot_No=51354 In fact, I even prefer the military 1sh to the regular 1sh: http://www.movieposterdb.com/poster/8eabb542 After the WC and the Style B 1/2 sheet, I think the best poster is the insert: http://movieposters.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=510073&Lot_No=53364 the three sheet is similar, but it dispenses with Sidney's cigarette (big mistake) which makes (for me) the insert much more desirable. http://movieposters.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=510091&Lot_No=51372 also, the insert has it's own 'hep' blurb (again different to the other styles!) whereas the 3sh is merely 'the motion picture that will never be forgiven or forgotten' http://movieposters.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=510091&Lot_No=51372 the 6sh and 24sh merely pose the lead's faces against eachother from across the paper without any of the whipcrack, pseud-odets blurb that the better paper carries in spades. that said, i think the 6sh is far more successful. http://www.emovieposter.com/imagearchive/poster/158167.html the rendering of the star's faces on the 24sh (especially in the case of Lancaster) - much like the 1sh - make this poster feel like a design for a different film (although at least Sidney's cigarette is back in his mouth). http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/sweet-smell-of-success-lancaster-curtis-57-24 Those are just my thoughts on this classic film/campaign. I'm sure many will disagree. And ignore what I said in my opening sentence, I'm totally gutted that TC is dead. Neil Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
