British Cinema of the 1950s: The Decline of Deference

ISBN-13: 9780198159346 / Angielski / Twarda / 2003 / 440 str.

Sue Harper; Vincent Porter

Opis

In this definitive and long-awaited history of 1950s British cinema, Sue Harper and Vincent Porter draw extensively on previously unknown archive material to chart the growing rejection of post-war deference by both film-makers and cinema audiences. Competition from television and successive changes in government policy all forced the production industry to become more market-sensitive. The films produced by Rank and Ealing, many of which harked back to wartime structures of feeling, were challenged by those backed by Anglo-Amalgamated and Hammer. The latter knew how to address the rebellious feelings and growing sexual discontents of a new generation of consumers. Even the British Board of Film Censors had to adopt a more liberal attitude. The collapse of the studio system also meant that the screenwriters and the art directors had to cede creative control to a new generation of independent producers and film directors. Harper and Porter explore the effects of these social, cultural, industrial, and economic changes on 1950s British cinema.

Recenzje

Where it really scores strongly is in giving credit to people who don't normally appear in histories such as script editors, minor producers: names you see on the credits but never notice. It's also good at delineating the tensions within organisations and their results. This book does for 50s cinema what Rachael Low's The History of British Film did for pre-war cinema. If you need to know about the period, this is the place to start.