Over 39 chapters The Routledge Companion to British Cinema History offers a comprehensive and revisionist overview of British cinema as, on the one hand, a commercial entertainment industry and, on the other, a series of institutions centred on economics, funding and relations to government.
Whereas most histories of British cinema focus on directors, stars, genres and themes, this Companion explores the forces enabling and constraining the films’ production, distribution, exhibition, and reception contexts from the late nineteenth century to the present day.
The contributors provide a wealth of empirical and archive-based scholarship that draws on insider perspectives of key film institutions and illuminates aspects of British film culture that have been neglected or marginalized, such as the watch committee system, the Eady Levy, the rise of the multiplex and film festivals.
It also places emphasis on areas where scholarship has either been especially productive and influential, such as in early and silent cinema, or promoted new approaches, such as audience and memory studies.
Author(s): I.Q. Hunter, Laraine Porter and Justin Smith
Publisher: Routledge
Year: 2016
The Routledge companion to British cinema history- Front Cover
The Routledge companion to British cinema history
Title Page
Copyright Page
Contents
List of illustrations
Figures
Tables
List of contributors
Introduction: British cinema history
Part I: British silent cinema to the coming of sound – 1895–1930
Part II: The classic period – 1930–80
Part III: Contemporary British cinema – 1980 to the present
Further reading
References
PART I:
British silent cinema to the coming of sound: 1895–1930
Chapter 1: The origins of British cinema, 1895–1918
Introduction
1895 to 1901: Victorian
1902 to 1910: Edwardian
1911 to 1918: pre-war
Further reading
References
Chapter 2: “Temporary American citizens”: British cinema in the 1920s
Introduction and overview
Producers and product
The distribution business
Cinemas and cinema-going
Critique
Legislation and the Cinematograph Act
Conclusion
Further reading
References
Journals
Chapter 3: “King of cameramen”: Jack Cox and British cinematography in
the silent era
Further reading
References
BECTU interviews
Interviews with author
Chapter 4: Designing the silent British film
Further reading
References
Chapter 5: Stardom in silent cinema
Further reading
References
Chapter 6: The view from the pit: British silent cinema and the coming of sound
Notes
Further reading
References
Trade magazines
Interview
Chapter 7: The talkies come to Britain: British silent cinema and the transition to sound, 1928–30
Conclusion: winners and losers
Further reading
References
Newspapers and trade magazines
Documents and recordings
Chapter 8: The Tudor Cinema, Leicester: a local case study
Further reading
References
Chapter 9: The rise of the Film Society movement
Film societies and the better films movement
Film societies and the workers’ film movement
Reinvention and consolidation
Further reading
References
Online
Film festivals
BFI sources
Trade publications
PART II:
The classic period: 1930–80
Chapter 10: Make-believe and realism in British film production: from the coming of
sound to the abolition of the National Film Finance Corporation
Further reading
References
Chapter 11: Local film censorship: the watch committee system
Further reading
References
Chapter 12: Producers and moguls in the British film industry, 1930–80
Introduction
The artisan: Julius Hagen
The independent: Joseph Janni
The mogul: Nat Cohen
Conclusion
Notes
Further reading
References
Chapter 13: Émigrés in classic British cinema
The case for permeability: interrogating borders
Terms for a cosmopolitan cinema
Emeric Pressburger and Hein Heckroth
Conclusion
Further reading
References
Chapter 14: ‘Out of the frying pan, into the fire’: British documentary, 1945–52
Notes
References
Chapter 15: “Above and beyond everyday life”: the rise and fall of Rank’s contract
artists of the 1950s
Further reading
References
Chapter 16: “A friend to every exhibitor”: National Screen Service and the
British trailer industry
Introduction
Establishing National Screen Service Ltd
Post-war expansion and growth
Competition and takeover
Future research
Further reading
References
Chapter 17: The Eady Levy, “the envy of most other European nations”: runaway
productions and the British Film Fund in the early 1960s
Defining the Eady Levy
The success of Eady and the Americanization of the British film industry
Eady’s seduction of Lolita (1962)
Eady’s license to kill: United Artists and James Bond
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Further reading
References
Chapter 18: The Children’s Film Foundation
Further reading
References
Chapter 19: “As long as indifferent sexy films are box office they will abound!!”:
the Jacey cinema chain and independent distribution and exhibition
in 1960s Britain
Introduction
The establishment of the Jacey cinema chain
Miss Jacey
Gala Film Distributors and Kenneth Rive
Antony Balch
E.J. Fancey
Why pay more?
Conclusion
Note
Other archival sources
Further reading
References
Chapter 20: Cinema and the age of television, 1950–70
Introduction
Conflicting ideologies of subsidy and support
Parliament and the media debate
A televisual world
Conclusions
Further reading
References
Government sources (accessed online)
Online source
Chapter 21: The BBFC and the apparatus of censorship
The early days of the BBFC
The “H” and “X” certificates
New challenges and new certificates
The BBFC today
Further reading
References
Chapter 22: The British Film Institute: between culture and industry
Introduction
1930s: foundations
1940s and 1950s: institution building
1960s: consolidation, regional expansion and accountability
1970s: renewal and political difficulties
1980s: institutional renaissance
1990s: new ambitions
2000s: in the shadow of the Film Council
2010: new roles
Further reading
References
Chapter 23: Trades unions and the British film industry, 1930s–80s
Introduction
The early development of the film technicians’ union
The 1940s and 50s
The 1960s and 70s
The 1980s
Epilogue
Further reading
References
Periodicals
Chapter 24: The public film archives and the evolving challenge of
screen heritage preservation in the UK
Further reading
References
Chapter 25: Good of its kind? British film journalism
Trade journals and other periodicals
Critics and reviewers
Critical self-portraits
Further reading
References
PART III: Contemporary British cinema: 1980 to the present
Chapter 26: Cult films in British cinema and film culture
The British cult film canon and the “age of the cult film”
Revising and cultifying British cinema: from critics to fans to home-viewing industries
The cultification of British consumption sites, practices and experiences
Further reading
References
Chapter 27: The Scala Cinema: a case study
The Scala Theatre (1911–69)
The Other Cinema 1976–7
The Scala 1979–81
The Scala 1981–93
Further reading
Reference
Chapter 28: Underground film-making: British Super 8 in the 1980s
Further reading
References
Chapter 29: The rise of the multiplex
Further reading
References
Chapter 30: Rewind, playback: re-viewing the “video boom” in Britain
Introduction
The way to the stars? Video distributors and feature films
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Further reading
References
Chapter 31: The rise and fall of practically everyone? The independent British
film production sector from the 1980s to the present
Introduction: the British film industry
The 1980s: rises and falls
The 1990s: renewals
The National Lottery and the UK Film Council
The twenty-first century
Further reading
References
Chapter 32: From Film Four to the Film Council: film policy, subsidy and
sponsorship, and the relationship between cinema and TV, 1980–2010
Mapping the field of film and television policy
Film Four: private finance as cultural subsidy
The UK Film Council: public subsidy for economic objectives
Conclusion: rethinking media policy in the digital age
Further reading
References
Chapter 33: The architects of BBC Films
Mark Shivas (1988–97)
David Thompson (1997–2007)
Conclusion
Further reading
References
Chapter 34: The UKFC and the Regional Screen Agencies
Introduction
Commerce vs culture?
Getting creative
The UKFC
Production funding
The Regional Screen Agencies
Conclusion
Further reading
References
Chapter 35: Hollywood blockbusters and UK production today
Introduction
History
Film tax relief
Client companies
Content
Conclusion
Further reading
References
Chapter 36: Distributing British cinema
The problems of being British
The distribution landscape
The challenges of surviving
Drawing on a long tradition
Further reading
References
Chapter 37: Memories of British cinema
From texts to memories
Problems of memory
British cinema memories
Further reading
References
Chapter 38: From Lerwick to Leicester Square: UK film festivals and
why they matter
Introduction
Challenges to writing about UK film festivals
UK film festival development
Creating a community: Sheffield Doc/Fest
Creating exposure: London Film Festival
Conclusion
Further reading
References
Chapter 39: Crowdfunding independence: British cinema and digital
production/distribution platforms
Introduction
The history of crowdfunding
Digital platforms
The British approach
Conclusion
Further reading
References
Index
