"Edward Scissorhands" Font?

[Joshua Belyeu]

Here's another one I haven't been able to identify. The letters were pulled from a poster I found online, but some are missing. I do know this same typeface was used for the film's opening credits, so if anyone can ID it, I'd appreciate the help. Thanks again! 😃

[Ralf Herrmann]

Pretty sure that’s custom just for the movie. 

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/edward-scissorhands/

 

[Kevin Thompson]

So similar to the lettering of the Luther College logotype it can’t be a coincidence...

There actually is a typeface called Luther that is very similar; only the FontHaus purchase link appears to be working.

[Kevin Thompson]

I reached out to David Farey, who did the digitization of Luther back in 1992/1993:

The typeface Luther was designed in 1967 by Tony Geddes, a British graphic designer and lettering artist. Tony is an accomplished type designer, who has designed more than 50 fonts before the digital era. He worked for the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) creating program titles and support graphics.

As far as I'm aware Luther does not have any antecedents and is an original design, but it is more than likely it started out as a caption or series of captions before being made into a full alphabet, the program it was designed for may have been an historical or a period drama that gave the design its characteristics, but that's lost in the relatively recent mists of time...

During the late 1980's and early 1990's headline photosetting was going through its death throes as a service industry because of the fast approaching digital era. I ran a headline photosetting company called Panache Graphics, and we managed to make the switch (at that time) from photosetting to digital typography, and in particular, creating digital fonts. Panache was basically 'the last man standing' of the London photosetting houses who had not converted to digital, and were able to purchase the rights to convert many original analog typefaces, from Face Photosetting and other companies, which included the Luther typeface. 

 

So, the titles for Edward Scissorhands were likely created using the phototypesetting version of Luther, and the Luther College logo may have had similar origins.

[Joshua Belyeu]

Someone else pointed out the similarities to Luther for me, but I've noticed that some of the characters in the "Scissorhands" credits have been altered. For example, the capital Y looks like the X with one leg removed, while the U and O are pointed in the middle instead of rounded.

[Kevin Thompson]

Mr. Farey followed up his first email with a second, this time with Luther’s page from the ITC Directory of Typefaces.

The O, U, Y, and S were alternate characters in the original typeface, but the creators of the Edward Scissorhands credits do appear to have crafted their own ampersand.

From what I can see of the digital version of Luther’s character map, the alternate characters were included....

 

[Joshua Belyeu]

Thanks; now I just have to find a freeware version of Luther. I appreciate it! 😃

[Kevin Thompson]

Luther is a commercial typeface, Josh, not freeware.

If you want to use it, spend the $29 to buy a legal copy....