Modern British Society British Cinema up to 1945 Modern British Society

British film industry had the same beginnings and innovations as its counterparts in Europe and America The history of British cinema is as long as the history of cinema itself First public exhibition of the new medium taking place in February 1896 British film genres included actuality films, newsreels, films of music hall acts, trick and comedy films, and dramatic story pictures.

During the first decade of film exhibition (1896-1906), films appeared as part of vaudeville shows (variety theatres) which attracted a primarily middle-class and lower-middle-class audience Around 1905-1907 nickelodeons generated a new audience of predomiantly urban working-class, largely immigrant viewers, latter the middle-class audience returned Audience was conceived as being a body of passive individuals:willing recipients of the media's messages, and their willingness meant they were highly susceptible to influence.

James Williamson’s Stop Thief (1901) and Fire (1902) Cecil Hepworth Rescued by Rover (1905) A series of literary and dramatic adaptations such as Henry VIII (1911), Richard III (1911), Hamlet (1913), Ivanhoe (1913 – from novel by Ivanhoe), The Merchant of Venice (1916), The Gay Lord Quex (1917 – from play by A.W. Pinero) and The Second Mrs Tanqueray (1916 – from play by A.W. Pinero) Theatrical cinema

Low cultural value of cinema in Britain Early cinema looked to the London stage for expertise in acting, ready-made characters and plots, a possible source of literary adaptations, the skill of stage-writers and in material terms for stage costumes and sets. Studios close to London: Elstree, Ealing, Shepperton, Denham studios. The stage treated film as a mother for theatre buildings – mostly music halls – gave cinema its first commercial home

American dominance 30% in 1909, 60% in 1914 and 95% in 1926. New generation new attitudes Producers: Michael Balcon and Victor Saville Directors: Alfred Hitchcock and Anthony Asquith Germany had introduced legislation to protect its industry and this example was taken up by many in Britain Counter-interests concerning protective measures: production companies positive about it, cinema owners were not in favour of a legislation that would interfere with their rapidly expanding exhibition business

Cinematograph Films Act of 1927 Renters and exhibitors had to include a specified quota of British films in their annual offerings by the mid-1930s, at least 20% of the films screened in British cinemas were British in origin. A British film was one made by a British subject or company, one constituted in the British Empire with the majority of the company directors being of English nationality All studio scenes had to be shot in the Empire, and not less than 75 % of labour cost (including copyright fees, salary of actors, actresses, producers) had to be paid to British subjects ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ As a result of the act the industry was restructured along Hollywood lines with the development of large vertically integrated companies embracing interests in production, distribution and exhibition

British International Pictures (The Associated British Picture Corporation from 1933) and the Gaumont British Picture Corporation established in the wake of the act Both small and large production companies began supplying the major American distributors with low budget, so called "quota quickies" designed solely to satisfy their quota requirements. Film of low artistic merit → reputationfor trivial "escapist" entertainment 1,000 films shot in the 1930s dominantly – crime films, comedies and musicals Ideal training ground for technicians, directors, actors

Emigrants in the British Film industry From Austria and Germany Karl Grune, Ludvig Berger (director) Max Schach (producer) Eugen Schüffton, Otto Kanturek (cinematographer) Mischa Spoliansky, Lucie Mannheim, Gerard Heiz, Dolly Haas, Conrad Veidt, Anton Walbrook, Oscar Homolka (actors), Walter Goehr, Hanns Eisler and Allan Gray (composers). From Hungary Alex Korda, Emeric Pressburger, Zoltán and Vincent Korda, Frigyes Fehér, and designer Ernő Metzner., writer Lajos Bíró and composer Miklós Rózsa

The british documentary movement Spearheaded by John Grierson, influenced by social anthropology, continental idealist philosophy and Walter Lippmann and progressivism (Public Opinion, The Phantom Public) manufacturing consent Documentary film could play a crucial role within society by providing an effective communicative medium between State and the public. Promote an understanding of social and cultural interconnection within the nation and placed a great emphasis on the sphere of consensual discourse generally circulating within society. Grierson (Drifters – 1929 )Robert Flaherty (Industrial Britain – 1931), Paul Rotha (The Face of Britain – 1934, Shipyard – 1935, Today We Live – 1937), Basil Wright (Song of Ceylon – 1934, Night Mail – 1936, The Face of Scotland – 1938) and Arthur Elton (BBC Voice of Britain – 1934).

Alexander korda and london films Private-life films: The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933) The Rise of Catherine the Great (1934) The Private Life of Don Juan (1934) That Lady Hamilton (1941) Empire-films Sanders of the River (1935) The Elephant Boy (1937) Four Feathers (1939)

Film censorship 1 The British Board Of Film Censors (1912) primarily to control their numbers of foreign films on the pretext of unsuitability Nationally accepted standards, but no written rules The object was to create a body which could make judgments that were acceptable nationally, trusted by the local authorities, Parliament, the press and the public and also make sure that the film industry does not influence its decisions, and that, similarly, pressure groups and the media do not determine its standards New legislation, developments in technology, the social and historical climate of the period, and the accompanying changes in social attitudes all had an influence on censorship

Film censorship 2 Cruelty to animals and humans, criminal activities, vulgarities like nudity, drunkedness, indecorous dancing, love-making, prostitution, drug habit, execution, disorderly house interiors References to controversial politics, relations of capital and labour, scenes tending to disparage public characters and institutions, realistic horrors of warfare, tragic incidents of the war, scenes and incidents calculated to afford information to the enemy, incidents having a tendency to disparage our Allies, scenes holding up the the monarchy to contempt or ridicule, subjects dealing with India that bring into disrepute British prestige, materialization of the live figure of Christ

Cinema during WWII Golden age of British film Manpower at studios was reduced to one third and half of the studio space was requisitioned, only sixty films were produced annually. Realist aesthetics favoured over escapist melodrama Hybrid aesthetic like in The Gentle Sex (1943) and Fires Were Started (1943) In Which We Serve (1942), One of our Aircraft is Missing (1942) and Western Approaches (1944), The Stars Look Down, 49th Parallel; Convoy and This Happy Breed (1944), Millions Like Us (1943), Henry V (1944) Let George Do It (1940), The Goose Steps Out (1942)

Gainsborough Studios The Man in Grey (1943) Fanny By Gaslight (1944) The Wicked Lady (1945)