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Auction History Result 2j002 DANTE'S INFERNO insert '35 naked bodies in Hell will burn themselves into your memory, rare! Date Sold 11/3/2015 Sold For: Login or Register to see sold price. An Original Vintage Theatrical Paperbacked Insert Movie Poster (measures 14" x 36" [36 x 91 cm]) (Learn More) Dante's Inferno, the 1935 Harry Lachman carnival sideshow rags-to-riches romantic family relationship melodrama ("It will burn itself in your memory forever!"; "All other experiences shrink into insignificance as you witness this greatest of all motion pictures."; based on the classic poem by Dante Alighieri about a man's journey to the gates of Hell; William Fox had made an earlier version of this movie in 1924, and both versions of the movie are about unscrupulous businessmen who become massively successful, but have second thoughts when their behavior cause a man's suicide, and in both films, there is a long fantasy sequence depicting Dante's Hell, with writhing naked bodies!; in this version, Tracy runs a massive carnival attraction called "Dante's Inferno", where people are led on a tour of a replica!) starring Spencer Tracy, Claire Trevor, Henry B. Walthall, Scotty Beckett, Alan Dinehart, and Robert Gleckler. Note that Fox chose to focus the entire poster campaign on the fantasy sequence in the movie that depicts an actual Hell (probably because it involved showing semi-nude bodies!). Note that Fox really went all out in creating the fantasy sequence! According to a New York Times article, "there were 4,950 technicians, architects, artists, carpenters, stone masons and laborers, 250 electricians and 3,000 extras in the Inferno scene. A total of 300,00 feet of film was shot, which was whittled down to a manageable 8000 feet by editor Alfred DeGaetano. A total of 14,000 people worked on the film". Also note that this movie was made exactly when "Fox Film" became "20th Century-Fox", and it was released with the Fox logo, but the copyrighted owner is 20th Century-Fox! Finally, note that Spencer Tracy was one of Fox's biggest stars at this time, but his alcoholism got out of control at this time. He disappeared from filming for long periods due to drunken binges, and at one point, he fell asleep on the set and was accidentally locked in, and he woke up and started destroying the set, causing thousands of dollars of damage, which the studio billed him for. Shortly after this movie, he and Fox parted ways, and of course, he soon became one of MGM's top stars. Tracy later said the movie was "one of the worst pictures ever made anywhere, anytime." He had his name removed from the opening credits, and insisted that his name not appear in any of the publicity for the film, so obviously, there was much bad blood between him and the studio! 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 this poster is extremely rare. We have previously auctioned both styles of one-sheet, but we have never before auctioned this insert! Note that, as noted above, this poster has a really wild image from the fantasy sequence in this movie showing naked bodies writhing in Hell (with the tagline suggestive of hellfire "It will burn itself into your memory forever!", which was certainly extremely daring for 1935). There are no credits on the poster, so 1935 viewers of this poster would have no way of knowing that the entire movie was not literally "set in Hell"! Note that this poster has been graded and authenticated by mpgrading.com. This means that a separate 8 1/2" x 11" paper comes with the poster, and that it has been "encrypted with a unique 9-digit serial number with invisible DNA-laced ink" which has been hidden somewhere in an unobtrusive portion of the poster. On the certificate, the poster has been given a grade of "very fine - (8.5) - RG", but of course, that grading scale is not the same as ours (see below). Also note that this poster has been paperbacked. What is paperbacking? This means the poster was backed onto a light paper backing (acid-free), that is similar in feel to that of the original poster (it means that the poster must be handled carefully, as the backing does not give it much added strength, but it is similar to having an unrestored poster, and yet it has been properly preserved). It is a similar process to linenbacking, except that most collectors use linenbacking for one-sheets and paperbacking for half-sheets, inserts, window cards. What IS paperbacking? Learn More Overall Condition and Pre-Restoration Defects with Quality of Restoration: very good. Prior to paperbacking, the poster was folded across the middle and 6" from the top and bottom of the poster, and there were tiny bits of surface paper loss on those folds. There were pieces of tape on the back of the top and bottom of the poster, and some pinholes around the edges, with small paper loss in the bottom left corner, slightly entering the edge of the solid background area. Overall, the poster was in very good condition prior to paperbacking. The poster was nicely backed, and displays well! At some point after it was backed, the poster acquired four tiny bits of surface paper loss in the left of the horizontal fold 6" from the bottom of the poster. Those are in a solid colored area (see our image), and any restorer could easily touch up those areas without re-backing the poster. Learn More about condition grades 
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