Tradition and Innovation. The Cinematic Work of Luchino Visconti

Ivo Blom is in Paris to attend the international symposium 'Tradition et invention. L’œuvre filmique de Luchino Visconti' (Tradition and Innovation. The Cinematic Work of Luchino Visconti), organised from 4 to 6 November by Paris 1 Panthéon – Sorbonne / Institut Acte; and the University of Pisa. Today Ivo will give a lecture (in French!) on Visconti's formative years in Paris. The symposium marks the 120th anniversary of Visconti’s birth (1906) and the 50th anniversary of his death (1976). The organisers aim to revisit key aesthetic, critical and historical issues for the reception of his work. EFSP shows postcards and stills we acquired of the maestro's films, plus a few snapshots we took ourselves.


British publicity still by BFI. Gino (Massimo Girotti) hears Giovanna singing in Ossessione / Obsession (Luchino Visconti, 1943).


French postcard in the Collection Cinéma by Éditions La Malibran, Paris, 1990, no. CI 15. Luchino Visconti and Anna Magnani in Bellissima / The Most Beautiful (Luchino Visconti, 1951).


East German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, 1967. Retail price: 0,20 MDN. Alain Delon in Rocco e i suoi fratelli / Rocco and His Brothers (Luchino Visconti, 1960).


American publicity still by Warner Bros / Seven Arts. Ingrid Thulin and Dirk Bogarde in The Damned / La caduta degli dèi (Luchino Visconti, 1969).


French collector card by Edito-Service S.A., 1993, no. D2 482 60-14. Photo: Collection La Cinémathèque française. Laura Antonelli in L'innocente / The Innocent (Luchino Visconti, 1976).

A close connection with historical reality

Luchino Visconti connected his early films, Ossessione / Obsession (Luchino Visconti, 1943), La terra trema and Bellissima / The Most Beautiful (Luchino Visconti, 1951), to historical reality and to the political and social issues facing Italy and Europe. In the 1930s, he frequently visited Paris, where he became close friends with fashion designer Coco Chanel. She in turn introduced him to film director Jean Renoir. Visconti would later always acknowledge the influence of 1930s French cinema and Renoir’s realism on his work as a director.

It was the era of the Popular Front in France. Progressive parties came to power. In this climate, Visconti met intellectuals such as Jean Cocteau. Through Renoir, a staunch communist, he also met several anti-fascist activists who had fled Italy, and he began to align himself with left-wing views. In arthouses like the Panthéon, he saw many Soviet films that influenced his later work, such as Chapaev / Chapayev (Sergey Vasilev, Georgi Vasilyev, 1934) and Yunost Maksima / Maxim's Youth (Grigoriy Kozintsev, Leonid Trauberg, 1935).

In Paris, Visconti began his film career as a set dresser and assistant director on Une Partie de campagne (Jean Renoir, 1936). The film was based on a bittersweet tale by Guy de Maupassant. When the family Dufour visits the countryside, two young men court the mother and daughter. Young Henriette (Sylvia Bataille) thus gets her first kisses from Henri (George Darnoux). The film was shot in 1936, but remained unfinished because of bad weather and Renoir's loss of interest. In 1946, producer Pierre Braunberger had Marguerite Renoir and Marinette Cadix finish the editing and provided a haunting, romantic score by Joseph Kosma. The short film was released in France in 1946 and in the US in 1950. Meanwhile, it has become a classic.

After a trip to the US, Visconti returned to Italy in 1939. There he was again Jean Renoir’s assistant director on the Italian-French co-production Tosca (1941), loosely based on Victorien Sardou's play. Due to the outbreak of the Second World War, the film was completed by Renoir’s German co-screenwriter Carl Koch.

Visconti later introduced Italy to the work of the French playwrights Jean Cocteau and Jean-Paul Sartre. In 1948, through Coco Chanel, he met the Spanish surrealist Salvador Dalí. They collaborated on a stage production of William Shakespeare’s pastoral comedy 'Rosalinda o Come vi piace' (As You Like It). Dalí designed the sets and costumes for this production, which created controversy. Marxist critics saw Dalí’s choice of set design and costumes as a departure from Neorealism.


French postcard by Festival International du Film Cine Classics. Jane Marken as Mme Dufour and Jacques B. Brunius as Rodolphe in Une partie de campagne / Partie de campagne (Jean Renoir, 1936). Renoir's assistants were Brunius, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Jacques Becker, Yves Allégret, Claude Heymann, and Luchino Visconti, whose first professional film job this was. Renoir's son Alain played a small role, while Claude Renoir, son of Renoir's brother Pierre, was the cinematographer. A passing priest and three seminarians were played by writer & scriptwriter Pierre Lestringuez, Cartier-Bresson, Becker, and the philosopher George Bataille, Sylvia Bataille's husband.


Paris, Cinéma Panthéon, photographed by Ivo Blom in 2007 with an Olympus Digital Camera. The cinema on rue Victor Cousin in Paris opened in 1907, but became an arthouse cinema in 1929. That year, producer Pierre Braunberger bought the cinema and ran it till 1990. It still specialises in independent films. In 1936, the year of the Front Populaire, the cinema screened many Soviet-Russian films. Luchino Visconti was a regular visitor.


Pantheon, Paris, France. Detail front. 2007. Photo: Paul van Yperen.


Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze, no. 4248. Photo: Scalera Film. Imperio Argentina in Tosca (Jean Renoir, Carl Koch, 1941). Renoir started the film, but his scriptwriter and assistant Carl Koch finished it and shot most of it. Luchino Visconti was assistant director. This postcard refers to a scene in which Argentina sings the aria 'Caro mio ben' by Giuseppe Giordani.


Italian postcard by ASER (A. Scarmiglia Edizioni Roma), no. 13. Carla Candiani in Tosca (Carl Koch, Jean Renoir, 1939-1941).


German publicity still by FSK / Adler Film (Anna Althoff), used in Dutch cinemas (therefore the mark of the Dutch national censorship board). Still for Ossessione / Obsession/ Von Liebe besessen (Luchino Visconti, 1943), with Massimo Girotti (Gino), Clara Calamai (Giovanna) and Michele Riccardini (Don Remigio). In West Germany, the film was first commercially released in 1959. In the Netherlands, the film was shown in cineclubs in 1958.


Screen caption. Scene from La terra trema / The Earth Trembles (Luchino Visconti, 1948). In rural Sicily, the fishermen live at the mercy of the greedy wholesalers. One family risks everything to buy their own boat and operate independently.

The birth of Neorealismo

Luchino Visconti settled permanently in Rome, where his encounter with the young intellectuals contributing to the magazine Cinema proved pivotal. From this group emerged a new vision of cinema which moved away from the comedies of the ‘white telephone’ era set in luxurious villas or opulent department stores.

They wanted to depict ordinary people's lives and everyday struggles realistically. Together with Pietro Ingrao, Mario Alicata and Giuseppe De Santis, in 1942, Visconti began work on his first film: Ossessione (Luchino Visconti, 1943), an unofficial adaptation of James Cain’s novel 'The Postman Always Rings Twice'.

Ossessione was Visconti's first film as a director. He used natural settings, combined professional actors with locals, experimented with long-travelling camera shots, and incorporated hidden-camera sequences to enhance authenticity. The lead roles are played by Clara Calamai, who stepped in at the last minute for Anna Magnani, who was forced to withdraw due to her advanced pregnancy; Massimo Girotti, as the handsome mechanic Gino; Juan de Landa, as the betrayed husband; and Elio Marcuzzo as ‘The Spaniard’.

The film’s editor, Mario Serandrei, first defined the film as 'Neorealismo' (neorealist). This formalised the birth of the neorealistic film movement, which would enjoy great success in the years to come. In 1948, Visconti made his second film. La terra trema / The Earth Trembles (Luchino Visconti, 1948), about Sicilian fishermen. It is a controversial, unflinching drama that openly denounced the social conditions of the poorest classes. Visconti shot this adaptation of Giovanni Verga’s novel 'I Malavoglia' in a documentary style, entirely on location, without actors and spoken entirely in dialect. In 1950, a second version of the film was released, dubbed into Italian.

He based his next film, Bellissima / The Most Beautiful (Luchino Visconti, 1951), on a screenplay by Cesare Zavattini. The film, starring Anna Magnani and Walter Chiari, ruthlessly analyses the ‘behind-the-scenes’ world of cinema. Luchino Visconti then broke with Neorealism. Later, he made stylised, sometimes even baroque dramas. With the highly acclaimed Rocco e i suoi fratelli / Rocco and His Brothers (Luchino Visconti, 1960), he returned to Neorealism one last time.


Italian publicity still by I.C.I. Photo: Civirani. A steamy dinner scene at the table of Giovanna (Clara Calamai), Gino (Massimo Girotti) and Bragana (Juan De Landa) in Ossessione (Luchino Visconti, 1943).


British publicity still by the BFI. Gino (Massimo Girotti) and Giovanna (Clara Calamai) return home after the murder of Bragana in Ossessione (Luchino Visconti, 1943).


Italian postcard Marsilio Edizioni di Bianco & Nero. Anna Magnani in Bellissima (Luchino Visconti, 1951).


Reproduction of press photo. Photo: Paul Ronald. Anna Magnani in Bellissima (Luchino Visconti, 1951).


Small Czech collector card by Pressfoto, Praha (Prague), 1965, no. S 101/5. Photo: Claudia Cardinale, >Alain Delon, Max Cartier and Renato Salvatori in Rocco e i suoi fratelli / Rocco and His Brothers (Luchino Visconti, 1960).


Vintage lobby card. Helmut Griem as SS-Obersturmbandführer Aschenbach and Helmut Berger as Martin Essenbeck in The Damned / La caduta degli dèi (Luchino Visconti, 1969).


Dutch poster postcard, using an original Italian poster, for a Dutch re-release of Björn Andresen and Dirk Bogarde in Morte a Venezia / Death in Venice (Luchino Visconti, 1972).


French postcard in the Collection Cinéma by Éditions Art & Scene, Paris, no. CI 16, 1996. Photo: Mario Tursi. Helmut Berger and Romy Schneider in Ludwig (Luchino Visconti, 1972).


Italian film still. Photo: Mario Tursi. Laura Antonelli and Giancarlo Giannini after the murder of the child, in L'innocente (Luchino Visconti, 1976).

Sources: Ivo Blom, Fabula (French), Wikipedia (Dutch and Italian) and IMDb.

Georges Carpentier

French boxer and war hero Georges Carpentier (1894–1975) reigned as the world's light heavyweight champion in 1920-1922. Nicknamed ‘L'homme à l'orchidée’ (the Orchid Man), the learned Carpentier was known for his speed, his excellent boxing skills and his extremely hard punch. Legendary is his fight for the world's heavyweight crown with champ Jack Dempsey, one of the highlights of the Roaring Twenties. After his boxing career ended he worked as an entertainer in vaudeville and appeared in half a dozen films.


French postcard by A.N., Paris (A. Noyer, Paris, 1921), no. 1.


French postcard by A.N., Paris, no. 3, 1921.


French postcard by Ajax, Paris, no. 812. Photo: G.L. Manuel Frères. Caption: Les vedettes du ring.

Phenomenal popularity

Georges Carpentier (pronounced car-pont-yay) was born in Liévin near Lens, France, in 1894. Carpentier began his career by progressing up through the weight divisions, fighting in every division from welterweight upwards. Turning pro at the age of 14, Carpentier first won the European welterweight championship in 1911.

He became the middleweight champion of Europe in 1912, and the light heavyweight champion of Europe in 1913. That year, he beat ‘Bombardier’ Billy Wells in Ghent, Belgium to become the heavyweight champion of Europe. He defended his title later that year against Wells, in 1914 against Pat O'Keefe and in London he beat Ed ‘Gunboat’ Smith to add the ‘White Heavyweight Champion of the World’ to his European title.

During World War One, Carpentier served as an aviator, winning the Croix de Guerre and the Médaille Militaire, two of France's highest military decorations. This served to heighten his already phenomenal popularity, not only in France but in the United States and England as well. Carpentier defended his title twice again in 1919 before dropping down a weight to challenge Battling Levinsky for the light heavyweight championship of the world.

The fight took place in 1920, in Jersey City and Levinsky was knocked out in the fourth. Carpentier's attempt at the heavyweight Championship of the world came in 1921, again in Jersey City, when he faced Jack Dempsey. This fight was the first million-dollar gate in boxing history. Living up to his nickname, Dempsey mauled Carpentier in the first three rounds before knocking him out in the fourth.

Carpentier never fought again for that title. He lost his world light heavyweight title and his European heavyweight and light heavyweight titles the following year in a controversial bout with Senegalese fighter Battling Siki. His last truly noteworthy fight was in 1924, with Gene Tunney at the Polo Grounds in New York. Carpentier lost the bout by TKO after fifteen rounds. In 1927, the 33-year-old Carpentier retired from the ring.


French postcard by A.N., Paris. Collection: Didier Hanson.




French postcards by A.N., Paris. Collection: Didier Hanson.

Song-and-dance man

Georges Carpentier was considered the most learned man that ever stepped into the ring. Indeed, he is the author of the novel 'Brothers of the Brown Owl A Story of the Boxing Ring' (1923). American magazine Photoplay wrote in 1920: “He is very fond of good literature and the opera. He sings and plays the piano with professional skill.”

After the ring, Carpentier spent several years as a vaudeville song-and-dance man, mostly in England and the US. He also appeared in several films. Carpentier starred in both silent and sound films. In 1913, he had already made his film debut in the short Une aventure de Jack Johnson, champion de boxe toutes catégories du monde / Jack Johnson's Adventures in Paris (Henri Pouctal, 1913) starring African American boxing champion Jack Johnson as himself.

Seven years later followed Le trésor de Kériolet / The Treasure of Keriolet (Félix Léonnec, 1920) with André Nox. In England, he made A Gipsy Cavalier (J. Stuart Blackton, 1922) with Flora Le Breton. In France, he was seen in La symphonie pathétique / Pathetic Symphony (Mario Nalpas, Henri Étiévant, 1928).

Carpentier made three films in Hollywood: the silent adventure drama The Wonder Man (John G. Adolfi, 1920), the musical The Show of Shows (John G. Adolfi, 1929) with John Barrymore, and the musical comedy Hold Everything (Roy Del Ruth, 1930) in which he is mixed up with comedian Joe E. Brown! Ruined by the Wall Street Crash, he returned to Paris. Carpentier’s last screen appearance was in Toboggan / Battling-Geo (Henri Decoin, 1934) with Arlette Marchal.

Soon after, he bought with his last money a bistro in a chic Paris neighbourhood and named it Chez Georges Carpentier. Wikipedia adds that Georges Carpentier and his one-time opponent Jack Dempsey would remain close friends throughout their lives. From 1921 on, they visited back and forth in New York and Paris, getting together to commemorate the anniversary of their famous bout and exchanging birthday greetings. Like Carpentier, Dempsey became a restaurateur. At 81, Carpentier died in Paris in 1975 of a heart attack and was buried in the Cimetière de Vaires-sur Marne, Seine-et-Marne, France. He was married to Georgette Elasaser. In 1991, Georges Carpentier was posthumously elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 864/1, 1925-1926. Photo: Atlantic Photo, Berlin.


Georges Carpentier sings If I Could Learn to Love as Well as I Fight in The Show of Shows (1929) with Patsy Ruth Miller and Alice White. Music by M.K. Jerome, lyrics by Herman Ruby. Source: Atqui (YouTube).

Sources: Jon C. Hopwood (IMDb), Nicolas Zeisler (Cultureboxe - French - now defunct), Silent Ladies and Gents (now defunct), Wikipedia and IMDb.

Brigitte Krause

German actress Brigitte Krause (1929–2007) was trained at the East German DEFA studios in Berlin. While still a student, she made her debut as Christel in Kurt Maetzig's film Girls in Gingham (1949). She went on to play roles in several films but also appeared on television until the late 1980s.


East German postcard by Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 972/78, 1953. Photo: DEFA / Wunsch.


East German postcard by VEB Bild und Heimat Reichenbach i.V., no. 55/64. Photo: DDR Deutscher Fernsehfunk / Winkler. Brigitte Krause in a remarkable and unusual vamp-like pose.


East German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2545, 1966. Photo: DEFA / Pathenheimer. Brigitte Krause in Die Söhne der großen Bärin / The Sons of the Great Bear (Josef Mach, 1966).

Wolfgang Staudte's masterpiece

Brigitte Krause was born in Berlin in 1929. In 1948, Krause joined the DEFA youth studios, where she trained as a film actress and was engaged as a newcomer in 1950. While still a student, the young, fresh-faced girl made her debut in the family epic Die Buntkarierten / Girls in Gingham (Kurt Maetzig, 1949), starring Camilla Spira and Werner Hinz.

She also performed in Wolfgang Staudte's masterpiece Rotation (1949), starring Paul Esser. Rotation tells, in retrospect, the story of a German worker's life between 1920 and 1945 and depicts the true horrors of Nazism. The film won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival.

As part of her training as an actress, she also appeared on stage in Altenburg and Halle. Later, she also performed in theatres in Berlin and Potsdam. After her graduation, Kurt Maetzig gave Krause minor roles as 'natural and simple young girls' in the films Rat der Götter / The Council of the Gods (Kurt Maetzig, 1950) about the I.G. Farben corporation from 1930 to 1948, and the Propaganda film Roman einer Jungen Ehe / Story of a Young Couple (Kurt Maetzig, 1952) that portrays the events in Berlin between 1946 and 1951 from a strict SED perspective.

In Konrad Wolf's debut film, the Heimat comedy Einmal ist keinmal / Once Is Not Enough (1955), she played her first leading role alongside Horst Drinda. The film is considered Wolf's homage to the Soviet musical director Grigory Alexandrov, with whom Wolf had studied at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography in Moscow.

Between 1955 and 1964, Krause frequently acted in productions by the 'Stacheltier' group. In total, she appeared in 12 of their satirical short films. The black-and-white shorts were shown before the main feature in East German cinemas. The production group 'Satirische Kurzfilm' (Satirical Short Film) at the DEFA studios produced them.


East German postcard by VEB Volkskunst Reichenbach, i.V., no. G 573, 1956. Photo: Kroiss. Brigitte Krause in Einmal ist keinmal / Once Is Not Enough (Konrad Wolf, 1955).


East German postcard by VEB Volkskunstverlag Reichenbach i.V., no. G 596, 1955. Photo: Radocay, Berlin.


East German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 974/101, 1956. Photo: DEFA / Wunsch.

The Russians are coming

From the very beginning of East German television in 1952, Brigitte Krause appeared in DFF's Christmas programme. She later appeared frequently in the station's TV series as an announcer and entertainer. She acted in popular TV shows such as Rentner haben niemals Zeit, Polizeiruf 110 / Police Call 110, and Ferienheim Bergkristall.

She effortlessly transitioned to playing mothers—capable women with their hearts in the right place became her domain. She was also active on East German radio, appearing for many years in the popular series 'Neumann, zweimal klingeln' (Neumann, Ring Twice). In the DEFA comedy Das verhexte Fischerdorf / The Bewitched Fishing Village (Siegfried Hartmann, 1962), she again starred alongside Horst Drinda. From 1965 to 1989, she was an ensemble member of the legendary East Berlin cabaret Distel.

She had a supporting role in the Eastern (DEFA Western) Die Söhne der großen Bärin / The Sons of the Great Bear (Josef Mach, 1966), based on the novel by Liselotte Welskopf-Henrich. This film marked the beginning of Gojko Mitić's career as the 'DEFA's chief Indian' and idol of the East German youth.

Krause had a small part in the interesting film Die Russen kommen / The Russians are Coming (Heiner Carow, 1987), which recounts the final days of World War II from the perspective of a Hitler Youth. The film, produced in 1968, was denied state approval at the time because it focuses not on an anti-fascist hero, but on a fellow traveller as a victim. The film provocatively blurred the lines between guilt and innocence. Only twenty years later were the filmmakers able to painstakingly reconstruct The Russians Are Coming from the few remaining fragments of the original negative and positive prints. In a further restoration project beginning in 2014, experts from the DEFA Foundation discovered numerous previously undiscovered fragments in the working print, which they used to completely reconstruct the film.

Her last screen role was in the first episode of the seven-part television film Johanna (Peter Hagen, 1989). Krause was married to the actor Gerd Biewer, with whom she had a daughter, actress Maxi Biewer, known as the weather presenter for the German television channel RTL. Brigitte Krause died in Berlin on 29 April 2007. She was 78.


East German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 1436, 1961. Photo: DEFA / Wenzel.


East German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 1722, 1963. Photo: W. Denger.


East German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2504, 1965. Photo: Balinski.


East-German postcard by VEB Progress Film-Vertrieb, Berlin, no. 2.546, 1966. Photo: DEFA / Pathenheimer. Hannjo Hasse and Brigitte Krause in Die Söhne der großen Bärin / The Sons of Great Bear (Josef Mach, 1966).

Sources: Peter Warnecke (Filmmuseum Potsdam - German), MDR (German), Wikipedia (German and English) and IMDb.

What's On

In September, European Film Star Postcards counted a record 634,460 views. Last month, October, set a new record: 892,168 views! Thank you again for your comments and support. Here's another preview of what's coming on this blog by Ivo Blom, Marlene Pilaete and Paul van Yperen.

5 November: Tradition and Innovation. The Cinematic Work of Luchino Visconti

British publicity still by the BFI. Gino (Massimo Girotti) hears Giovanna singing in Ossessione / Obsession (Luchino Visconti, 1943).

Ivo Blom will be in Paris to attend the international symposium 'Tradition et invention. L’œuvre filmique de Luchino Visconti' (Tradition and Innovation. The Cinematic Work of Luchino Visconti), organised from 4 to 6 November by Paris 1 Panthéon – Sorbonne / Institut Acte; and the University of Pisa. Today Ivo will give a lecture (in French!) on Luchino Visconti's formative years in Paris. The symposium marks the 120th anniversary of Visconti’s birth (1906) and the 50th anniversary of his death (1976). The organisers aim to revisit key aesthetic, critical and historical issues for the reception of his work. EFSP shows postcards and stills we acquired of the maestro's films, plus a few snapshots we took ourselves.

9 November: Before Hollywood: Lubin

British postcard, no. 78. Photo: Lubin. Collection: Marlene Pilaete. Cute Buster Johnson (1908-1969) was the most famous child star of the Lubin company. At only 3 1/2 years old, he was extremely popular in 1912.

We expanded our Before Hollywood post on the pioneering American film production company Lubin with a series of postcards Ivo Blom found in Brighton, England. Lubin produced silent films from 1896 to 1916. Siegmund Lubin (1851-1923) started his empire with the purchase of one film projector in 1895. Before long, the Lubin empire included a chain of cinemas, multiple state-of-the-art production studios across the United States, hundreds of employees, numerous patents for recording and projecting equipment, and international film distribution. Lubin's Liberty Bell logo and motto, 'Clear As A Bell', referred to the superior quality of his film images.

13 November 2026: Directed by Carmine Gallone

Vintage postcard by C.E. & Co. Photo: Cines. Lyda Borelli in La donna nuda / The Naked Truth (Carmine Gallone, 1914).

We continue our series on international film directors. Carmine Gallone (1885–1973) directed over 120 films in his fifty-year career between 1913 and 1963. Gallone was one of Italian cinema's leading early directors and has been compared to Cecil B. DeMille because of his predilection for historical epics. He was also controversial for his works of pro-Fascist Propaganda and historical revisionism. Gallone specialised in melodramas and costume epics, but from the 1950s, he also directed several international co-productions, including many musicals, opera films and biopics of composers.

14 November 2026: Christopher Lee

British postcard by A Bigger Splash LTD, Manchester, no. X718. Photo: Hammer Film Productions LTD. Christopher Lee in Dracula A.D. 1972 (Alan Gibson, 1972).

We will update our post on Christopher Lee (1922-2015) with several new cards. The British film actor was best known as Count Dracula, the bloodsucking vampire. But he created more unforgettable characters on screen, like Francisco Scaramanga in the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), Count Dooku in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002), Saruman in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003) and The Hobbit film trilogy (2012–2014), and as the title figure in the Hammer Horror film The Mummy (1959). Lee acted in nearly 230 films in a career spanning 70 years.

15 November 2026: Zvejnieka dels / The Fisherman's Son (1940)

Latvian postcard. Peteris Lucis and Nina Melbarde in the Latvian film Zvejnieka dels / The Fisherman's Son (Villis Lapenieks, 1940). The film was made in 1939 but premiered on 2 January 1940.

We'll introduce you to Latvia’s first independent feature film, Vilis Lapenieks’ Zvejnieka dels / The Fisherman's Son (1940). It was a national blockbuster. The film created such excitement that at its premiere on 2 January 1940, the public at the Splendid Palace in Riga broke down the doors. In the following years, Latvia would be swallowed by the turmoil of World War II, alternately occupied by Germany and the Soviet Union, and the film was hidden. When I was in Riga some years ago, I found some postcards of the Splendid Palace that still is in full swing.

17 November 2026: Halle Berry

French postcard by Fox France. Photo: Marvel / 20th Century Fox. Halle Berry in X-Men 2 (Bryan Singer, 2003).

Halle Berry (1966) is an acclaimed actress and former beauty queen. She became the first African American actress to win the Oscar for Best Actress following her performance in Monster's Ball (2001). She has also starred in Swordfish (2001), Die Another Day (2002), and the X-Men film franchise. Later this month, a post about her X-Men co-star Hugh Jackman will follow.

18 November 2026: Bromofoto: Italian stars of the 1950s

Italian postcard by Bromofoto, Milano, no. 86. Photo: Lux Film. Silvana Mangano in Riso amaro / Bitter Rice (Giuseppe De Santis, 1949).

25 classic Bromofoto postcards with Italian stars. In 2018 and 2021, EFSP already posted on Bromofoto. Since 1950, this Milanese publisher has produced hundreds of postcards in 'real photography' in the factory at Via San Maurilio 19 in Milan. We love the glamorous, black-and-white star portraits and the great film stills. But whatever happened to Bromofoto?

20 November 2026: Film in The Hague

Dutch poster postcard by Art Unlimited, no. A 1824, 1986. Poster design: Dolly Rudeman, 1926. Collection: M.F. Le Coultre. Dutch poster for Bronenosets Potyomkin / The Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein, 1925). The Dutch title was Potemkin.

A new book documents The Hague’s film history over 130 years. This afternoon, ‘Film in Den Haag' (Film in The Hague) will be launched at the Royal Library (KB) in The Hague. EFSP's Ivo Blom and Paul van Yperen wrote the chapter 'The Hague’s eye-catchers: art or entertainment?' on film posters in The Hague and on The Hague-based poster designers like Dolly Rudeman. In 1926, Dolly designed an interesting poster for Bronenosets Potyomkin / The Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein, 1925). Her poster was distributed internationally and was later published as a popular postcard. On this occasion, we republish a column on this poster in the former Dutch film magazine Skrien. The column was part of 'Treasures from the Filmmuseum', a series in which Paul and his friend and former colleague Bastiaan Anink wrote more than 20 years ago on the Netherlands Filmmuseum's (now Eye Filmmuseum's) poster collection.

21 November 2026: Lionel Atwill

British postcard in the Picturegoer Series, London, no. 793. Photo: Universal.

New at EFSP: one of Hollywood's most sinister and evil villains, Lionel Atwill (1885-1946). British stage and screen actor who acted in a series of classic thrillers and Horror films during the 1930s. From 1915 until his death, he played shady noblemen and mad doctors, gruff military men and police inspectors, usually with his signature moustache. With his sinister, strange and captivating characters, he gave many films a clever mix of fear and anguish. After a sex scandal, he was condemned to work his final years on Poverty Row.

22 November 2026: Photo by Lilo

West German postcard by Kolibri-Verlag, no. 1075. Photo: NDF / Schorchtfilm / Lilo. Hardy Krüger in Der letzte Sommer / The Last Summer (Harald Braun, 1954).

In our series on known and unknown film photographers: Lilo (1921-?), a German photographer and still photographer in the West German film industry of the 1950s and 1960s. We love her work.

28 November 2026: Jake Gyllenhaal

Belgian e-card by Boomerang, no. 1022832, 2007. Photo: Cinéart / Universal / Focus Features. Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger in Brokeback Mountain (Ang Lee, 2005).

The career of Jake Gyllenhaal (1980) spans more than three decades. He is the son of film director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, and the younger brother of actress Maggie Gyllenhaal. He had his breakthrough in the cult film Donnie Darko (2001). He earned praise for his performance as Jack Twist in Ang Lee's gay drama Brokeback Mountain (2005), including the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor and an Academy Award nomination. Gyllenhaal starred in various action films and thrillers, including David Fincher's Zodiac (2007) and Nightcrawler (2014).

29 November 2026: Das Leben des Beethoven (1927)

French postcard. Photo: Film du Synchronisme Cinématique. Fritz Kortner in Das Leben des Beethoven / The Life of Beethoven / Beethoven (Hans Otto, 1927). Caption: Ludwig von Beethoven (16 December 1770 - 26 March 1927).

Some time ago, we found a vintage French postcard booklet by Film du Synchronisme Cinématique. The booklet contained 15 postcards of the Austrian film Das Leben des Beethoven / The Life of Beethoven / Beethoven (1927). It was published for a film gala at the Théatre du Trocadéro in Paris on 27 April 1927, organised to commemorate the centenary of Beethoven's death. Hans Otto Löwenstein directed under the pseudonym Hans Otto, and Fritz Kortner starred as composer Ludwig van Beethoven. In the future, we'd like to do more posts on these postcard books.

1 December 2026: Directed by Robert Bresson

West German film programme by Illustrierte Film-Bühne, no. 1537. Claude Laydu in Le journal d'un curé de campagne / Diary of a Country Priest (Robert Bresson, 1951). The German title was Tagebuch eines Landpfarrers.

With his tragic, ascetic films, French director Robert Bresson (1901–1999) made a notable contribution to the art of cinema. His works, with their non-professional actors, ellipses, and sparse use of scoring, are examples of minimalist film. Critics highly regard such films as A Man Escaped (1956), Pickpocket (1959), Au hasard Balthazar / Balthazar, at Random (1966), Mouchette (1967) and L'Argent (1983).


Screenshot of views European Film Star Postcards, 31 October 2026. Views since January 2011.