Ross Verlag in Berlin created thousands of large and small cigarette cards during the 1920s and 1930s. Around 1935, Ross made for the Cigarettenfabrik (cigarette factory) Josetti in Berlin a series of 275 cigarette cards called 'Unsere bunten Filmbilder' (Our Colourful Film Pictures). The cards were enclosed in the packs of Josetti's various brands of cigarettes, like Juno and Vera Gold. The series contained small cards (6, 5 x 4 cm or 2.5 x 2 inch) with hand-coloured portraits. The series was also distributed by the Cigarettenfabrik Salem in Dresden. Here are 15 of our favourite Colourful Film Pictures.
Greta Garbo. German cigarette card in the series Unsere bunten Filmbilder by Ross Verlag for Cigarettenfabrik Josetti, Berlin, no. 23. Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Publicity still for Queen Christina (Rouben Mamoulian, 1933).
Marlene Dietrich. German cigarette card in the series Unsere bunten Filmbilder by Ross Verlag for Cigarettenfabrik Josetti, Berlin, no. 25. Photo: Paramount. Publicity still for The Devil is a Woman (Josef von Sternberg, 1935).
Hans Albers. German cigarette card in the series Unsere bunten Filmbilder by Ross Verlag for Cigarettenfabrik Josetti, Berlin, no. 37. Photo: Bavaria-Tofa. Publicity still for Peer Gynt (Fritz Wendhausen, 1934).
Paul Kemp. German cigarette card in the series Unsere bunten Filmbilder by Ross Verlag for Cigarettenfabrik Josetti, Berlin, no. 99. Photo: Minerva-Tonfilm. Publicity still for in Charleys Tante/Charley's Aunt (Robert A. Stemmle, 1934).
Luis Trenker. German cigarette card in the series Unsere bunten Filmbilder by Ross Verlag for Cigarettenfabrik Josetti, Berlin, no. 107. Photo: Rota-Film.
Gustav Waldau. German cigarette card in the series Unsere bunten Filmbilder by Ross Verlag for Cigarettenfabrik Josetti, Berlin, no. 132. Photo: Cine-Allianz.
Else Elster. German cigarette card in the series Unsere bunten Filmbilder by Ross Verlag for Cigarettenfabrik Josetti, Berlin, no. 153. Photo: Alex Binder.
Jakob Tiedtke. German cigarette card in the series Unsere bunten Filmbilder by Ross Verlag for Cigarettenfabrik Josetti, Berlin, no. 179. Photo: Ufa.
Anna May Wong. German cigarette card in the series Unsere bunten Filmbilder by Ross Verlag for Cigarettenfabrik Josetti, Berlin, no. 187. Photo: Paramount.
Paul Wegener. German cigarette card in the series Unsere bunten Filmbilder by Ross Verlag for Cigarettenfabrik Josetti, Berlin, no. 193. Photo: Lilenberger.
Oskar Sima. German cigarette card in the series Unsere bunten Filmbilder by Ross Verlag for Cigarettenfabrik Josetti, Berlin, no. 198. Photo: Ufa.
Theodor Loos. German cigarette card in the series Unsere bunten Filmbilder by Ross Verlag for Cigarettenfabrik Josetti, Berlin, no. 200. Photo: Nostra-Film.
Lucie Englisch. German cigarette card in the series Unsere bunten Filmbilder by Ross Verlag for Cigarettenfabrik Salem, Dresden, no. 221. Photo: Albö-Film.
Shirley Temple. German cigarette card in the series Unsere bunten Filmbilder by Ross Verlag for Cigarettenfabrik Josetti, Berlin, no. 229. Photo: Fox.
Paul Hörbiger. German cigarette card in the series Unsere bunten Filmbilder by Ross Verlag for Cigarettenfabrik Josetti, Berlin, no. 240. Photo: Patria-Film.
Our Ross Verlag tribute will be continued next week.
Today, the exhibition 'Antiquité et cinéma' opens in Paris at the Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé. From the Lumière brothers to Ridley Scott, from Maciste to Asterix, Antiquity has been the setting for various genre films. From its very beginnings, Antiquity in cinema has drawn on classical literature and biblical, mythological and historical stories to create epic frescoes and adventure films. In France, and especially in the United States and Italy, directors and studios redoubled their efforts and resources to bring to life on the screen forgotten worlds, often dazzling and sometimes exotic, whose heroes impressed the image with their stature, sensuality or strength. Above all, the years 1947-1965 left their mark on audiences, the years of the Peplums that were filmed at a frenetic pace in Rome, employing an entire star system. For this post, Ivo Blom selected 26 German and Austrian film programmes about Italian Peplums from his collection.
Cover page of a film programme by Illustrierte Film-Kurier, no. 2837. Francesca Braggiotti in Scipione l'Africano/Scipio the African (Carmine Gallone, 1937).
Cover page of a film programme by Illustrierte Film-Bühne, no. 431. Michèle Morgan in Fabiola (Alessandro Blasetti, 1949).
Cover page of a film programme by Illustrierte Film-Bühne, no. 627. Micheline Presle and Georges Marchal in Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei/Les derniers jours de Pompéi/Sins of Pompeii (Marcel L'Herbier, Paolo Moffa, 1950).
Cover page of a film programme by Neues Film-Programm, no. 1505. Robert Taylor and Deborah Kerr in Quo Vadis (Mervyn LeRoy, 1951).
Cover page of a film programme by Illustrierte Film-Bühne, no. 2295. Robert Taylor and Deborah Kerr in Quo Vadis (Mervyn LeRoy, 1951).
Cover page of a film programme by Illustrierte Film-Kurier, no. 1860. Gino Cervi as Nero in Nerone e Messalina/Nero and the Burning of Rome (Primo Zeglio, 1953).
Cover page of a film programme by Das neue Film-Programm, (unnumbered). Massimo Girotti in Spartaco/Sins of Rome, Story of Spartacus (Riccardo Freda, 1953).
Cover page of a film programme by Illustrierte Film-Bühne, no. 1992. Massimo Girotti and Ludmilla Tchérina in Spartaco/Sins of Rome, Story of Spartacus (Riccardo Freda, 1953).
Cover page of a film programme by Illustrierte Film-Bühne, no. 2571. Victor Mature and Susan Hayward in Demetrius and the Gladiators (Delmer Daves, 1954).
Cover page of a film programme by Illustrierte Film-Bühne, no. 2634. Edmund Purdom and Jean Simmons in The Egyptian (Michael Curtiz, 1954).
Cover page of a film programme by Das neue Film-Programm, (unnumbered). Jack Palance in Sign of the Pagan/Attila (Douglas Sirk, 1954).
Cover page of a film programme by Das neue Film-Programm, (unnumbered). Kirk Douglas and Rosanna Podestà in Ulisse/Ulysses (Mario Camerini, 1954).
Cover page of a film programme by Das neue Film-Programm, (unnumbered). Jacques Sernas and Rossana Podestà in Helen of Troy (Robert Wise, Raoul Walsh, 1956).
Cover page of a film programme by Illustrierte Film-Bühne, no. 3125. Rossana Podestà in Helen of Troy (Robert Wise, Raoul Walsh, 1956).
Cover page of a film programme by Illustrierte Film-Bühne, no. 3707. Jorge Mistral and Marisa Allasio in Le schiavi di Cartagine/The Sword and the Cross (Guido Brignone, 1956).
Cover page of a film programme by Illustrierte Film-Bühne, no. 4969. Anita Ekberg and Georges Marchal in Nel segno di Roma/Sign of the Gladiator (Guido Brignone, Michelangelo Antonioni, 1959).
Cover page of an Austrian film programme by Neues Film-Programm, no. 1788. Steve Reeves and Christine Kaufmann in Gli ultimi giorni di Pompei/The Last Days of Pompeii (Mario Bonnard, 1959).
Cover page of an Austrian film programme by Das neue Film-Programm, unnumbered. Anne Heywood and Mario Girotti(Terence Hill) in Cartagine in fiamme/Carthage in Flames (Carmine Gallone, 1960).
Cover of an Austrian film programme by Neues Filmprogramm, no. 2216. Photo: Oefram / Emo-Bistolfi. Belinda Lee as the notorious Roman Empress Messalina in Messalina Venere Imperatrice/Messalina (Vittorio Cottafavi, 1960). The German distribution title by Oefram-Film was Messalina Kaiserin und Kurtisane.
Cover page of a film programme by Illustrierte Film-Bühne, no. 5589. Mark Forest in La vendetta di Ercole/Goliath and the Dragon (Vittorio Cottafavi, 1960).
Cover page of a film programme by Illustrierte Film-Bühne, no. 6019. Jack Palance in The Barbarians/Revak, lo schiavo di Cartagine (Rudolph Maté, 1960).
Cover page of a film programme by Illustrierte Film-Bühne, no. 5856. Ed Fury in Ursus/The Mighty Ursus (Carlo Campogalliani, 1961).
Cover page of an Austrian film programme by Neues Film-Programm, no. 2580. Ed Fury in Ursus/The Mighty Ursus (Carlo Campogalliani, 1961).
Cover page of an Austrian film programme by Neues Film-Programm, no. 2996. Jacques Sernas and Gianna Maria Canale in Il conquistatore di Corinto/Conqueror of Corinth (Mario Costa, 1961).
Cover page of a film programme by Illustrierte Film-Bühne, no. 6392. Gordon Mitchell in L'ira di Achille/Fury of Achilles (Marino Girolami, 1962).
Cover page of an Austrian film programme by Neues Film-Programm, no. 3298. Gordon Scott in Il gladiatore di Roma/Gladiator of Rome (Mario Costa, 1962).
Attractive American actor and producer Brad Pitt (1963) has received multiple awards and nominations. Pitt wildly varies his film choices, appearing in everything from high-concept popcorn flicks such as Troy (2004) to adventurous critic-bait like Inglourious Basterds (2009) and The Tree of Life (2011). He has received two Best Actor Oscar nominations, for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and Moneyball (2011). Pitt won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019). He previously won an Oscar for Best Film with 12 Years a Slave (2013), which was produced by him.
Turkish freecard by See You. Photo: United International Pictures / New Line Cinema. Brad Pitt in Se7en (David Fincher, 1995).
British postcard by Heroes Publishing LTD., London, no. SPC 2617.
British postcard by Box Office, no. BO 034.
British postcard by Heroes Publishing LTD., London, no. SPC 2569.
British postcard by Music Factory, no. 069. Photo: Herb Ritts.
A wickedly sexy hitchhiker
William Bradley ‘Brad’ Pitt was born in 1963 in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and brought up in a strict Baptist household. His parents were William Alvin Pitt, who ran a trucking company, and Jane Etta (née Hillhouse), a school counsellor. He has a younger brother, Douglas (Doug) Pitt, and a younger sister, Julie Neal Pitt. Following his graduation from high school, Pitt enrolled in the University of Missouri in 1982, majoring in journalism. Two weeks before earning his degree, he left the university and moved to Los Angeles, where he took acting lessons and worked odd jobs. Reportedly he chauffeured strippers to private parties, waited tables, and wore a giant chicken suit for a local restaurant chain. Pitt's acting career began with uncredited parts in such films as Less Than Zero (Marek Kanievska, 1987).
His television debut came in May 1987 with a two-episode role on the soap opera Another World. In November of the same year, Pitt had a guest appearance on the sitcom Growing Pains. He appeared in four episodes of the legendary prime-time soap opera Dallas (1987-1988). In 1989 he made his film debut with a featured role in the slasher Cutting Class (Rospo Pallenberg, 1989) with Donovan Leitch. Pitt first gained recognition as a wickedly sexy hitchhiker in the road movie Thelma & Louise (Ridley Scott, 1991), who seduces Thelma (Geena Davis) and robs her blind. Biography.com: “Pitt's combination of charming bad boy charisma and sensual playfulness — particularly in a fiery love scene with Geena Davis— made him a genuine sex symbol (and wore out the rewind button on many a VCR).“
His first leading roles in big-budget productions came with the dramas A River Runs Through It (Robert Redford, 1992) and Legends of the Fall (Edward Zwick, 1994), for which Pitt received his first Golden Globe Award nomination, in the Best Actor category. Both films gave the actor a much-needed chance to prove that he had talent in addition to his handsome looks. He then starred opposite Tom Cruise and Antonio Banderas as the brooding, gothic vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac in the romantic horror film Interview with the Vampire (Neil Jordan, 1994), based on the novel by Anne Rice.
Pitt also garnered attention for a brief appearance in the cult hit True Romance (Tony Scott, 1993) as a stoner named Floyd, providing comic relief to the action film written by Quentin Tarantino. Pitt gave critically acclaimed performances as an emotionally tortured detective investigating a series of gruesome crimes in the Horror-thriller Se7en (David Fincher, 1995) and as visionary mental patient Jeffrey Goines in 12 Monkeys (Terry Gilliam, 1995). This latter role got him a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor and an Academy Award nomination. Se7en earned $327 million at the international box office. He also starred in the legal drama Sleepers (Barry Levinson, 1996).
Pitt then played Tyler Durden, the mysterious and anti-materialistic soap salesman in Fight Club (David Fincher, 1999) about a bloody diversion for young professional males. This unglamorous, disturbing role was an interesting but odd choice for a man voted 'Most Sexy Actor Alive' by entertainment publications, but the film became a cult. Jason Clark in his review at AllMovie (now defunct): "A definitive case of a movie that has yet to find its time, David Fincher's unnerving and cataclysmic look at the male psyche takes no prisoners and makes no apologies, which is precisely why the film is so powerful. A kind of stepchild to Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange in terms of its thematic relevancy and misunderstood nature, Fight Club looks and feels like almost nothing that has preceded it. Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter all successfully subvert their onscreen personas, and give fully committed portrayals that never get buried in the film's dazzling set pieces."
British postcard by Heroes Publishing Ltd, London, no. SPC 2506. Publicity still for Thelma & Louise (Ridley Scott, 1991).
French postcard by Editions Mercuri, no. 781. Lobby Card for Brad Pitt in Cool World (Ralph Bakshi, 1992).
Vintage postcard. Photo: TriStar Pictures. Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall (Edward Zwick, 1994).
British Exclusive Collectors' Artcard. Photo: Geffen Pictures. Publicity still for Interview with the Vampire (Neil Jordan, 1994). Caption: Louis de Pointe Du Lac (Brad Pitt) is a broken man, devastated by the loss of his beloved wife and infant daughter. Becoming a vampire is his only relief.
Vintage postcard by Memory Card, no. 168. Spanish lobby card of Brad Pitt in Seven (David Fincher, 1995).
English Athena postcard by Cartel, no. E2204570.
Male chemistry
Brad Pitt was cast as an Irish Gypsy boxer with a barely intelligible accent in the British gangster film Snatch (2000), Guy Ritchie's eagerly anticipated follow-up to Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. He then played Rusty Ryan in Ocean's Eleven (Steven Soderbergh, 2001) with George Clooney. It was a remake of the Rat Pack classic about a group of criminals who plot to rob a string of casinos. Well-received by critics, Ocean's Eleven was highly successful at the box office, earning $450 million worldwide. The heist film had two sequels, Ocean's Twelve (Steven Soderbergh, 2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (Steven Soderbergh, 2007). Ocean's Twelve earned $362 million worldwide, and the third sequel earned $311 million at the international box office. CNN's Paul Clinton: "Plus, Clooney and Pitt have the best male chemistry since Paul Newman and Robert Redford."
Another commercial success was Troy (Wolfgang Petersen, 2004), based on 'The Iliad' by Homer. For his part as Achilles, Pitt spent six months sword training and it helped establish his appeal as an action star. Troy was the first film produced by Plan B Entertainment, a film production company he had founded two years earlier with Jennifer Aniston and Brad Grey, CEO of Paramount Pictures.
Pitt then had a hit with the stylish action-comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith (Doug Liman, 2005), opposite Angelina Jolie. Mr. & Mrs. Smith earned $478 million worldwide, making it one of the biggest hits of 2005. Pitt starred opposite Cate Blanchett in Alejandro González Iñárritu's multi-narrative drama Babel (2006). His performance was critically well-received. Babel received seven Academy and Golden Globe award nominations, winning the Best Drama Golden Globe, and earning a nomination for the Best Supporting Actor Golden Globe.
Pitt then appeared in the black comedy Burn After Reading (Joel and Ethan Coen, 2008), his first collaboration with the Coen brothers. The film and Pitt's supporting role received a positive reception from critics. Andrew Pulver at The Guardian: "Clocking in at a crisp 95 minutes, Burn After Reading is a tightly wound, slickly plotted spy comedy (...) Pitt, in fact, gets the best of the funny stuff, but has by some way the least screen time of all the principal cast." The actor received his second Academy Award nomination for his leading performances in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (David Fincher, 2008). Pitt played the title character, who is born as a 70-year-old man and ages in reverse. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button received thirteen Academy Award nominations in total and grossed $329 million at the box office worldwide.
Pitt's next leading role came in the blistering war film Inglourious Basterds (Quentin Tarantino, 2009) which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. Pitt played Lieutenant Aldo Raine, an American resistance fighter battling Nazis in German-occupied France. The film was a box office hit, taking $311 million worldwide, and garnered generally favourable reviews. Perry Seibert at AllMovie (now defunct): "Tarantino has always cast his films to perfection, and the performers here know how to get the most out of the ornate language. Brad Pitt uses a hilarious Southern drawl, and his attempts at speaking Italian are a comic highlight."
American postcard by Fotofolio, no. Z 1134. Photo: Annie Leibovitz. Caption: Brad Pitt, Las Vegas, 1994.
German postcard by Edgar Movie Card. Photo: TCF, 1999. Brad Pitt in Fightclub (David Fincher, 1999). Caption: It was on the Tip of Everyone's tongue.
Italian postcard by EdiBas S.r.l., Torino, no. Pc 1.338. Photo: Grazia Neri. Publicity still for Troy (Wolfgang Petersen, 2004).
British postcard by Heroes Publishing Ltd, London, no. SPC 2742.
British postcard by A Bigger Splash, Manchester, no. X743, 1997.
Brangelina
Brad Pitt had another commercial success with World War Z (Marc Forster, 2013), a thriller about a zombie apocalypse. Pitt produced the film which grossed $540 million against a production budget of $190 million. He also produced The Departed (Martin Scorsese, 2006) and 12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen, 2013), both of which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Another success as a producer and as an actor was The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2009), based on the autobiography of Solomon Northup. In this experimental drama, he gave one of the best performances of his career, playing a disciplinarian father. At AllMovie, Rebecca Flint Marx describes The Tree of Life as "a sprawling, cerebral phantasmagoria on the meaning of life and death". The film became one of the critical sensations of the year."
Pitt's list of successes seems endless. His productions Moneyball (Bennett Miller, 2011) and the comedy-drama The Big Short (Adam McKay, 2015), garnered Best Picture nominations too. Moneyball received six Academy Award nominations including Best Actor for Pitt. Besides this Oscar nomination, his role as Billy Beane in Moneyball also earned him Best Actor nominations from the BAFTA, the Broadcast Film Association, and the Golden Globes, and won him the New York Film Critics Circle award (the award was also for his role in Tree of Life). Not only his work, but his personal life is also the subject of wide publicity. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Pitt was involved in successive relationships with several of his co-stars, including Robin Givens, Jill Schoelen and Juliette Lewis. In addition, Pitt had a much-publicised romance and engagement with his Se7en co-star Gwyneth Paltrow, whom he dated from 1994 to 1997.
From 2000 to 2005, he was married to actress Jennifer Aniston. During their divorce, he fell in love with actress Angelina Jolie on the set of Mr. & Mrs. Smith. The entertainment media dubbed the couple 'Brangelina' and they married in 2014. They have six children together, three of whom were adopted internationally. In 2015, Pitt starred opposite Jolie, in her third directorial effort, By the Sea, a romantic drama about a marriage in crisis, based on her screenplay. In September 2016, Angelina Jolie filed in real life for divorce from Pitt.
Pitt starred in the the World War II romantic thriller Allied (Robert Zemeckis, 2016) in which he and Marion Cotillard play an intelligence officer and resistance fighter, respectively, who fall in love during a mission to kill a German official. In 2017 Brad Pitt appeared with Tilda Swinton in War Machine (David Michôd, 2017), a satire of America's war with Afghanistan with a focus on the people running the campaign. As an executive producer, Pitt had another success with Moonlight (2016), directed by Barry Jenkins. The film about the life of a young black and gay man struggling to find his place in the world while growing up in a rough neighbourhood of Miami, was nominated for eight Academy Awards. The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture—along with Best Supporting Actor (Ali) and Best Adapted Screenplay.
In 2019, Brad Pitt starred in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019) with Leonardo DiCaprio and Margot Robbie. He won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Cliff Booth. He reunited with Margot Robbie in the Hollywood fresco Babylon (Damien Chazelle, 2023), about the transition from silent to talking films. He played Jack Conrad, the last great star of silent cinema, inspired by historical figures such as John Gilbert andBuster Keaton. This year, he reteamed with George Clooney in the comedy thriller Wolfs (Jon Watts, 2024).
Serbian promotion card. Photo: Warner Bros. Brad Pitt as Achilles in Troy (Wolfgang Petersen, 2004).
Belgian poster postcard. Brad Pitt in The Tree of Life (Terrence Malick, 2011).
Sources: Rebecca Flint Marx (AllMovie - Page now defunct), Jason Clark (AllMovie - Page now defunct), Perry Seibert (AllMovie - Page now defunct), Paul Clinton (CNN - Page now defunct), Andrew Pulver (The Guardian), Biography.com, Wikipedia, and IMDb.
