Hercules and The Captive Woman is a film released in 1961 by director Vittorio Cottafavi and Mario Bava. The movie tells a story of Hercules heading to Atlantis with King Androcles of Thebes on a mission to Greece, on their journey Hercules is forced to save a kidnapped woman, Ismene, from a shapeshifting monster. The film was originally shot and directed in Italy, France under the name Hercules And The Conquest Of Atlantis, but was renamed and edited by Filmnation, an American production company, for the United States release. The movie was released during some of Hollywood’s biggest costume and monster phases. Lots of films coming out had practical effects and costume design, and the movie posters made sure to show it. The movie poster is very flashy with large typography with sentences that draw you in like, “Could she subdue this GIANT OF A MAN with her SORCERY", and the advertisement of new Technicolor Technirama Technology, which was due to the re-release in America that was updated to a 35mm windscreen film process, which reduced grain and provided a sharper definition. The design is hand drawn, a choice you could see in most films of the decade, hand drawn being more expressive and the fastest way to evoke emotion to audiences that represented the film. This was seen in a lot of B movie films at the time, due to the lower budget, anything promotional relied on a ‘wow’ factor that caught audiences attention, creating lots of interesting typography, hand lettered, dramatic multicolor palettes, and hand drawn and custom illustrations. This poster style can be seen throughout contemporary underground design, handmade textures, color mishaps and ink discoloring, and the large and loud fonts are reused and repurposed in design in examples of street fashion, retro graphics and even popular design culture now in the 20th century.
