This Month's Showcase

The art and the history of double bills at the cinema

Often wrongly considered the poor relation of cinema posters, the double bill poster actually has a rich and complex past that has earned its place in movie history. Born in the depression era of the 1930's when cinemas were struggling to attract audiences, the double bill was a master stroke of marketing. The pairing of a leading new release with a secondary "B movie" provided real value for money and also created a new market for low budget B movies that is still with us today. Double bills brought the customers back to cinemas, arguably saving the cinema and film industry during the 30's and providing a far richer ongoing legacy.

Over the years the nature of the titles within double bills changed as the Great Depression receded and society changed. While it still remained the natural home of the B movie, they were now often released together as horror, sci-fi or exploitation double bills for niche markets. At the same time, the film studios saw an opportunity to make re-releases more attractive by pairing two mainstream film titles together rather than re-releasing them individually, enabling them to maximize profit from every film.

As time went on, TV arrived on the scene and the market for B movies and re-releases waned as every home bought a television set. The final nail in the proverbial coffin was the widespread availability of home video in the 80’s which meant that film studios no longer needed to re-release films in the cinema while B movies now went “straight to video”. It was the end of an era, but it deserves to be remembered which is why we are featuring a selection of our double bills here this month. We hope you enjoy them.