image credit: Posteritati
The 1951 British film The Man in the White Suit, directed by Alexander Mackendrick and starring Alec Guinness, is one of many notable satirical comedies produced by Ealing Studios.
The film's poster was originally released in the UK in a quad poster format (30 x 40 inches) and it's iconic design stands as a testament to the film's enduring legacy and the innovative spirit of mid-century British poster design.
The poster's striking red background serves as an unavoidable contrast to the central image: Alec Guinness as Sidney Stratton, astride in his luminous white suit. This unique vision was crafted under the direction of S. John Woods (Ealing Studios' head of publicity from 1943 to 1959). Woods was instrumental in elevating the art of film poster design, often collaborating with esteemed artists like Alfred Reginald Thomson, a Royal Academician and Olympic gold medalist (!) in painting.
Under Woods' guidance, Ealing Studios broke away from more conventional and traditional poster designs and instead commissioned contemporary artists, setting a new gold standard for advertising and reinforcing the studio's commitment to artistic excellence.
The combined efforts of Woods and Thomson resulted in a poster that didn't only serve to promote screenings of the film over seventy years ago, but to this day stands as a piece of art in its own right, an exemplary work of cutting edge design.
Due to its dynamic design, art historical importance, and rarity, the original 1951 UK quad is highly sought after by collectors.
Some notable auction results for the original poster, as of this writing, include:
Sothebys - £4,000 (September, 2018)
Eubanks - £4,680, (May, 2023)
Heritage - $5750 (July, 2024)
Emovieposter - $6583 (December, 2023)
Over the course of the past seven decades this poster has seen various printings , five of the more well known versions of this design include:
1951 Original Release: Features the General Film Distributors (GFD) logo in the bottom left corner. Used to promote the first run screenings of the film.
Late 1950s Reissue: Displays the Rank Film Distributors logo, replacing the GFD mark.
1980s Re-release: Maintains the original artwork but is printed on semi-gloss paper, differing from the matte finish of the original.
1993 BFI Re-release: A near-identical design to the original, lacking the distributor's logo and artist credits, printed on modern stock.
2025 CODA screen print: An officially licensed edition of 110 hand numbered copies, with a variant edition featuring glow-in-the-dark inks in a run of 80 copies. To accommodate the challenging art of screen printing, Phantom City Creative painstakingly created a seven color separation based off a high resolution scan of the original poster while DL screenprinting in Seattle, Washington expertly executed the production. Available Friday, May 23rd 2025 from CODA.
