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Vessel of Wrath (released in the U.S. and Australia as "The Beachcomber"), the 1938 Erich Pommer English South Seas tropical island romantic melodrama ("Based on the story by W. Somerset Maugham"; about a shiftless man who lives in the Dutch Islands, and spends his days drinking and being with beautiful young women, and a missionary, played by Lanchester, Laughton's real life wife, slowly reforms him) starring Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester, Robert Newton, Tyrone Guthrie, and Eliot Makeham. Apparently, the original English version of this movie had scenes that were considered too sexy for U.S. audiences, and they were cut from the version that played in the United States as "The Beachcomber"! Finally, note that this movie came out in England in March 1938, and in the U.S. in December 1938, but all of the U.S. movie paper has a 1939 copyright (which makes sense, because it probably only had a very limited engagement in December 1938). So we refer to U.S. movie paper as being from 1938, even though it has a 1939 copyright, because to do it a different way would be even more confusing!
NOTE: Click on linked names to see a biography.

Important Added Info: Note that this still is a key book still, printed on a deluxe heavyweight paper stock. Many studios spent extra money to have their most special photos, the key book stills, either backed with linen or printed on a heavy paper, both of which enhanced their durability. They had an extra 1" at the left or top, with punch holes, because of how they were stored. Key book stills are far more rare than regular stills, which has increased their popularity among collectors, since only a few keybooks were manufactured per film, and a key book still is guaranteed to be authentic. Someone trimmed away the extra 1" from the left or top of the still.

Note that this still is part of an amazing collection of 204 scene stills we are auctioning in this set of auctions. All of them were collected by David Mallery, a noted Philadelphia film critic/college professor of the 1960s to the 1990s. He had a great love of movies, and he would go to memorabilia shows and shops in the 1960s and 1970s and he assembled a collection of great original stills from films he loved! He put them into scrapbooks using double-stick tape on the back of each still, and sometimes he would type a paragraph about that movie and put that in the scrapbook as well.

After his passing, his scrapbooks were obtained from his estate, and the stills were carefully removed from the scrapbook pages, but the double-stick tape was left on the back of the stills, although the "sticky" part on the face of the tape was removed. In almost all cases, the tape did not affect the front of the still. It can be removed by a professional or talented amateur, but it has not harmed the still in the many decades since it was first placed in the scrapbook, so I really don't see a reason to do so, but that will be the choice of the new owner of each still!

Mr. Mallery naturally had excellent taste in movies, and he was collecting at a time when you could find great original scene stills from the very best movies (but even in the 1960s and 1970s, it took some work to find them!). This is a rare opportunity to acquire truly great and rare original vintage stills, and they have a wonderful "provenance" as well!

Here is more information about David Mallery. He was a professor of cinematography at Chestnut Hill College in Philadelphia, from the 1960s into the 1990s. He was a founding member of AFI (American Film Institute), and a member of the Motion Picture Academy. He was a film critic who wrote many reviews for many publications, and hosted a TV show where he interviewed directors, actors, and others involved in the film industry.

Over the years, he developed both working and personal relationships with many actors, actresses, and directors, including Frank Capra and his wife, Charlton Heston and others. eMoviePoster.com will be auctioning letters from these celebrities and others to Mr. Mallery in their next auction of signed items!

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