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Overview
The new edition of The British Cinema Book has been thoroughly revised and updated to provide a comprehensive introduction to the major periods, genres, studios, film-makers and debates in British cinema from the 1890s to the present. The book has five sections, addressing debates and controversies; industry, genre and representation; British cinema 1895-1939; British cinema from World War II to the 1970s, and contemporary British cinema.
Within these sections, leading scholars and critics address a wide range of issues and topics, including British cinema as a 'national' cinema; its complex relationship with Hollywood; film censorship; key British genres such as horror, comedy and costume film; the work of directors including Alfred Hitchcock, Anthony Asquith, Alexander Mackendrick, Michael Powell, Lindsay Anderson, Ken Russell and Mike Leigh; studios such as Gainsborough, Ealing, Rank and Gaumont, and recent signs of hope for the British film industry, such as the rebirth of the low-budget British horror picture, and the emergence of a British Asian cinema.
Discussions are illustrated with case studies of key films, many of which are new to this edition, including Piccadilly (1929) It Always Rains on Sunday (1947), The Ladykillers (1955), This Sporting Life (1963), The Devils (1971), Withnail and I (1986), Bend it Like Beckham (2002) and Control (2007), and with over 100 images from the BFI's collection.
Synopsis
Illustrated
This is a greatly expanded new edition of the well-received survey of British cinema. In addition to twenty-four original chapters there are twelve new contributions. The new chapters greatly extend the coverage of the book, making it the most comprehensive overview of the major topics in British cinema available.The new edition appears in a larger format.
First published in 1997 and reprinted twice, The British Cinema Book is the most comprehensive overview of the major topics in British Cinema. Representing the progress made in exploring the history of British Cinema, this book provides a definitive account of a dynamic and rapidly growing area in film studies. Topics covered include British silent cinema in the 1920s, the British studio system, low-budget British films in the 1930s, the British documentary film Movement, male stars and masculinity, women and sixties cinema, melodrama and femininity in World War Two, British Film Censorship, British cinema and Black representation, Celtic traditions in British cinema, the British horror film, the British comedy, British art cinema, avant garde trajectories, and the revival of the British gangster film.