This is an original Japanese STB tatekan (two‑panel standing) poster issued in Japan for The Innocents (the poster’s bold Japanese titling centres on 「回転」—a direct nod to Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw / 「ネジの回転」). Presented in the dramatic STB format (two B2 sheets designed to display together as a tall vertical, approx. 51 × 145 cm), it’s an exceptionally elegant and scarce piece of early‑’60s horror paper—minimal, psychological, and unmistakably high‑end.
Notably, the poster’s own credit block highlights the film’s prestige pedigree: Jack Clayton, Freddie Francis, Georges Auric, and Henry James, from The Turn of the Screw. The CinemaScope branding and 20th Century Fox mark complete the theatrical provenance.
Film background
A cornerstone of literary ghost‑story cinema, The Innocents is a chilling, psychologically ambiguous adaptation of Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw: a new governess arrives at a remote estate and becomes convinced the children in her care are being haunted—and possibly corrupted—by unseen forces. What makes the film enduring is its tension between the supernatural and the psychological: dread builds in whispers, glances, and negative space, with Deborah Kerr delivering one of the genre’s most famous performances.
Stylish, adult, and unsettling, it’s the kind of horror that doesn’t shout—it tightens.
Poster design
A masterclass in restrained terror—and a perfect example of why Japanese STB tatekans can feel like gallery pieces. The upper panel is dominated by a close, anxious portrait of Deborah Kerr peering through a doorframe/banister line, her face isolated against a field of warm brown. A vertical column of acid‑green copy reads like a warning siren, while the typography stays clean and modern: “the Innocents” at top right, CinemaScope at top left, and Kerr’s name in huge white katakana 「デボラ・カー」 anchoring the sheet.
Then the lower panel detonates in pure graphic symbolism: enormous canary‑yellow kanji 「回転」 (“The Turn”) over a hypnotic spiral, with a pale hand braced against the door, the two children half‑revealed in the darkness, and a bleak estate silhouette below. It’s elegant, ominous, and brilliantly composed for the tall two‑sheet presentation—an unforgettable marriage of star portraiture and abstract horror design.
Rarity and condition
Japanese STB tatekan posters were produced in far smaller quantities than standard formats and were intended for prominent theatre display—meaning complete surviving two‑panel sets are significantly harder to find than single‑sheet posters, especially for a prestige horror title of this calibre.
Condition is Excellent, close to Near Mint with outstanding display impact (unused / uncirculated feel). Please inspect the photos carefully as they show the exact poster for sale (front and back of both panels).
It is over 60 years old.
It is not a reproduction or a reprint.
Certificate of Authenticity included.
