“All About Eve” (イヴの総て), Ultra‑Rare Original Japanese B2 First‑Release Poster — 1951 First Japanese Release (16 September 1951) — approx. 20.3 × 28.7 in (51.5 × 72.8 cm) P259

This is an original Japanese poster printed for the film’s first Japanese theatrical release. Japanese film databases list the local opening as 16 September 1951 through セントラル, and the sheet retains the period 20th Century-Fox branding used for that original Japanese campaign.

About the film
Written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck, All About Eve follows Broadway star Margo Channing as she welcomes the shy, adoring Eve Harrington into her orbit, only to realize that the young admirer intends to use her and everyone around her as stepping-stones to fame. Japanese sources likewise summarize it as the story of a young woman who rises by using a veteran actress as her foothold, and they note the film’s basis in a Mary Orr story modeled on actress Elisabeth Bergner. The cast is headed by Bette Davis and Anne Baxter, with George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Gary Merrill, Hugh Marlowe, Thelma Ritter, and an early appearance by Marilyn Monroe.

The Film & Its Place in Cinema History
This film stands among the essential Hollywood dramas of its era. The Academy records that it won six Oscars—including Best Picture, Best Director, and Screenplay—after receiving a then-record 14 nominations. Criterion calls it a “devastatingly witty Hollywood classic” and notes that Davis’s performance as Margo Channing was the role that revived her career and came to define it, while the Library of Congress later selected the film for the National Film Registry in 1990.

All About Eve in Japan
What makes this Japanese paper especially exciting is how clearly it belongs to the film’s Oscar-season moment. The top copy trumpets the picture’s six Academy Awards, and the design presents it not merely as imported entertainment but as a major work of cinematic prestige—a film of star power, sophistication, and cultural importance. Coming to Japan in 1951, after its American awards triumph, it arrived already canonized, and this poster captures exactly that aura.

Poster design
A spectacular, highly original Japanese design reduces the film to a nearly modernist diagram of rivalry and ambition. Full-length black-and-white images of Bette Davis and Anne Baxter stride above a heavy black title block, while brightly colored arrows point across the composition like visual cues of influence, threat, and ascent. Floating head portraits of key supporting players punctuate the blank field, and the huge yellow Japanese title, turquoise English title, and vivid red cast billing create extraordinary graphic impact. It is a brilliant example of how Japanese poster art could reinvent a Hollywood classic through bold typography, abstraction, and wit.

Why collectors prize this example
Collectors respond strongly to this poster because it combines several powerful points of appeal in one country-of-origin sheet: a Best Picture winner, one of the great performances by Bette Davis, one of the most celebrated screenplays of the studio era, and a Japanese design unlike standard American paper. Its desirability is heightened by the fact that it belongs to the first Japanese release campaign for a film now firmly embedded in the canon of classic cinema.

Condition
Very Good / Excellent for its age. Light original fold/storage lines and only mild wear along the folds, including a slightly more visible vertical fold and soft horizontal fold impression. The front remains unusually fresh and attractive, with strong blacks, crisp yellow title lettering, and vivid turquoise and red printing. There is gentle overall age/handling creasing to the pale background, minor edge and corner wear, and a few tiny paper pricks/punctures in the margins, most noticeable as a small cluster near the lower-left logo area and a tiny point near the upper-right margin. The blank verso shows even age toning, soft fold impressions, and clear image show-through, but remains generally clean and stable. Overall, it has superb display presence for a 1951 Japanese B2. Please review the supplied photographs carefully—shown is the exact poster offered.

It is not a reproduction or a reprint.

A rare opportunity to acquire an original first-release Japanese B2 poster for All About Eve—a strikingly designed and beautifully surviving 1951 sheet for one of the great Hollywood backstage dramas, uniting Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, and the film’s Oscar-crowned reputation in a genuinely memorable piece of Japanese poster art.