POOL OF LONDON 1950 Bonar Colleano, Susan Shaw JAMES BOSWELL UK LIFT BILL POSTER

Original British 16 1/2 inch x 22 inch Lift Bill Poster for the 1950 Basil Dearden Ealing Studios Drama POOL OF LONDON starring Bonar Colleano, Susan Shaw, Renée Asherson, Earl Cameron, Moira Lister, Max Adrian, Joan Dowling, James Robertson Justice, Michael Golden and Alfie Bass.

Two sailors, on shore leave, are caught up in a diamond smuggling racket. More complications ensue for black sailor Johnny who finds love and heartache in London docklands.

Poster art by James Boswell. Born in Westport, New Zealand in 1906, Boswell was educated at the Elam School of Art in Auckland before moving to England in 1925 to study at the Royal College of Art. Although primarily a painter he temporarily gave this up in 1932 to work in graphics. At this time he joined the Communist Party and in 1933 founded the Artists International association, promoting left-wing and anti-militarist art. He attended James Fitton’s (Kind Hearts and Coronets) evening classes in lithography at the Central School and after the war became art director for Shell and art editor for the magazine Lilliput from 1947 to 1950. He is recognized as one of the outstanding draughtsmen of the 1930s and 1940s.

Printed by Graphic Reproductions Ltd. (Ealing’s main printer through the 1940s and 1950s).

The poster is in good condition with a small piece out of the left edge and slight tattering along the same edge. There is a 2 inch tear at the bottom and at the top right corner, all have been strengthened with paper attached to the reverse.