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Les Trois Masques
The first French talking picture, announced in four flat colours.
What
A French affiche dated October 1929 for André Hugon's Les Trois Masques, printed in four flat inks — black, green, blue and red.
Why
Les Trois Masques is generally counted the first French sound feature, shot in London because no French studio was yet equipped for it. This sheet advertises the exact moment the silent era ended in France, and the affiche tradition that had run since Faria had to begin again.
Notice
Four flat colours and no halftone — the economy of the printing is visible in every area, a long way from the lithographic richness of the Pathé sheets twenty years earlier.
“The end of the silent screen in France, printed cheaply and in a hurry.”
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
- Les Trois Masques (1929), dir. André Hugon
- Country / studio
- France
- Format
- One-sheet (27 × 41 in.)
- Poster published
- French affiche, 1929
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons
Conservation note
Print produced from an AI-enhanced upscale (≈1.9×) of the surviving archival scan (original 641×877px). 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 French 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