The Story of British Cinema - The Pioneer Years

 

Sky Arts in association with 3DD Productions continue to present terrific documentaries about movies. Their latest looks at the early days of British films. Ian Nathan, in his introduction, said these were "so varied and so exciting". Derek Malcolm wondered "did Hollywood copy us?" It was William Friese-Greene who patented celluloid for a moving picture camera, although it was the Lumiere brothers who managed to project this onto a screen. We hear about other pioneers including Robert William Paul and his special effects. Ian Nathan tells us that Cecil Hepworth developed a studio system that made Alice in Wonderland in 1903.

By 1913 there were 4,000 cinemas in the UK with three big exhibitors. After the first world war came the first big director. Alfred Hitchcock made The Lodger in 1927 where Ivor Novello became a star. But with Hollywood beginning to monopolise the industry, an Act of Parliament was passed that addressed these concerns by making a quota of films that had to be British made.  Then in 1929 Hitchcock made the first British talkie. Blackmail started life as silent movie but halfway through was adapted for sound. It's Czech female star had her words spoken off camera 

We hear about the movie moguls and the story of Alexander Korda and his brother targeting American audiences with films such as The Private Lives of Henry V111. Hitchcock was gaining international recognition with The Man Who Knew Too much and in 1935's The 39 Steps. Producers such as Michael Balcom and Carol Reed were discussed. Then in 1937 J Arthur Rank bought up studios and cinemas to create the Rank Organisation. During WW2 they made films such as David Lean's In Which we Serve. There were pro-Britich propaganda films such as Went The Day Well, a Graham Greene story that neil Norman said was a "fabulous piece of work". 

Rank became the strongest studio after the war. They ignored the international market and made very Britich films that were actually very successful. Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger were making popular films as was David Lean with Brief Encounter and Great Expectations that gained worldwide recognition and Derek Malcolm thought was the best ever adaptation of Dickens for the big screen. Producer Alexander Korda brought together writer Graham Greene and director Carol Reed to make two hugely successful films: The Fallen Idol and The Third Man that Ian Nathan called "among the greatest British films of all time" and Neil Norman thought the latter "arguably the greatest British film ever made".

We were on to the Ealing Comedies in 1949 with Whisky Galore, Kind Hearts and Coronets and Passport to Pimlico. Then Alec Guinness appearing in The Man in the White Suit and Ladykillers. And mentions for Brighton Rock and Our Man in Havana. But there then came a huge change in British cinema with a new wave of social realistic movies that started with 1959's Room at the Top, with that seedy picture of suburbs from the window of Laurence Harvey's train. The film was nominated for six Oscars and won two. We might have to wait to hear how this changed the British film industry.