“La Piscine” (The Swimming Pool / 太陽が知っている), Original First Release Japanese Movie Poster 1969, STB / Tatekan (c. 51 × 145 cm) — Ultra Rare K361
This is an original Japanese STB / tatekan signboard poster, formed from two matching B2 panels, produced for the first Japanese theatrical release of La Piscine—Jacques Deray’s sultry French-Italian psychological thriller starring Alain Delon, Romy Schneider, Maurice Ronet, and Jane Birkin. Released in Japan by Nippon Herald on 26 April 1969 under the poetic title Taiyō ga Shitteiru (“The Sun Knows”), this is an exceptionally scarce surviving example of late-1960s Japanese theatre display paper.
Film background
Released in 1969, La Piscine is a slow-burning study of desire, jealousy, and violence set at a secluded villa near Saint-Tropez. Jean-Paul and Marianne’s languid holiday is disrupted by the arrival of Harry—Marianne’s former lover—and his 18-year-old daughter Pénélope. The casting carries extraordinary real-life charge: Delon and Schneider were former fiancés, while Delon and Ronet had previously faced each other in Purple Noon. With its Riviera setting, Michel Legrand score, and fashion-forward wardrobe featuring André Courrèges, the film has become a cult touchstone of stylish European thriller cinema.
Poster design
A spectacular, high-impact Japanese composition that makes brilliant use of the tatekan’s extreme verticality. The upper panel is dominated by enormous close-ups of Delon and Schneider in dark sunglasses, concealing their eyes and transforming Riviera glamour into suspicion and psychological menace. Beneath them, shimmering blue-green pool water and a lone swimmer suggest the danger moving below the film’s polished surface. The lower panel counterbalances the cold close-ups with a full-length image of Delon and Schneider embracing, while the monumental purple title 太陽が知っている descends in fluid, hand-brushed lettering. The central slogan reads 「何か知っている――脅迫に似た太陽の光がまぶしい！」—“It knows something—the sunlight, like a threat, is dazzling!”—while the long left-hand copy explicitly invokes Delon’s murderous screen persona in Purple Noon. The sheet join running through Schneider’s neck is a characteristic feature of the original two-panel design.
About STB (Tatekan) posters
STBs, or tatekans, are tall, two-panel Japanese cinema signboard posters measuring approximately 51 × 145 cm—about 20 × 57 inches. Formed from two B2 sheets and designed to be joined vertically, they were supplied to cinemas for prominent display in theatre signboards and entrance units. They were produced as working advertising material rather than objects intended for preservation, making complete, correctly matched sets from the 1960s substantially scarcer than standard Japanese B2 posters.
Provenance (The Iwate Stamp & Poster History)
The presence of the "Iwate" (岩手) stamp—alongside screening dates / local registry numbers—serves as a definitive physical footprint of this poster's history.
During the Showa era, it was common practice for regional theaters, local distributors, or prefectural authorities to stamp theatrical materials. This was done to authorize their public display, verify local tax/distribution compliance, or denote specific exhibition dates for a particular cinema.
For collectors, while near mint, untouched posters have their appeal, a localized stamp like this is highly valued for its provenance. It transforms the piece from a mere printed graphic into a verified, "theater-used" historical artifact. It provides concrete proof that this specific STB (Tatekan) panel (the lower panel) was physically shipped to, handled, and hung at a cinema in Iwate Prefecture during the film's original Japanese theatrical run in 1969.
Condition
Excellent+ vintage condition. Please review the photos—they show the exact poster for sale.
It is over 57 years old!
It is not a reproduction or a reprint.
Certificate of Authenticity included.
