British Popular Films, 1929-1939: The Cinema Of Reassurance (studies In Film, Television And The Media)

BRITISH POPULAR FILMS 1929–1939 In a field generally neglected by film scholarship, British Popular Films 1929–1939 makes a valuable contribution to the social and British film history of the period. Stephen Shafer’s study of the role of cinema in 1930s British society uses research on the early cinema to offer original answers to questions such as why the British public was not more critical and disruptive during the economic hardship and unemployment of the Great Depression. Shafer’s study challenges the conventional historical assumption that British feature films during the thirties were mostly orientated toward the middle classes. Instead, he makes the critical distinction between films intended for West-End and international circulation and those intended primarily for domestic, working-class audiences. Far from being alienated by a “middle-class institution,” working men and women flocked to see pictures featuring music-hall luminaries such as Gracie Fields and George Formby. This contention is supported by an impressive amount of new research into unexplored source material, from statistics of working-class cinema-going to letters in fan magazines. From these fascinating letters, cinema itself emerges as the only solace that made life bearable during the Depression (it was listed by one Leeds shop girl, along with food and shelter, as one of the necessities of life). Significantly, escapist films such as High Society, Pygmalion, and The Lambeth Walk were box-office hits in the impoverished industrial north. Shafer’s detailed analysis of individual films helps to build up our understanding of contemporary attitudes, perceptions, and values, and offers a partial answer to why British society survived the strain of the slump and Depression. A major study of British cinema during the thirties, British Popular Films will also prove indispensable for historians of modern Britain and all those concerned with popular culture. Stephen C.Shafer has created and taught courses in film and history at the University of Illinois over the past twenty years. He currently serves as Assistant Dean in the University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He is a member of the British Film Institute, the American Historical Association, the Society for Cinema Studies, and the Popular Culture Association. STUDIES IN FILM, TELEVISION AND THE MEDIA General Editor: Dr Anthony Aldgate The Open University THE AMERICANIZATION OF GERMANY, 1945–1949 Ralph Willett FILM AND POLITICS IN AMERICA: A SOCIAL TRADITION Brian Neve EUROPEAN CINEMAS, EUROPEAN SOCIETIES, 1939–1990 Pierre Sorlin BRITISH POPULAR FILMS 1929–1939 The cinema of reassurance Stephen C.Shafer London and New York For Sue and Karen and Mom and Dad First published 1997 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledges’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 © 1997 Stephen C.Shafer All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic. mechanical, or other means, now known or herea