FAME IS THE SPUR

Original Russian 1964 first release 25 1/2 inch x 41 1/4 inch Poster for the 1947 Roy Boulting Drama FAME IS THE SPUR, based on the novel by Howard Spring, with a screenplay by Nigel Balchin and starring Michael Redgrave, Rosamund John, Bernard Miles, Carla Lehmann, Hugh Burden, Marjorie Fielding, Seymour Hicks, Tony Wager, David Tomlinson, Milton Rosmer, Wylie Watson, Ronald Adam, Honor Blackman, Campbell Cotts, Maurice Denham and Kenneth Griffith.

When a young man from a North country mill town (Michael Redgrave) commits to help the poverty stricken workers in his area, he takes as his Excalibur a sword passed down to him by his grandfather from the Battle of Peterloo, where it had been used against workers. As an idealistic champion of the oppressed, he rises to power as a Labour M.P., but is seduced by the trappings of power, and finds himself the type of politician he originally despised.

Poster art by Grebenshikov.

The title comes from the poem “Lycidas” by John Milton “Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise / (That last infirmity of noble mind) / To scorn delights, and live laborious days”.

The poster is in very good folded condition with two tiny holes at the top crossfold.