British Cinema: A Critical History

by Sargeant, Amy

• ISBN13: 9781844570669
• ISBN10: 1844570665
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-08-29
• Publisher: British Film Inst

Summary

"Although new writing and research on British cinema has burgeoned over the last fifteen years, there has been a continued lack of single-authored books providing a coherent overview to this fascinating and elusive national cinema. Amy Sargeant's history of British cinema aims to fill this gap. With its decade-by-decade analysis, British cinema is brought alive for a new generation of students and the general reader alike." "Sargeant challenges Rachel Low's premise 'that few of the films made in England during the twenties were any good' by covering subjects as diverse as the art of intertitling, the narrative complexities of Shooting Stars and Brunel's burlesques. Sargeant goes onto examine among other things, the differing acting styles of Dietrich and Donat in the seminal Knight Without Armour to early promotional campaigns in the 1930s, whereas subjects ranging from product endorsement by stars to the character of the suburban wife are covered in the 1940s. The 1950s includes topics such as the effect of post-war government intervention, to Free Cinema and Lindsay Anderson's 'infuriating lapses of rigour', together with a much-needed overview of Michael Balcon's contribution to British cinema. For Sargeant, the 1960s provides an overview of the tentative relationship between film and advertising and the rise of young Turks such as Tony Richardson, Ken Loach, Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg."--BOOK JACKET.

Author Biography

Amy Sargeant is Lecturer in the History of Film and Visual Media at the University of London. She is coeditor of British Historical Cinema: History, Heritage and the Costume Film (2002).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vi
Introduction	vii
Turn of the Century and Tens	1	(28)
Teens	29	(28)
First World War	57	(26)
1920s	83	(30)
1930s	113	(32)
Second World War	145	(30)
1940s	175	(28)
1950s	203	(30)
1960s	233	(32)
1970s	265	(30)
1980s	295	(30)
1990s and the New Millennium	325	(32)
Conclusion	357	(2)
Select Bibliography	359	(8)
Index	367