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The Duke Steps Out
A prizefighter enrols at college, in one of the last pictures MGM sent out without a voice.
What
A 1929 poster for the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer comedy-drama directed by James Cruze, released in March of that year.
Why
By spring 1929 the silent feature was already a commercial liability, and MGM was releasing pictures like this one into theatres that were tearing out their orchestra pits. It is a document of the industry's last silent season rather than of its peak.
Notice
The graphic confidence of the late-twenties studio style - flat colour, bold lettering, almost no illustrative fussiness left.
“The silent picture, still smiling as the lights changed.”
Format
The full-resolution, color-managed file — restored honestly, yours to print and keep.
Size
$29.00
Provenance
- Film
- The Duke Steps Out (1929), dir. James Cruze
- Country / studio
- United States · Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
- Format
- Other
- Poster published
- U.S. poster, 1929
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons
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. Star-portrait piece: sold as the artifact, the film named, the star incidental.
From Silent Hollywood
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