Britain Can Take It: The British Cinema in the Second World War

1987 ◽  
Vol 92 (2) ◽  
pp. 423
Author(s):  
Garth S. Jowett ◽  
Anthony Aldgate ◽  
Jeffrey Richards
Keyword(s):  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
British Cinema ◽  
Second World

Producing Outside the Box: Creative Strategies in the Work of Betty E. Box, 1957–64

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-374
Author(s):  
John D. Ayres
Keyword(s):  
Second World War ◽  
Film Production ◽  
World War ◽  
E Box ◽  
Film Producer ◽  
British Cinema ◽  
Working Practices ◽  
Location Shooting ◽  
Second World

This article considers the working practices of British cinema's only major female film producer during the early-to-mid post-Second World War era, Betty E. Box (1915–99). Via reference to her extensive archive at the British Film Institute and the films Campbell's Kingdom (1957), The Wind Cannot Read (1958) and Hot Enough for June (1964), the article charts how Box initially envisaged multi-generational casting for roles that were eventually taken by long-term collaborator Dirk Bogarde. It considers the manner in which she approached the diplomatic complexities of location shooting, with particular focus on Ralph Thomas's military romance The Wind Cannot Read, the first British film to be shot in India for twenty years at the time of its production. The reasoning for Box's ongoing absence, as a female creative figure, from scholarship addressing British cinema, and film production more generally, will also be addressed.

scholarly journals Exploiting Ambiguity: Murder! and the Meanings of Cross-Dressing in Interwar British Cinema

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-312
Author(s):  
Chris O'Rourke
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Cultural Representations ◽  
The Novel ◽  
World War ◽  
Crime Film ◽  
British Cinema ◽  
Cross Dressing ◽  
Second World

The crime film Murder! (1930), directed by Alfred Hitchcock for British International Pictures and based on the novel Enter Sir John (1929) by Clemence Dane and Helen Simpson, has long been cited in debates about the treatment of queer sexuality in Hitchcock's films. Central to these debates is the character of Handel Fane and the depiction of his cross-dressed appearances as a theatre and circus performer, which many critics have understood as a coded reference to homosexuality. This article explores such critical interpretations by situating Murder! more firmly in its historical context. In particular, it examines Fane's cross-dressed performances in relation to other cultural representations of men's cross-dressing in interwar Britain. These include examples from other British and American films, stories in the popular press and the publicity surrounding the aerial performer and female impersonator Barbette (Vander Clyde). The article argues that Murder! reflects and exploits a broader fascination with gender ambiguity in British popular culture, and that it anticipates the more insistent vilification of queer men in the decades after the Second World War.

‘It was good to get out into the fresh air after seeing this film’: Horror, Realism and Censorship in Post-Second World War Britain

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-115
Author(s):  
Paul Frith
Keyword(s):  
Social Issue ◽  
Second World War ◽  
The Other ◽  
World War ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Everyday ◽  
British Cinema ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Second World

Existing research on British cinema during the 1940s has often assumed an opposition between realism and fantasy or, as it is also known, ‘realism and tinsel’. However, through an analysis of contemporary critical reception and censorship discourses, it becomes apparent that this division was nowhere near as clearly defined as is often argued. While the ‘quality’ realist film of the 1940s demonstrates a concern with verisimilitude and the reproduction of the surface appearances of reality, when confronting the darker aspects of reality, realism was deemed to be far more closely associated with the horrific. Following a number of decisions made by the British Board of Film Censors (BBFC) which were heavily criticised by the local authorities and the press, the Board became increasingly wary of these horrific confrontations with the everyday. The release of The Snake Pit (1948) in the UK sparked a series of debates in the press, with one side questioning the suitability of a film dealing with the particularly sensitive subject matter of mental illness for the purpose of shocking and horrifying audiences, and the other side championing the maturity shown by Hollywood when dealing with an important social issue. This article therefore looks beyond traditional perceptions of 1940s British cinema in order to demonstrate a shift in the role played by both realism and horror in the post-war period.

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