Table Of Content

THE ROUTLEDGE COMPANION TO BRITISH CINEMA HISTORY ‘This monumental book represents a major step forward in the study of British cinema. Drawing on a wealth of newly available primary sources, its ambitious chronological sweep delivers many revisionist perspectives. British Film History can no longer be described as “New”: it is an established, dynamic and thriving scholarly enterprise.’ Sarah Street, Professor of Film, University of Bristol, UK ‘While the Introduction disclaims “comprehensiveness”, this monumental volume surely comes near to achieving this. It’s hard to think of any major matters not covered. It offers essential coverage of British film as an industry and as an art form, with matters such as stardom or the producer’s role in the British context, or the sheer capacity to survive over a hundred tumultuous years dealt with by a team of experts.’ Brian McFarlane, Adjunct Professor, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia Over thirty-nine chapters The Routledge Companion to British Cinema History offers a com- prehensive 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. I.Q. Hunter is Professor of Film Studies at De Montfort University, UK. Laraine Porter is a Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at De Montfort University, UK. Justin Smith is Professor of Media Industries at the University of Portsmouth, UK. Contributors: Sian Barber, Guy Barefoot, Neil Brand, Lucy Brett, James Cateridge, Steve Chibnall, Bertha Chin, Jo Comino, Bryony Dixon, Charles Drazin, Laurie N. Ede, Kate Egan, James Fenwick, Steve Foxon, Adrian Garvey, Jane Giles, Sheldon Hall, Stuart Hanson, Keith M. Johnston, Bethan Jones, Matthew Jones, Julia Knight, James Leggott, Richard MacDonald, Andrew Moor, Jack Newsinger, Richard Paterson, James Patterson, Laraine Porter, Iain Reid, Andrew Roberts, Kelly Robinson, Alex Rock, James Russell, Adrian Smith, Sarah Smyth, Andrew Spicer, Johnny Walker and Anne Woods. THE ROUTLEDGE COMPANION TO BRITISH CINEMA HISTORY Edited by I.Q. Hunter, Laraine Porter and Justin Smith First published 2017 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2017 selection and editorial matter, I.Q. Hunter, Laraine Porter and Justin Smith; individual chapters, the contributors. The right of I.Q. Hunter, Laraine Porter and Justin Smith to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Hunter, I.Q., 1964- editor. | Porter, Laraine editor. | Smith, Justin T. editor. Title: The Routledge companion to British cinema history / edited by I.Q. Hunter, Laraine Porter and Justin Smith. Description: London ; New York : Routledge, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016025552| ISBN 9780415706193 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781315392189 (e-book) Subjects: LCSH: Motion pictures—Great Britain—History and criticism. | Motion picture industry—Great Britain—History. Classification: LCC PN1993.5.G7 R75 2016 | DDC 791.430941—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016025552 ISBN: 978-0-415-70619-3 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-39218-9 (ebk) Typeset in Goudy by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK CONTENTS List of illustrations ix List of contributors xii Introduction: British cinema history 1 I.Q. HUNTER, LARAINE PORTER AND JUSTIN SMITH PART I British silent cinema to the coming of sound: 1895–1930 21 1 The origins of British cinema, 1895–1918 23 BRYONY DIXON 2 “Temporary American citizens”: British cinema in the 1920s 34 LARAINE PORTER 3 “King of cameramen”: Jack Cox and British cinematography in the silent era 47 KELLY ROBINSON 4 Designing the silent British film 57 LAURIE N. EDE 5 Stardom in silent cinema 67 ADRIAN GARVEY 6 The view from the pit: British silent cinema and the coming of sound 76 NEIL BRAND 7 The talkies come to Britain: British silent cinema and the transition to sound, 1928–30 87 LARAINE PORTER v CONTENTS 8 The Tudor Cinema, Leicester: a local case study 99 GUY BAREFOOT 9 The rise of the Film Society movement 109 RICHARD MACDONALD PART II The classic period: 1930–80 119 10 Make-believe and realism in British film production: from the coming of sound to the abolition of the National Film Finance Corporation 121 CHARLES DRAZIN 11 Local film censorship: the watch committee system 130 ALEX ROCK 12 Producers and moguls in the British film industry, 1930–80 139 ANDREW SPICER 13 Émigrés in classic British cinema 151 ANDREW MOOR 14 ‘Out of the frying pan, into the fire’: British documentary, 1945–52 161 STEVEN FOXON 15 “Above and beyond everyday life”: the rise and fall of Rank’s contract artists of the 1950s 170 STEVE CHIBNALL 16 “A friend to every exhibitor”: National Screen Service and the British trailer industry 181 KEITH M. JOHNSTON 17 The Eady Levy, “the envy of most other European nations”: runaway productions and the British Film Fund in the early 1960s 191 JAMES FENWICK 18 The Children’s Film Foundation 200 ANDREW ROBERTS 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 209 ADRIAN SMITH vi CONTENTS 20 Cinema and the age of television, 1950–70 220 SIAN BARBER 21 The BBFC and the apparatus of censorship 231 LUCY BRETT 22 The British Film Institute: between culture and industry 242 RICHARD PATERSON 23 Trades unions and the British film industry, 1930s–80s 251 IAIN REID 24 The public film archives and the evolving challenge of screen heritage preservation in the UK 262 JAMES PATTERSON 25 Good of its kind? British film journalism 271 SHELDON HALL PART III Contemporary British cinema: 1980 to the present 283 26 Cult films in British cinema and film culture 285 KATE EGAN 27 The Scala Cinema: a case study 295 JANE GILES 28 Underground film-making: British Super 8 in the 1980s 306 JO COMINO 29 The rise of the multiplex 317 STUART HANSON 30 Rewind, playback: re-viewing the “video boom” in Britain 328 JOHNNY WALKER 31 The rise and fall of practically everyone? The independent British film production sector from the 1980s to the present 338 JAMES LEGGOTT 32 From Film Four to the Film Council: film policy, subsidy and sponsorship, and the relationship between cinema and TV, 1980–2010 348 JAMES CATERIDGE vii CONTENTS 33 The architects of BBC Films 358 ANNE WOODS 34 The UKFC and the Regional Screen Agencies 367 JACK NEWSINGER 35 Hollywood blockbusters and UK production today 377 JAMES RUSSELL 36 Distributing British cinema 387 JULIA KNIGHT 37 Memories of British cinema 397 MATTHEW JONES 38 From Lerwick to Leicester Square: UK film festivals and why they matter 406 SARAH SMYTH 39 Crowdfunding independence: British cinema and digital production/distribution platforms 418 BERTHA CHIN AND BETHAN JONES Index 429 viii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figures 1.1 The Big Swallow (1901), James Williamson. Image courtesy of BFI National Archive 25 1.2 A Kiss in the Tunnel (1899), George Albert Smith. Image courtesy of BFI National Archive 27 1.3 Mitchell and Kenyon: Manchester c.1900. Image courtesy of BFI National Archive 29 1.4 Alma Taylor in Hepworth’s Oliver Twist (1912), the first British feature film. Image courtesy of BFI National Archive 31 2.1 Battling the English weather in P.G. Wodehouse’s The Long Hole (1924). Image courtesy of BFI Stills 35 2.2 The hapless clerk played by George K. Arthur in Harold Shaw’s adaptation of H.G. Wells’ The Wheels of Chance (1922). Image courtesy of BFI Stills 38 2.3 Moving house in Artistic Films’ acclaimed adaptation of W.W. Jacobs’ Head of the Family (1922). Image courtesy of BFI Stills 40 6.1 Programme from w/c 11 January 1915 for the Acock’s Green Picture Playhouse – collection of Neil Brand (http://originals.neilbrand.com) 80 7.1 HMV’s mascot, Nipper, and a variable area soundtrack, 1930 91 8.1 The Tudor Cinema in its later years (courtesy of the Leicester Mercury) 102 12.1 A startled Edward Everett Horton stares at himself in The Man in the Mirror (1936); the elaborate décor and sophisticated lighting proclaim this as one of Julius Hagen’s “quality” productions (courtesy BFI) 142 12.2 Joseph Janni (on left) and John Schlesinger share a joke on the set of Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971). This partnership was the longest-lasting and most creative of Janni’s career (courtesy BFI) 145 12.3 Poster for Murder on the Orient Express, the first of four star-studded adaptations of Agatha Christie for which Nat Cohen acted as executive producer (courtesy BFI) 147 13.1 Hein Heckroth working on designs for The Red Shoes, with his wife Ada, and daughter Nandi looking on. The lush fur coat that Ada is wearing was a gift from Lotte Lenya. Thanks to Christian Routh for providing this image 158 ix