How did cinema change from 1918-79?

Britain – Media and Youth Culture, 1918-79

In this course, Professor Jon Lawrence (University of Exeter) explores Britain’s media and youth culture landscape from 1918-79. In the first lecture, we think about the history of cinema from 1918-79. In the second lecture, we think about the history of radio through the 1920s and 30s. In the third lecture, we think about how British television changed from the 1940s to the 1980s. Next, we think about the history of popular music from 1918-79. In the fifth and final lecture, we think about how youth culture changed from 1955-79.

How did cinema change from 1918-79?

In this lecture, we think about the history of cinema from 1918-79, focusing in particular on: (i) the fact that the First World War produced cinema which broke down prior resistance from the middle classes in Britain, by showing an otherwise unseen perspective on the war; (ii) Battle of the Somme as a breakthrough film which reached a larger proportion of the population than any film since; (iii) the expansion of Hollywood in the interwar period, filling the gap left by European cinema not focusing much beyond its home audience; (iv) the expansion of North American cultural influence in the interwar period, as British people watched westerns, gangster films, romances and comedies; (v) the introduction of ‘talkies’ in 1927 and colour films in the 1930s, markets in which the United States took the lead; (vi) quotas introduced by the government which required 20% of films shown in British cinemas to be British by 1935; (vii) the opportunity afforded by the cinema industry for music stars to become film stars, notably George Formby and Gracie Fields; (viii) the nature of 1930s cinema as escapist, in contrast to the social realism that permeated the industry in the 1950s and 60s; (ix) the peak of British cinema being immediately after the Second World War; (x) the post-war British spirit, captured by the Ealing Comedies, produced by Ealing Studios from 1947-57; (xi) Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and A Taste of Honey as examples of the working class oriented films released in the 1960s, which moved past previous examples which had been primarily escapist or aimed at the middle classes; (xii) working class life as a vehicle for film makers of this period to push the boundaries of what could be shown on screen; (xiii) the controversy around Straw Dogs and particularly A Clockwork Orange due to their violent content; (xiv) the contest within the electorate between those who did and did not want to see the censorship of sex and violence in cinema, which moved to broadly stop attempted censorship by the 1970s.