THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 8, 1994 TAG: 9412070056
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CRAIG SHAPIRO, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
LAST APRIL at an auction in Los Angeles, a poster for ``Frankenstein'' fetched a record $198,000.
Thom Vourlas and Tench Phillips don't have a poster for that 1931 classic - or any other Boris Karloff movie - but the collection they've put together since taking over the Naro Expanded Cinema in 1977 is vast and impressive:
A 1956 reissue for ``Citizen Kane'' worth $200
The X-rated poster for ``A Clockwork Orange,'' tagged at $300 to $400.
An ``almost original `North by Northwest.' '' Ch-ching. $400 to $500.
Saturday morning, those posters, along with some 3,000 others, go on sale at the Ghent moviehouse. With everything from ``Addams Family Values'' to ``Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo,'' it should be a draw for even the casual movie fan.
Vourlas, who is more than a casual fan, was feeling a little sentimental last week as he wrestled with the logistics of the sale. ``It's hard for me,'' he said. ``Most of this stuff, I wouldn't put up. But I'm a collector.''
Meaning, he can probably be talked into selling ``Apocalypse Now.'' Don't, though, even ask about ``The King of Comedy'' and especially ``Taxi Driver.'' ``It was one of the last dates I had with a woman other than my wife,'' he said.
As for the others, they'll be arranged alphabetically on pallets around the theater. Pricing is simple: A poster is $10 unless it has a sticker on it. Red (``Barbarella'') means it's around $20; green (``Bang the Drum Slowly''), in the $30 neighborhood. There also will be thousands of black-and-white stills going for a buck each.
Not that Vourlas is looking to retire after Saturday. ``We have to buy all of these posters,'' he said. ``A lot of people think we get them for free. We don't. If we don't use them, they sit up here and rot.''
That isn't exactly accurate. Vourlas and Phillips store the posters flat in racks in their second-floor office. And although some show a little wear - prior to the late-'80s, posters were folded and mailed; since then, they've been shipped in cardboard tubes - most are in remarkably good shape.
Given the selection, it's hard to imagine anyone coming away empty-handed. There are Oscar winners (``Platoon,'' ``The Last Emperor''), Westerns (``Little Big Man,'' ``The Long Riders''), sci-fi (``Blade Runner,'' the original and director's cut), soft-core (``Emmanuelle,'' ``Lady Chatterley's Lover''), originals and remakes (``La Femme Nikita,'' ``Point of No Return''), family fare (``The Bear,'' ``The Black Stallion''), horror (``Re-Animator,'' ``The Lost Boys''), comedy (``Ernest Goes to Camp,'' ``Blazing Saddles''), cult items (``Repo Man,'' ``O Lucky Man!'') and all manner of foreign films, the Naro's stock in trade.
The method to all this?
``We're not like other theaters just pumping out product,'' Vourlas said. ``We choose what we play, either by reviews or how well a film's done in other cities. Everything gets here by some merit.''
There is one poster, though, that won't be on sale Saturday. It's the one sent by Chevrolet touting its Cavalier with ``Premier this coming attraction'' in bold letters.
``We'll give that one free to the person who buys `North by Northwest,' '' Vourlas said. ILLUSTRATION: [color poster: PULP FICTION]
by CNB