This is the first substantial study of British cinema's most neglected genre. Bringing together original work from some of the leading writers on British popular film, this book includes interviews with key directors Mike Hodges (Get Carter) and Donald Cammel (Performance). It discusses an abundance of films including:
* acclaimed recent crime films such as Shallow Grave, Shopping, and Face.
* early classics like They Made Me A Fugitive
* acknowledged classics such as Brighton Rock and The Long Good Friday
*...

This is the first substantial study of British cinema's most neglected genre. Bringing together original work from some of the leading writers on British popular film, this book includes interviews with key directors Mike Hodges (Get Carter) and Donald Cammel (Performance). It discusses an abundance of films including:
* acclaimed recent crime films such as Shallow Grave, Shopping, and Face.
* early classics like They Made Me A Fugitive
* acknowledged classics such as Brighton Rock and The Long Good Friday
*...

The Second World War was such a cataclysmic event that its echoes still reverberate over fifty years after it ended. One of the prime means of exploring the impact of the war has been the feature film. From In Which We Serve, Millions Like Us and The Way to the Stars, made during the war, to Above Us the Waves and the Dam Busters made in the 1950s, the war film became a staple of British cinema - but popular success was not paralleled by critical approval. Most criticism of British war films has been negative and sometimes derogatory, partly because of an intellectual preference for European...

With themes ranging from passion and romance to murder and psychological disturbance, popular British film in the 1940s found little favour with the critics, but provided thrills and entertainment for millions of people during a time of austerity and danger. Realism and Tinsel looks beyond the established histories of Ealing Comedies and realist classics to excavate a rich but neglected tradition of melodrama, gangster films, morbid thrillers and costume pictures. Discussing cinema in the context of the major social, economic, and political changes that were taking place, Robert Murphy...