This book presents a thorough industrial, economic, and aesthetic history of the early years of the British film industry through a case study of one of the most celebrated pioneers of the period, Cecil Hepworth. As film production shifted from being a cottage industry to a complicated, large-scale national industry, Hepworth and his studio were at the heart of developments. Simon Brown presents a picture of daily life in Hepworth's studio through these changes, along with analysis of the content, production, and marketing of his films. He also charts the larger development of the British...

Much has been made of the importance of silent films in cinematic history, but until now there has been no truly international analysis of these films. In Silent Features, editor Steve Neale brings together a diverse group of internationally known scholars to reflect on silent films and their diverse stylistic, generic, and structural characteristics, as well as the national, historical, and industrial contexts from which they emerged.

The essays here focus on fifteen feature-length silent films and two silent serial features. Arranged chronologically and illustrated throughout...

Charles Urban: Pioneering the Non-Fiction Film in Britain and America, 1897-1925is the 2014 winner of theKraszna-Krausz Moving Image Book Award.Charles Urban examines the career and legacy of the eponymous Anglo-American film producer. Urban is a well-known and crucial figure in early film history for his development of Kinemacolor, the world s first successful natural color moving picture system. But Urban s influence was even more far-reaching, according to Luke McKernan. As McKernan reveals, Urban s deep belief in film as an educational tool led him to become an...