One-sheet poster for the film “The Last Chance” (1945)
Extent and Medium
Overall: Height: 41.250 inches (104.775 cm) | Width: 28.250 inches (71.755 cm)
Creator(s)
- Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (Distributor)
- Ken Sutak (Compiler)
- Praesens-Film (Production Company)
- Praesens-Film (Distributor)
Biographical History
The Cinema Judaica Collection consists of more than 1,200 objects relating to films about World War II and the Holocaust as well as Jewish, Israeli, and biblical subjects, from 1923 to 2000, from the United States, Europe, Israel, Canada, Mexico, and Argentina. The collection was amassed by film memorabilia collector Ken Sutak, to document Holocaust-and Jewish-themed movies of the World War II era and the postwar years. The collection includes posters, lobby and photo cards, scene stills, pressbooks, trade ads, programs, magazines, books, VHS tapes, DVDS, and 78 rpm records. Sutak organized these materials into two groups, “Cinema Judaica: The War Years, 1939–1949” and “Cinema Judaica: The Epic Cycle, 1950–1972” and, in conjunction with the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion Museum (now the Dr. Bernard Heller Museum in New York), organized exhibitions on these two themes in 2007 and 2008. Sutak subsequently authored companion books with the same titles.
Archival History
The poster was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2018 by Ken Sutak and Sherri Venokur.
Acquisition
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of Ken Sutak and Sherri Venokur
Scope and Content
One-sheet poster for the film, “The Last Chance,” released in the United States in February 1945. The film was originally released in Switzerland under the German title, “Die Letzte Chance,” in May 1945, and won the Grand Prize and the International Peace Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 1946. The film is set in German-occupied Italy in 1943, and focuses on three Allied soldiers who escape a prisoner-of-war camp and join a group of 14 refugees making a perilous journey to the Swiss border. In reality, the refugees would probably not have been allowed to stay in Switzerland as the government had instituted very strict refugee laws. The lead actors playing the American and British soldiers were actual members of their respective militaries who escaped to Switzerland after being captured. Ray Reagan was in the U.S. Air Force, when his plane was shot down over enemy territory. John Hoy was a British Lieutenant who escaped from an Italian prison camp. E.G. Morrison was also a British soldier, who had been captured by the Germans in North Africa and sent to a camp in Italy, from which he escaped. In addition to the stars, the majority of the cast were also amateur actors. This object is one of more than 1,200 objects in the Cinema Judaica Collection of materials related to films about World War II and the Holocaust as well as Jewish, Israeli, and biblical themes.
Conditions Governing Access
No restrictions on access
Conditions Governing Reproduction
Restrictions on use. Copyright status is unknown.
Physical Characteristics and Technical Requirements
One-sheet poster for the film, “The Last Chance,” printed on rectangular, cream-colored paper and mounted on a larger linen backing. The poster has a narrow margin on all four sides and features a central, canted, cream-colored rectangle over a black background. At the top of the central rectangle is an illustrated image of a man and woman, depicted from the shoulders up. They are surrounded by a dark blue, semitransparent haze that partially covers the man’s face and the woman’s hair. Directly below is the film production company and title, printed in large, red, block text. Partially overlaying the title, on the right side, is an exclamation, framed by a narrow, black, rectangular border. Directly below the film title are the production credits, printed in black. Within the bottom margin, copyright and printing information is printed in black. The poster has several horizontal and vertical creases, and several tears along the edges. The corners are torn with small losses except for the upper left one. There are also several losses along the bottom and right edges of the paper. Depicted: John Hoy as Lt. John Halliday, Luisa Rossi as Tonina
Subjects
- Heroes in motion pictures.
- Italy.
- Soldiers in motion pictures.
- Prisoners of war in motion pictures.
- Liberty in motion pictures.
- Cannes Film Festival.
- Foreign films.
- United States.
- Switzerland.
- Refugees in motion pictures.
Genre
- Posters.
- Object
- Posters