While Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me debuted at the Cannes Film Festival and theatres in Japan on May 16, 1992, fans in Germany would need to wait until August 20 to see David Lynch’s masterpiece known as Twin Peaks – Der Film. As part of the film’s marketing efforts, German theatres received 13 lobby cards to supplement in-theatre advertising for the film. First introduced in the early 1900s, lobby cards were an effective tool to build anticipation long before modern movie trailers or the social media marketing of today.
BRIEF HISTORY OF LOBBY CARDS
Research states the earliest lobby cards were introduced around 1908, while some reports place them being introduced around 1913-1914. The cards, which were packaged with the film’s advertising materials, were originally around 8-inches by 10-inches (about 20 x 26 cm). Printed on heavier stock paper, they contained black and white-, sepia-, or duo-toned still images from a film. Typically packaged as eight images, the images would tell a story so moviegoers would generally understand what to expect. Larger productions could see as many as 16 cards.
Over time, the film industry standardized lobby cards to a size of 11-inches by 14-inches (about 28 x 36 cm). Graphics became more colorful and elaborate in order to grab the attention of people in movie theatre lobbies. They quickly became little works of art that complimented stunning movie posters. In the United States, lobby cards continued into the 1980s but were eventually phased out in favor of three-dimensional cutouts and other oversized advertising that could be displayed in theatre lobbies.
Today, collectors throughout the world who seek these unique pieces of movie memorabilia from a bygone era.
WHEN WAS TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME RELEASED IN GERMANY?
On August 20, 1992, German fans would get to see David Lynch’s 1992 film about eight days a head of the official release in the United States on August 28.
Granted, the film had its premiere in the North Bend Theatre in North Bend, Washington on August 16 that year. It was part of the first Twin Peaks Fan Festival organized by New Line Cinema.
For the German release, the film was titled Twin Peaks – Der Film (or Twin Peaks – The Movie) with the subtitle, “Die letzten 7 Tage im Leben der Laura Palmer” (roughly translated to “The last 7 days in the life of Laura Palmer”).
The film would be released in Dolby Stereo “in Ausgewählten Theatern” (or “in select theatres”).
The main poster featured key art of Laura Palmer sitting on the bed at the Red Diamond City Motel. It was used in many marketing materials.
The image of Laura is placed over red curtains with Special Agent Dale Cooper looking down at a seated Laura Palmer in the Red Room.
WHO DISTRIBUTED TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME IN GERMANY IN 1992?
Jugendfilm Verleih GmbH served as distributor for the film in Germany in August 1992. The logo above is found on the film poster and each lobby card image.
Founded in Berlin in 1934, the company originally distributed children’s films and fairy tales. After surviving the Nazi era, they received a prize from the 1952 Venice Film Festival for the best national selection of films for young people. Karl Friedrich Wohlrabe expanded their distribution catalog to include international productions after assuming management in 1961.
In 1969, they acquired the rights to the Belgian comic series Les Schtroumpfs ( The Smurfs ) by the illustrator Peyo, the Lucky Luke character, and the first Asterix films. The first three Asterix films – Asterix the Gaul (1967), Asterix and Cleopatra (1968) and Asterix Conquers Rome (1976) – reached more than 20 million viewers in the Federal Republic of Germany. Luis Buñuel’s Cet obscur objet du désir also became a hit for them in 1978.
Jürgen Wohlrabe took over the company in 1979. Films such as Dressed to Kill (1981), Once upon a Time in America (1984) and True Lies (1994) made Jugendfilm one of the most important distribution companies in Germany.
After Jürgen Wohlrabe’s death in 1996, his son Marc and his mother temporarily took over the distribution business with the rights to over 600 feature films. They sold the company’s shares and the youth film subsidiary Extrafilm Produktion GmbH to Kinowelt Medien AG on October 1, 1999. Kinowelt has continued the “Jugendfilm” brand since October 2000 as the distribution label for all repertoire films in the Kinowelt library. (Source: Literature: Wohlrabe, Jürgen (ed.): 60 Jahre Jugendfilm, 1934‑1994. Berlin: Nicolai 1994).
TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME – LOBBY CARDS FROM GERMANY
Below are the 13 lobby cards from Germany for Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me. It’s interesting to see the images the selected. I’ve placed them in order of how they appear in the film. These cards were printed on thin poster material, not heavy card stock.
For the Palmer family photo, it’s interesting they selected the photo of Sarah Palmer (Grace Zabriskie) smiling. There is another still image where she isn’t smiling. Sarah smiling, however, adds to an overall uneasy feeling I get from that image.
