1936
Shots from the Films was a magnificent series of cigarette cards created by Alick Penrose Forbes Ritchie, a Scottish painter and caricaturist who trained at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Antwerp. The series, produced in 1936 for Ogden’s and Hignetts Bros & Co., consisted of numerous caricatures of film celebrities, depicting in a humorous and realistic way some of the most famous scenes from the films of the 1930s. The cards measured 3.5 cm by 6.7 cm. In addition to the drawing signed Alick P.F. Ritchie at the bottom of the drawing, there was the name of the film in capital letters in quotation marks and then the film company at the bottom of the white frame of the card. On the back, in order, were indicated: the title of the series, the number of the card, the title of the film, the actors represented in the caricature and finally a brief description of the film. The cards were very colorful and showed the actors in full figure, just as if it were the scene taken from the film; the series was an original and fun way to promote cigarettes and cinema, two elements of popular culture in the 1930s. A curiosity about some of the film titles on the cards is that they do not correspond to the title with which they were released to the public. A small example is the 1935 film The Baxter millions, which we now know as Three kids and a queen. Or the 1936 film Rhodes of Africa, which on the card is titled Cecil Rhodes. If you are curious to see the complete series, click on further information or on the symbol shown immediately below the year of the series