CAMPBELL’S KINGDOM

Original British 27 inch x 40 inch 1-Sheet Poster for the 1957 Ralph Thomas Adventure CAMPBELL’S KINGDOM, produced by Betty Box, based on the novel by Hammond Innes and starring Dirk Bogarde, Stanley Baker, Michael Craig, Barbara Murray, James Robertson Justice, John Laurie, Athene Seyler, Robert Brown, Sidney James, Mary Merrall, Finlay Currie, Peter Illing, Maurice Kaufmann and Miles Malleson.

Story of a young man, doomed to die in six months, who on the death of his grandfather, who served prison sentence for fraud, works to clear his name while discovering whether there really is oil in the “kingdom” in Canada.

Poster design by Eric Pulford (1915 – 2005). Having taken life classes at Leeds College of Art for 5 years Pulford was apprenticed as a commercial artist in 1931 to Gilchrist Bros a process house of 24 staff. Leslie Whitchurch, a partner in a Leicester based agency and also a part-time publicity manager for Rank, became aware of Pulford’s work and asked him to do some freelance work for him. Then in 1943 Rank invited Pulford to start a publicity department for them in London resulting in posters for “Henry V”, “Odd Man Out” and “Oliver Twist”. Rank producer Betty Box insisted that Eric Pulford should produce the posters for all her films. This resulted in the agency doing all of Rank’s films. When the head of Downtons advertising agency, Charles Collins, died, Pulford was asked to take over. He became chairman and managing director but still spent most of his time designing posters. He retired in 1986. Pulford is responsible, either through his own artwork or design, for several hundred posters, some for classic films such as the ones already mentioned plus “Edge of the World”, “The Importance of Beuing Earnest”, “Genevieve”, “Reach for the Sky” and “A Night to Remember”. He is, without doubt, the most important force in British film poster design from the mid-1940s to the early 1980s.

Printed by W.E. Berry, Ltd., Bradford

The poster is in very good folded condition with a tear top centre, 2 extra vertical folds, corner pinholes and tape marks in the top corners.