British Cinema: A Critical and Interpretive History Book

A Critical and Interpretive History Although new writing and research on British cinema have burgeoned over the past fifteen years, few books provide a coherent overview of this fascinating and elusive national cinema. Amy Sargeant's personal and entertaining history fills this gap. With its insightful decade-by-decade analysis, British Cinema brings the subject to life for a new generation of students and general readers alike.

Sargeant covers subjects as diverse as the art of intertitling, the narrative complexities of Shooting Star, and Brunel's burlesques. She examines the differing acting styles of Dietrich and Donat in the seminal Knight without Armour, discusses early promotional campaigns of the 1930s, and considers product endorsement by stars in the 1940s. She explains the effect of postwar government intervention in the 1950s. For Sargeant, the 1960s provide an overview of the tentative relationship between film and advertising and the rise of young turks such as Tony Richardson, Ken Loach, Donald Cammell, and Nicolas Roeg.