Well, having been likened (by Dan) to a phallus, now I feel compelled, after
a long absence from this list, to return to defend myself.
Dan (in particular)- to be clear, I was not the seller (nor the buyer) here;
Filip was selling the poster, and had listed an International one-sheet as a
US one-sheet. I had started this conversation off with him by suggesting
that describing the poster as a US one-sheet was inappropriate. While I
would probably have listed it as Canadian, "International" would have been
another (even better and more accurate) option. Regardless, I do stand by
the view that it's inappropriate to list an International one-sheet as a US
one-sheet, without some indication that it is not SIMPLY a US one-sheet.
"International style," "intended for foreign markets," "intended for
Canada," or whatever.. but SOMEthing to indicate that it wasn't the vanilla
US one-sheet.
What was referred to, later in my conversation with Filip, as "nonsense" was
NOT his assertion that the poster was a US one-sheet, but rather the broader
assertion that a poster made in the USA, even for a non-US market, would
always be referred to, without qualification, as a US poster: "the poster
was made in the usa, therefor is a US poster."
To Philip's point, that ratings boxes sometimes don't appear on US posters
because, e.g., it's an advance poster, I would say that if a seller is
selling an advance poster, they would normally say so, wouldn't they? Don't
collectors typically want to know if they're buying an advance, as opposed
to an international, as opposed to a dead-standard version?
It's just not that simple, as the back and forth in this thread amply
demonstrates. I may have been a bit brusque in using the word "nonsense,"
for which I publicly apologize to Filip, but I was put off by the "if it's
made in america, it's a US poster, simple as that" oversimplification of the
issue. At the same time, having read through this thread, I recognize that
my own take on it - that a poster is classified by the geography where it
is intended to be displayed - is also not always right.
And, sure, often it IS possible to tell where posters were manufactured -
they may display union stamps, "Printed in Belgium" and the like, but just
as often it is not; and I think it's a dangerous precedent to suggest that
where a poster is printed is how it should be described - without exception
and without qualification - for collectors' purposes, since it's only a
matter of time before American studios and distributors start exporting
production of some portion of posters destined for use in the US to China or
elsewhere. Are we going to refer to those posters as Chinese?
We have some real experts on this thread, and a divergence of opinion; Tommy
agrees with me that international one sheets are not referred to as (simply)
"US," while Helmut takes the view that anything printed in the US is a US
poster; and Heritage is inconsistent. So, sure, "nonsense" may have been
overstating my case, but (1) I don't think that makes me a "phallus," and
(2) I stand by the view that posters like these are best described as
"International" -- or something -- rather than, or in addition to, "US."
Maybe we could move on to whether "one-sheet" should be hyphenated or not.
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