Movie Mart was a Monopoly knockoff board game made in 1935 and 1936 by Cadaco.  The game was changed slightly for the second year of production, with improved graphics.  It is a rare game, especially the first version, as there weren’t many such games that actually reached the market in 1935.

I recently bought a 1935 board and rule set for just $30.  Even partial sets only seem to come up for sale every few years.  I bought a 1936 set in 2014.

The game plays a lot like Monopoly, except here, the players are movie producers who make films and have them shown in theaters.  It just goes to show how the “property trading game” concept was flexible enough to permit all sorts of games to reach the market, without (apparently) infringing on Parker Brothers’ intellectual property.

I will have to hunt through my collection for the 1936 set I bought, but I recall that it came in a larger box than the 1935 version, which had a separate board and small utensils box.  Once I locate it, I will post additional pictures.

This game is seldom seen, and a Google search turned up very few pictures.  The 1935 board measures 19.5″ square, about the same as a contemporary Monopoly board.

The board was changed somewhat for 1936, with the addition of various illustrations. The black backing was changed to blue.

The colored squares have much the same function as houses in Monopoly.