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Auction History Result 2w010 DARK VICTORY 1/2sh 1939 c/u of doomed Bette Davis by statue of Winged Victory, ultra rare! Date Sold 12/14/2017 Sold For: Login or Register to see sold price. An Original Vintage Theatrical Paperbacked Style A Half-Sheet Movie Poster (1/2sh; measures 22" x 28" [56 x 71 cm]) (Learn More) Dark Victory, the classic 1939 Edmund Goulding romantic love triangle medical doctor high society melodrama ("Twice Academy Award winner now brings to the screen her greatest role!"; "From the play by George Emerson Brewer, Jr. and Bertram Bloch"; nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award; about a rich young socialite who spends her time with her prize horses, but when she discovers she has a brain tumor, she goes to a top surgeon who operates on her and removes the tumor, and they fall in love; she realizes the cancer is terminal, and she leaves him, but Humphrey Bogart is her horse trainer who gets her to tell him why she's been acting unruly, and she ends up returning to the doctor to marry him and live out her remaining days!) starring Bette Davis (nominated for the Best Actress Academy Award for this film), George Brent, Humphrey Bogart, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Ronald Reagan, Henry Travers, and Cora Witherspoon. Note that this was the last time Bette Davis would co-star with Humphrey Bogart, after having appeared together in a number of Warner Bros. movies between 1931 and 1937. The movie is rightfully considered one of the greatest melodrama "tearjerkers" of all time! Finally, note that most of the first release posters for this movie billed Bette Davis as "Academy Award Winner" (with an image of an Oscar statuette next to that). This does NOT mean that this is a re-release poster advertising that Miss Davis won the Academy Award for this movie (in fact, while she was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar, she did not win). Rather, it refers to the fact that Bette Davis had previously won an Academy Award (for "Jezebel") and the studio was proud of that fact and advertised it on the poster! NOTE: Click on linked names to see a biography. If you know who did the art (if any), please let us know. Important Added Info: Note that first release movie posters from this classic Bette Davis movie have always been extremely rare. In the 1990s and very early 2000s, we were lucky enough to auction three different one-sheets and a six-sheet (which we auctioned twice), but otherwise, those were the only posters larger than a lobby card we had auctioned until our 2017 December Major Auction, when we were consigned a one-sheet and this half-sheet from a very longtime collector, who purchased them decades ago! We have never auctioned this half-sheet before, and it may be many years (if ever) before we auction one again! It was the cornerstone of this collector's Warner Bros. collection, and it will certainly be an important piece in the winning bidder's collection as well! Also note that this poster prominently has an image of an Oscar statuette at bottom center. This does NOT mean that this is a re-release poster! Rather, it refers to the fact that Bette Davis had previously won an Academy Award (for "Jezebel") and the studio was proud of that fact and advertised it on the poster! Note that this poster has been paperbacked. What is paperbacking? This means the poster was backed onto a paper backing (acid-free), that is similar in feel to that of the original poster (except somewhat heavier). It is a similar process to linenbacking, except that most collectors use linenbacking for one-sheets and paperbacking for half-sheets, inserts, window cards, and lobby cards. Note that while this poster technically COULD be rolled in a tube, the backing is heavy enough that we strongly advise against it. Therefore, we will only send this poster in a very large flat package, unless the new owner insists on a tube, and accepts responsibility for any damage caused by it being rolled. The poster will arrive fine and display great if it is sent in a flat package, but it will cost more to send this way, especially if the poster is being sent outside the U.S., so please only bid on this poster when you take into mind the cost of shipping it in a very large flat package. What IS paperbacking? Learn More Overall Condition and Pre-Restoration Defects with Quality of Restoration: good. Prior to paperbacking, the poster was folded once in each direction. It had a horizontal fold that was a little over an inch above the regular horizontal fold. This fold had tears and paper loss across it, with extra creases above parts of that extra fold. This resulted in a thin strip of paper loss in Davis' chin and cheek, and also damaged her ear, and there was a tear running diagonally up her ear and into her hair, with bits of paper loss and stains in the entire ear. There were also stains above and below that fold at the edge of her mouth and down past her chin line. There was paper loss in the middle of the left border, extending into the edge of the background. There were some creases and tiny bits of paper loss on the regular folds and small paper loss in Davis' hair where the folds met. The poster had pinholes, stains, and a few tears around the edges and a few stains scattered throughout, including some scattered through Davis' cheek. Overall, the poster was in fair to good condition prior to paperbacking. The poster was paperbacked many years ago, and it displays pretty well in spite of its defects described above, but you can clearly see signs of the restoration, especially when you are close to the poster. If I owned this wonderful poster (which is the only example we have auctioned), I would surely have a talented restorer remove it from the old backing and properly re-restore it. It would still require a fair amount of restoration along the folds and the extra folds, but a top restorer can make it look incredible (but I would not argue with someone preferring to display it as is). But since the poster has significant defects and restoration, please be sure to carefully read the above and look closely at our super-sized image before bidding on this poster. Learn More about condition grades 
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