Ariane (1931)

Formerly from the collection of The Albertina Museum, Vienna, Austria

Owing to the large format of this poster it was printed in four sheets and the only way it could have been displayed would have been to paste it up to a billboard.

 To-date this is the only known surviving example.

This German drama was directed by Paul Czinner, and stars Elisabeth Bergner, Rudolf Forster and Annemarie Steinsieck. It is based on Claude Anet’s 1920 novel 'Ariane, jeune fille russe'. Alternative-language versions, The Loves of Ariane and Ariane, jeune fille russe, were produced at the same time. The film tells the story of a young student, Ariane, who falls for an older, charming man in Berlin and pretends to be more experienced to win him over. After he treats their affair as a mere fling and leaves her, she plans revenge, but when they meet again, they confess their true feelings and ultimately reunite. The film later inspired Billy Wilder’s Love in the Afternoon (1957). Wilder remembered the film as "touching and funny."