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Das Rätsel von Bangalor
An exotic riddle advertised by a man who would soon build the waxworks.
What
A German placard for the 1918 Gloria-Film production, designed by Paul Leni — who co-directed the film and drew its advertising, as he drew so much else.
Why
Leni was a poster artist and set designer before he was a director, and the traffic ran both ways all his life. Sheets like this are the working evidence for how Expressionist film design actually arrived: through commercial graphics, not theory.
Notice
The design thinks in flat cut shapes and silhouette rather than modelled figures — the same instinct that would later build the painted architecture of his films.
“A director's hand, still learning on paper.”
Format
The full-resolution, color-managed file — restored honestly, yours to print and keep.
Sized to protect print quality — this scan supports sizes up to 18x24" cleanly.
Size
$29.00
Provenance
- Film
- Das Rätsel von Bangalor (1918), dir. Paul Leni
- Country / studio
- Germany · Gloria-Film
- Designer
- Paul Leni
- Format
- One-sheet (27 × 41 in.)
- Poster published
- German lithographed film placard, 1918
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons
Conservation note
Print produced from an AI-enhanced upscale (≈2.4×) of the surviving archival scan (original 514×700px). The upscale raises resolution only — the design is unaltered, and the paper’s folds and age are the artifact’s own.
Rights: CLEAR. Public domain — U.S. 95-year rule (poster published 1930 or earlier). Gated by the poster’s own publication year, never the film’s. Cleared by registry on 2026-07-18.
From The Haunted Screen
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The Double Bill
Two one-sheets, hung as a pair — a double feature for your wall, at a pairing price of $270.00 for the two. Build one from any two one-sheets in the gallery.
Pair it in the gallery →A house of the Provenance family