Rejected film posters go on online display

A gallery that should comfort any struggling young graphic artist has been revealed for the first time: the ones that got away, rejected original versions of posters for some of the most famous films of recent decades, including Batman, Pulp Fiction, A Clockwork Orange, The Exorcist and Cool Hand Luke.

The last three were the work of the remarkable Bill Gold, who over a 70-year career created the images that sold more than 1,000 movies.

As a 21-year-old in the art department of Warner Bros, he was asked to come up with a poster for a vehicle for one of its stars, Humphrey Bogart.

His poster for Casablanca became as classic as the film itself: black and white, the other characters in a misty background, Ingrid Bergman looking yearningly towards Bogey, and Bogey in the foreground, hat brim down, looking towards nothing but a bleak future.

Gold no longer has the first artwork, which was rejected, giving him a useful early lesson in studio politics. "I thought it was quite good, quite strong," he said. "But they thought it was too static, they wanted more action. I didn't have time to change it much, so I just stuck Bogey's hand in the front and put a gun in it - and they liked that."

Some of his posters went through 20 or 30 versions before the studio bosses were happy. "The design would go round a committee, and one would want one thing changed, another something else, so you'd end up with something quite different."