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Welcome to
B Movie Posters -  A Tribute to the Classic B Movies
(and a few "A Pictures" too)

By John Alexander

Call them B movies or Programmers or Cult Films made on a low budget - Here's a Web dedicated to some of the great B pictures of yesteryear with celebrity photos, posters and the films themselves remembered. 

The early motion picture industry was booming and most theatre programs included much more than today's audience's get for the price of admission. Movie theatres in the 1930s included double features with a typical show including two features, maybe 2 or 3 cartoon shorts, a news reel, and upcoming attractions. Usually the one film would be the "bigger budget" A film and the other a much lower costing "B budget movie." Occasionally, the lower budget B Movie would turn out to be better than an A movie, but B movies were always considered an important part of the mix for most movie production companies between 1930 to 1960. By 1960 most B movies ended distribution as the whole movie industry evolved.

The B movies that I recall most are sometimes the films that were made on very low or minimal budgets. Then there are some low budget films that are so bad that they are actually enjoyable and campy to watch. Some were so bad that they were horrible to watch. Some of these were produced on really low budgets involving a few thousand dollars and had poor lighting and sound and very limited performance value. They did not last long before the next new bill was posted.

There were films that you found it hard to believe anyone would have created like "The Brain that Would Not Die" or "Earth Vs. the Spider" or "Plan 9 from outer Space."

Other B movies were very thought provoking or emotionally stirring with excellent drama and action despite no budget. Films made on shoe string budgets were often lost, forgotten about for years only to start showing up again on television years later. Do you remember seeing a tear jerker called the Biscuit Eater starring child actor Billy Lee (1929-1989). Made only on a modest budget, but the relationship between two friends and a boy and his dog are burned into my mind after seeing this in my childhood. But a warning - it is a tear jerker, but exceptionally memorable.

Often in the early 30's and 40's these b pictures relied on dramatic poster art to make them bigger than life. Regardless of whether your favorite genre is science fiction, fantasy, drama, horror, crime drama, film noir, westerns or an old jungle epic, we'll be looking at and talking about many of them on this site.

Often the old B-films were called "programmers" and they sometimes did not fill 90 minutes but it's amazing at what some directors could pack into a short lower budget movie.

Science Fiction B films

What is your favorite genre of film? If it is old science fiction or fantasy have a look at vintage bmovie posters here. 

I will admit I have some favorites probably a cross between science fiction, fantasy. There were the "teenager save the world" from mass destruction type of films like Frank Gorshin in "Invasion of the Saucer Men" or Steve McQueen as a teenager saving the world from "The Blob." These were not big budget films, but they were just plain fun to watch.

The 1960 Movie "The Time Machine" with Rod Taylor, was made on a very low budget but somehow it still has fans around the world over 40 years later. Another personal favorite was The Incredible Shrinking Man in 1957 with Grant Williams.

Whether it is time travel, outer space, shrunken puppet people, giant insects invading the earth or the type of animated fantasy films of Ray Harryhausen who brought entire worlds of creatures to life with his Dynamation, I want to keep talking about them all. Much more to come.

Film Noir B Films

I also particularly enjoyed the film noir or the 40s and 1950s. Often these great old films were shot on a tiny budget and rolled out of production in minimal shooting times, they had story lines and acting that were exceptional. Some even exceeded the A pictures for depth of story telling and in volving the audience.

Hammer Horror Movies

I also want to pay some tribute to the B-films turned out by Hammer Film studios in the 1950s and 1960s. These were of often of the gothic horror genre and involved actors such as the great Christopher Lee and who can forget Peter Cushing. Although often only on very minimal budgets, Hammer studios was responsible for raising Frankenstein and Dracula back to life as well as some off beat unusual productions that always had a tremendously rich and authentic feeling to their dungeons and horror chambers.

Jungle films, Dramas, Westerns and more to come:

In time as I add on to this Web site and add new articles and features, I want to talk about some of the other low budget jungle films, dramas, epic movies, westerns and off beat comedies.

Welcome in exploring the Web site and join me in paying tribute to the great and memorable B Pictures of yesteryear. Was it Jimmy Stewart who one time said that "it is interesting how film as a medium gives us the ability look back and see snippets of time."