Argentine One-Sheet Poster for the film “So Ends Our Night” (1941)
Extent and Medium
Overall: Height: 42.500 inches (107.95 cm) | Width: 29.000 inches (73.66 cm)
Creator(s)
- United Artists Corporation (Distributor)
- Ken Sutak (Compiler)
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
Argentinian poster for the American feature film, “So Ends Our Night,” released in the United States in February 1941, and re-released in 1948. “So Ends Our Night” was an independently produced adaptation of the 1939 novel, “Flotsam,” by Erich Maria Remarque. Remarque was a German veteran of World War I, who became famous for writing “All Quiet on the Western Front” about war and the experiences of German soldiers. After Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Remarque’s works were deemed “unpatriotic” and banned. He fled for Switzerland, had his German citizenship revoked in 1938, and immigrated to the United States just before the start of World War II. “So Ends Our Night” begins in 1937 and focuses on three German refugees, whose paths cross on multiple occasions as they move throughout Western Europe to flee Nazi persecution. It highlights the predicament of (largely Jewish) refugees who are unable to obtain the legal documentation needed to enter or settle in free countries. It was one of the first Hollywood film to focus on the experiences of refugees. Despite a revised marketing campaign, the film was widely viewed as too solemn, slow, and lacking in drama. 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 printed on rectangular, off-white paper for the film, “So Ends Our Night.” The poster has a narrow, white margin on all four sides. The names of the producers and principal actors are printed at the top in black and yellow ink on a red background. A small, black crest is stamped in the upper right corner. In the center are illustrations of two women and a man, depicted from the shoulders up. Directly below the illustrations is the film title in Spanish, arranged in two curved rows of large, white block text with black shadowing. An illustration of an orange book is positioned to the bottom right of the film title, and the text overlays an illustration of blue sky and yellow sun rays emerging from the horizon. Silhouettes of a man and woman stand in the center of the sun on a red surface, which is overlaid with additional cast names and film credits in yellow and white ink. Several ink and pencil inscriptions are recorded on the back. The poster has heavy creases, there are multiple pinholes in the corners, and the paper has yellowed with age. There are several tears along the edges and along the folds, as well as a large loss at the center. Left to right: Margaret Sullavan as Ruth Holland, Fredric March as Joseph Steiner, Frances Dee as Marie Steiner
front, top right corner, stamped, black ink : B G A
People
- Sten, Anna, 1908-1993.
- Sullavan, Margaret, 1909-1960.
- March, Fredric, 1897-1975.
- Dee, Frances, 1907-2004.
- Remarque, Erich Maria, 1898-1970.
- Von Stroheim, Erich, 1885-1957.
- Ford, Glenn, 1916-2006.
Corporate Bodies
- Favorite Films Corporation
Subjects
- Antisemitism in motion pictures.
- Argentina.
- Germans in motion pictures.
- Emigration and immigration in motion pictures.
- Refugees in motion pictures.
- Independent films.
- United States.
- Immigrants in motion pictures.
- Film adaptations.
Genre
- Object
- Posters
- Posters.