Cinema in the United Kingdom

1. Cinema in the United Kingdom

2. EarlyBritishcinema Modern cinema is generally regarded as descending from the work of the French Lumière brothers in 1895. However, the first moving developed on celluloid film were made in Hyde Park, London in 1889 by William Friese Greene, a British inventor, who patented the process in 1890. The film is the first known instance of a projected moving image. The first people to build and run a working 35 mmcamera in Britain were RobertW. Paul and Birt Acres. They made the first British film Incident at Clovelly Cottage in February 1895. The early films were often melodramatic in tone, and there was a distinct preference for adaptations of Shakespeare plays and Dickens' novels.

3. EarlyBritishcinema • By the mid-twenties the British film industry was losing out to heavy competition from Hollywood, which had a much larger home market. In 1914, 25% of films shown in the UK were British — by 1926 this had fallen to 5%. The Cinematograph Films Act 1927 was passed in order to boost local production, requiring that cinemas show a certain percentage of British films. The act was technically a success. But it had the bad side as well: poor quality, low cost films, made in order to satisfy the quota quickly. However, many British film-makers learnt their craft making these films, including Michael Powell and Alfred Hitchcock.In the silent era, with English actor Charlie Chaplin its biggest star, audiences welcomed films from all nations. However, with coming of sound films, many foreign actors soon found themselves in less demand, and more 'formal' English (received pronunciation) became the norm. Sound also increased the influence of already popular American films.

4. EarlyBritishcinema • Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail (1929) is regarded as the first British sound feature film. It was a part-talkie with sound effects. Later the same year, the first all-talking British film, The Clue of the New Pin (1929) was released. It was based on a novel by Edgar Wallace, starring Donald Calthrop, Benita Home and Fred Raines.The first all-colour sound feature (shot silent but with a soundtrack added) was released in the year and was entitled A Romance of Seville (1929). It was produced by British International Pictures and starred Alexander D'Arcy and Marguerite Allan. In 1930, the first all-colour all-talking British feature, Harmony Heaven (1930), was released. Starting with John Grierson'sDrifters, the 1930s saw the emergence of a new school of realist documentary films: The Documentary Film Movement. It was Grierson who introduced the term "documentary" to describe a non-fiction film, and he produced the movement's most celebrated film of the 1930s, Night Mail (1936).

5. EarlyBritishcinema • Several other new talents emerged during this period, Alfred Hitchcock became one of the UK's leading young directors with his thrillers The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), The 39 Steps (1935) and The Lady Vanishes (1938). Music hall also proved influential in comedy films, and a number of popular personalities emerged, including George Formby, Gracie Fields, Jessie Matthews and Will Hay. Many of the most important British productions of the 1930s were produced by London Films, founded by the Hungarianémigré Alexander Korda. After the boom years of the late 1920s and early 1930s, rising costs and over-optimistic expansion into the American market caused the production to crash in 1937. Of the 640 British production companies , 20 were still going in 1937. The new Cinematograph Films Act 1938 encouraged UK companies to make fewer films of higher quality and,encouraged American investment and imports.

6. WorldWar II • The constraints made by World War II seemed to give new energy to the British film industry. After a faltering start, British films began to make increasing use of documentary techniques and former documentary film-makers to make more realistic films, many of which helped to shape the popular image of the nation at war. Among the best known of these films are In Which We Serve (1942), Went the Day Well? (1942), We Dive at Dawn (1943), Millions Like Us (1943) and The Way Ahead (1944). In the later war years Gainsborough Studios produced a series of critically derided but immensely popular period melodramas including The Man in Grey (1943) and The Wicked Lady (1945). These helped to create a new generation of British stars, such as Stewart Granger, Margaret Lockwood and James Mason.

7. Post-warcinema • Towards the end of the 1940s, the Rank Organisation, founded in 1937 by J. Arthur Rank, became the dominant force behind British film-making..Building on the success British cinema had enjoyed during World War II, the industry got new heights of creativity in the immediate post-war years. Among the most significant films produced during this period were David Lean's Brief Encounter (1945) and his Dickens adaptations Great Expectations (1946) and Oliver Twist (1948), Carol Reed's thrillers Odd Man Out (1947) and The Third Man (1949), and Powell and Pressburger'sThe Red Shoes (1948), the most commercially successful film of its year in the U.S., and by Laurence Olivier's Hamlet, the first non-American film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Ealing Studios embarked on their series of comedies, including Whisky Galore (1948), Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) and The Man in the White Suit (1951).

8. Post-warcinema • In the 1950s the industry began to retreat slightly from the prestige productions which had made British films successful worldwide, and began to concentrate on popular comedies and World War II dramas. The war films were often based on true stories. They helped to make stars of actors like John Mills, Jack Hawkins and Kenneth More. Popular comedy series included the St Trinians films and the "Doctor" series, beginning with Doctor in the House in 1954. The latter series starred Dirk Bogarde, probably the British industry's most popular star of the 1950s. The Rank Organisation also produced some other notable comedy successes, such as Genevieve in 1953. The writer/director/producer team of twin brothers John and Roy Boulting also produced a series of successful satires on British life and institutions, beginning with Private's Progress (1956), and continuing with Brothers in Law. The Italian director-producer Mario Zampi also made a number of successful black comedies.

9. TheBritishNewWave • Less restrictive censorship towards the end of the 1950s encouraged Hammer Films to make their series of influential and wildly successful horror films. Beginning with black and white adaptations of Nigel Kneale's BBCscience fiction serials The Quatermass Experiment (1955) and Quatermass II (1957), Hammer quickly graduated to colour versions of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy. Their enormous commercial success encouraged them to turn out sequel after sequel, and led to an explosion in horror film production in the UK that would last for nearly two decades.

10. TheBritishNewWave • The term British New Wave, or "Kitchen Sink Realism", is used to describe a group of commercial feature films made between 1955 and 1963 which portrayed a more rough form of social realism than had been seen in British cinema previously. The New Wave filmmakers were influenced by the documentary film movement known as "Free Cinema". Free Cinema emerged in the mid-1950s and was named by Lindsay Anderson in 1956. They were also influenced by the Angry Young Men, who were writing plays and literature from the mid-1950s, and the documentary films of everyday life during and after the Second World War. The films were personal, poetic, imaginative in their use of sound and narration, and featured ordinary working-class people with sympathy and respect.

11. The 1960s Boom • In the 1960s British studios got success in the international market with films that displayed a more liberated attitude to erotica.ProducersHarry Saltzman and Albert R. Broccoli combined it with exotic locations, casual violence and humour in the phenomenally successful James Bond series with Sean Connery in the leading role. The first film Dr. No was a hit in the UK in 1962, and the second, From Russia with Love (1963), a hit worldwide. By the time of the third film, Goldfinger (1964), the series had become a global phenomenon, reaching its commercial peak with Thunderball. Overseas film makers were also attracted to the UK at this time. Polish film maker Roman Polanski made Repulsion (1965) and Cul-de-Sac (1966) in London and Northumberland, before attracting the attention of Hollywood. Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni filmed Blowup (1966) with David Hemmings and Vanessa Redgrave, and François Truffaut directed his only film made outside France, the science fiction parable Fahrenheit 451 in 1966.

12. The 1970s • With the film industry in both the United Kingdom and the United States entering into recession, American studios cut back on domestic production, and in many cases withdrew from financing British films altogether. Large-scale productions were rather rare and hardly compared with American films. Among the more successful were adaptations of the Agatha Christie stories Murder on the Orient Express (1974) and Death on the Nile (1978). The British horror boom of the 1960s also finally came to an end by the mid-1970sin the face of competition from independents in the United States. Films became tame and outdated. Although some attempts were made to broaden the range of British horror films, such the cult favouriteThe Wicker Man, these films made little impact at the box office, and the horror boom was finally over. Some British producers, including Hammer, turned to television series for inspiration, and the big screen versions of shows proved successful with domestic audiences. The other major influence on British comedy films in the decade was the Monty Python group, also from television. The late 1970s at least saw a revival of the James Bond series with The Spy Who Loved Me in

13. British cinema in the 1990s • Film production in the UK was the lowest in 1989. In the early 1990s, few British films were enjoying significant commercial success. Among the more notable exceptions were the Merchant Ivory productions Howards End (1992) , Richard Attenborough's Chaplin (1992) , Shadowlands (1993) and Neil Jordan's thriller The Crying Game (1992). The latter was generally ignored on its starting release in the UK, but was a considerable success in the United States. The same company also enjoyed some success releasing the BBC period drama Enchanted April (1992). Kenneth Branagh to The Madness of King George (1994) proved there was still a market for the traditional British costume drama, and a large number of other period films followed, including Sense and Sensibility (1995), Restoration (1995), Emma (1996), Mrs. Brown (1997), The Wings of the Dove (1997, Shakespeare in Love (1998),The English Patient (1996) .

14. British cinema in the 1990s • The success of the Richard Curtis-scripted comedy Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), which grossed $244 million worldwide and introduced Hugh Grant to global fame, led to renewed interest and investment in British films, and set a pattern for British-set romantic comedies, including Sliding Doors (1998) and Notting Hill (1999). The new appetite for British comedy films lead to the popular comedies Brassed Off (1996), and The Full Monty (1997). The latter film became a runaway success and broke British box office records. With the introduction of public funding for British films through the new National Lottery a production boom occurred in the late 1990s, but only a few of these films had commercial success. These included several gangster films attempting to imitate Guy Ritchie's black comedies Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

15. British cinema in the 1990s • After a six year hiatus for legal reasons the James Bond films returned to production with the 17th Bond film, GoldenEye. With their traditional home Pinewood Studios fully booked, a new studio was created for the film in a former Rolls-Royce aero-engine factory at Leavesden in Hertfordshire. American productions also began to return to British studios in the mid-1990s, including Interview with the Vampire (1994), Mission: Impossible (1996), Saving Private Ryan (1998), Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999) and The Mummy (1999), as well as the French production The Fifth Element (1997), at the time claimed to be the most expensive film made in the UK. Mike Leigh emerged as a significant figure in British cinema in the 1990s with a series of films financed by Channel 4 about working and middle class life in modern England, including his biggest hit Secrets and Lies, which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes.

16. British cinema since 2000 • The new century has so far been a relatively successful one for the British film industry. Many British films have found a wide international audience. Working Title scored three major international successes, all starring Hugh Grant, with the romantic comedies Bridget Jones's Diary (2001); the sequel Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason; and Richard Curtis's directorial debut Love Actually (2003). At the same time, critically-acclaimed films such as Gosford Park (2001), Pride and Prejudice (2005), The Constant Gardener (2005), The Queen (2006) and The Last King of Scotland (2006) also brought prestige to the British film industry. The new decade saw a major new film series in the US-backed but British made Harry Potter films, beginning with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in 2001. David Heyman's company Heyday Films has produced five sequels, with two more shooting in 2009.The film was a major success worldwide and one of the most successful British films of its year. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit was another worldwide hit. It won the 2005 Academy Award for best animated feature. In 2005, Vanguard Animations and Ealing Studios produced the UK's first computer animated feature film, Valiant.

17. British cinema since 2000 • The new century saw a revival of the British horror film. Lead by Danny Boyle's acclaimed hit 28 Days Later (2002), other examples included Dog Soldiers, The Descent and the comedy Shaun of the Dead. By the early 2000s, the popularity of British films in the home market had also grown enough to allow a spate of television spin-offs and other for the domestic audience. Notable British directors emerging during this period include: Shane Meadows (TwentyFour Seven, A Room for Romeo Brass, Dead Man's Shoes, This is England and Somers Town), Paul Greengrass (Bloody Sunday, United 93, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum), Michael Winterbottom (24 Hour Party People, A Cock and Bull Story) and Stephen Daldry, whose debut film Billy Elliot (2000) became one of the most successful British films of its year. In 2004, Mike Leigh directed Vera Drake, an account of a housewife who leads a double life as an abortionist in 1950s London. The film won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and three BAFTAs. In 2006, Ken Loach won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival with his account of the struggle for Irish Independence in The Wind That Shakes the Barley.

18. British cinema since 2000 • Woody Allen chose to shoot his 2005 film Match Point entirely in London, with a largely British cast and financing from BBC Films. Other foreign directors choosing to shoot British films in Britain included Alfonso Cuarón with Children of Men (2006) and Jane Campion with Bright Star (2009). English actor Daniel Craig became the new James Bond with Casino Royale, the 21st entry in the official Eon Productions series. In 2007, a number of new British films achieved critical and commercial recognition, including a biography of the singer Ian Curtis in Control; the police comedy Hot Fuzz; the sequel to Elizabeth entitled Elizabeth: The Golden Age and Joe Wright's adaptation of the Ian McEwen novel Atonement. Set in 1935 and during the Second World War, the film was nominated for 7 Academy Awards, including Best Film. In 2008, British releases included the costume dramas The Duchess and Brideshead Revisited, the documentary Man On Wire and a new comedy-drama from Mike Leigh Happy Go Lucky. However the year was dominated by a single film: Slumdog Millionaire, an Indian story that was filmed entirely in Mumbai with a mostly Indian cast, though with a British director , producer , screenwriter and star (Dev Patel) and the film was all-British financed . Slumdog Millionaire has won four Golden Globes, seven BAFTA Awards and eight Academy Awards, including Best Director and Best Film.

19. British cinema in the 2009 • 2009 saw a diverse range of British films. The Boat That Rocked was a Richard Curtis all-star comedy set in the world of pirate radio in the mid-1960s. An Education was a coming-of-age drama set in London 1961. In the Loop satirized contemporary Westminster politics and, in particular, the events leading up to the Iraq war. Despite increasing competition from film studios in Australia and Eastern Europe , British studios remained successful in hosting foreign productions such as Finding Neverland, V for Vendetta, Closer, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, United 93, The Phantom of the Opera, The Golden Compass, Sweeney Todd, Mamma Mia!, The Wolf Man, Fantastic Mr. Fox and Nine.T he film industry remains an important earner for the British economy. According to a UK Film Council press release of 15 January 2007, £840.1 million was spent on making films in the UK.

20. Summary • British impact to the history of the world’s cinematography has always been great. Famous works of British classical writers gave rich sources for screenplays; British actors have been known worldwide; British directors are famous for remarkable films. As any national art does, British cinema reflects the spirit of the nation – it is often about people who have to cope with problems independently, even struggle against the whole world . That’s why they need such features as strength, fortitude, tolerance and diligence – all the features of national character. And we love it! TheEnd