The postwar years brought on seismic change at the movies. Television swept audiences out of movie theatres and on to the couch.

The movies fought back. In came 3-D and widescreen CinemaScope and VistaVision and wraparound Todd-AO and Cinerama. Spectacles flaunted casts of thousands (usually in loin cloths). Producers took their cameras traveling from Hollywood backlots to foreign destinations; anything to fill the eye in a way the little tube couldn't.

The Biblical epic became a near-annual event. The 1950's was the era of the western, the wide open range defying TV's puny limitations. Movie stars were too big for the little screen. No chance you'd catch Humphrey Bogart, James Stewart, Marilyn Monroe or Grace Kelly on TV.

The story was all there in the movie posters that festooned movie houses. Posters were often more exciting and artistic than the movies themselves. Today they loom large in the world of collectors and command huge prices from investors. Matinee! celebrates the sheer fun of them...and what they make us remember.