19 August 2021
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In partnership with the Audiovisual Institute of Monaco, the Stamp Issuing Office is continuing its new cinema series featuring the posters of films shot in Monaco.
The Racers
Depicting the French poster for Henry Hathaway’s film The Racers, released in 1955.
The hero, a racing driver, has only one thing on his mind: winning and proving his superiority. In pursuit of his victories and shaving seconds or fractions of seconds from his adversary’s time, he not only risks his own life, but also endangers the lives of other drivers through his reckless behaviour.
When on the track, he forgets everything: the rules of the sport, friendship and even love, the love of a most enchanting and patient woman.
It is not until he almost kills one of his fellow drivers and is abandoned, for a time, by the young woman that he understands that honouring his profession does not always mean breaking records.
- Poster: © All rights reserved
- Printing process: offset
- Size of the stamp: 40,85 x 52 mm vertical
- Quantity of issue: 36 000 stamps
- Sheet of 6 stamps with illuminations
The Red Shoes
Released in 1948, this British film by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger impresses with its modernity. Martin Scorsese and Brian de Palma, among others, have cited it as their favourite film.
Victoria, a dancer with a very prestigious ballet company, finds herself performing the leading role in The Red Shoes, a production inspired by an Andersen fairy tale. The ballet challenges the acceleration of contemporary societies with infinite grace.
The heroine is torn between her passion for dance, with all the discipline and austerity that implies, and her love for Julian, the conductor. Must she give up love for art, or art for love? Does creativity inherently entail sacrifice? This is indeed a tragic tale, but it is a dazzling one.
- Poster: © All rights reserved
- Printing process: offset
- Size of the stamp: 40,85 x 52 mm vertical
- Quantity of issue: 36 000 stamps
- Sheet of 6 stamps with illuminations
La Baie des Anges (Bay of Angels)
La Baie des Anges (Bay of Angels) is a French film written and directed by Jacques Demy. It was released in 1963.
The film tackles the theme of gambling head on. Introduced to the pastime by a colleague, a young bank clerk discovers the exhilaration of gambling. He sets off for Nice where the casinos are thriving, and there he meets Jackie – played by Jeanne Moreau – who burns with the same passion, and with whom he falls madly in love. It is this love that will save them both from their vice.
- Poster: Gonzalez © All rights reserved
- Printing process: offset
- Size of the stamp: 40,85 x 52 mm vertical
- Quantity of issue: 36 000 stamps
- Sheet of 6 stamps with illuminations
Monte Carlo Madness
The stamp shows the Swedish poster for the German film Bomben auf Monte Carlo (Monte Carlo Madness), directed by Hanns Schwarz.
This musical comedy, which was released in 1931, is the adaptation of a novel by Friedrich Reck-Malleczewen. It tells the story of the captain of a boat flying the flag of the Kingdom of Pontenero who goes to Monte-Carlo to meet the local Consul and demand his wages and those of his crew.
The Queen of Pontenero, who has stowed away on board, manipulates the captain by making him gamble at the casino.
- Poster: © All rights reserved
- Printing process: offset
- Size of the stamp: 40,85 x 52 mm vertical
- Quantity of issue: 36 000 stamps
- Sheet of 6 stamps with illuminations
These issues will be on sale at the “Office des Timbres”, the “Musée des Timbres et des Monnaies”, the post offices and philatelic counters of the Principality, the Monaco stamp-dealers as well as the “Carré d’Encre” in Paris, France. They will be included, with other values, in the 2nd Part of the philatelic programme 2021 and offered to our subscribers and customers.
