5 Minutes – Russian Film Poster – Anatoly Belsky – 1929
Pyat’ Minut Plakat – Anatoly Belsky – 1929
Плакат Пять минут – Anatoly Belsky – 1929
There is a lot of love shown online for this vintage Russian Film poster. Somebody even showed their love for it, when they paid £25,000 for an original copy of it back in 2010! So, it’s strange that very little information to be found about the film. And that it is not available to purchase or watch anywhere through a public domain service. (If you know differently please let us know. We would love to watch it). The poster was created in 1929. It was a golden age of Russian film poster design. As Russia rebuilt itself following the ravages of revolution and subsequent civil war, a new ‘constructivist’ art form was started. In an era of black and white movies, bold colors, geometric shapes and distinct typography, were emphasised in the new ‘constructivist’ film poster designs. The influence of the new art movement stretched across the globe. Constructivism methods were adopted by many international designers and artists.
Regarding the film, it is based on the events of January 27, 1924. When at four o’clock in the afternoon, the Soviet nation ground to a halt to honour the death of their leader Vladimir Lenin. In a national five minute silence manufacturing plants, factories, trains, ships and cars all stopped. The story revolves around an American businessman, hurrying to finalise a lucrative deal. Showing a complete disregard for the silence by ordering a Chinese driver to continue the journey. The film is also supposed to include chronicles of Lenin’s funeral. It sounds like a film portraying an American businessman’s capitolist greed for ‘a money deal’ over the feelings of a mourning Soviet nation.
Some information can also be gleaned from the impressive Five Minutes poster itself tells us that the film was made by the National. It was Directed by AS Balagin and GM Zelondgev-Shipov. And the film starred PG Poltoratsky, I Chuvelev, V Yu, Johnson, Van Min Si and Ho Mo Tsin. The poster artist responsible for the highly sought after film poster is Anatoly Belsky. He studied at the Central Imperial School of the Count Stroganov in Moscow. He began his career as a set-designer but quickly became one of the most gifted poster artists in the Russian avant-garde. His poster for the film Five Minutes, with its focus on the monocled and top-hatted ‘villain’ of the movie.
Our posters are carefully and professionally created from vintage originals. Whilst great care is taken in the production of these posters, we also try to maintain a vintage feel, so there may be small imperfections, fold marks, scuffs, tears or marks that were part of the original poster master. If these do appear they should be visible on the larger views of the item on this listing. The originals of many of the posters we offer can cost many thousands of pounds, so whilst these posters look great, especially framed and mounted on a wall, they are intended as a fun, affordable reproductions and not intended fine art prints.
The 50x70cm version has been specially produced to be used in conjunction with Ikea’s 50x70cm Ribba picture frame which currently retails for around £12. So you can bag a bargain of print and frame for a great price.
