This document provides an overview of British cinema through history by discussing notable film studios, genres, and films from different eras. It explores what defines "British cinema" and categorizes British films based on factors like cultural/financial origins, production personnel, and money spent in the UK. Overall, the document examines the evolution of British cinema and debates what truly makes a film "British".

1. Introduction to Film Studies
What do we mean by 'British Cinema'?

2. A starting point...
Write a list of five
stereotypes which
help to describe
'Britain'

3. British Successes- Earlier Days
● Ealing Studios
● Made a series of
comedies from the late
1940s to the late 1950s
● Kind Hearts and
Coronets (1949)
● Whiskey Galore (1949)
● The Ladykillers (1955)

4. British Successes – The 1960s
● Hammer Studios
● Horror films reviving the
1930s Universal horror
movies, but now in
colour and with nudity!
● Carry On...
● Long running franchise
of British comedy films
with a regular cast

5. British Successes – From the 60s on...
James Bond
● Dr No (1962)
● Different actors have
taken the role
● The films are made by
American production
companies in
international locations
● How 'British' is Bond?

6. The 1980s - Goldcrest
● British film studio
● Oscar successes -
● Chariots of Fire
(1981)
● Ghandi (1982)
● Box office disasters
and failure of the
studio

7. The 1980s and on – Merchant Ivory
● Films based on
classic literary
adaptations
● A very upper class
and historically
specific view of
Britishness
● Lots of international
box office success

8. The 1980s and on – Regional
Cinema and National Cinemas
● 'British Cinema' has a
number of identities
● Scottish Cinema
● Local Hero (1981)
● Trainspotting (1993)
● Red Road (2007)
● Northern Cinema
● Bhaji on the Beach (1993)
● Brassed Off (1996)
● The Full Monty (1997)

9. British Asian Cinema
● Very under represented
until the 1980s (like all
British ethnic minority
cinemas)
● My Beautiful Laundrette
(1985)
● East is East (1999)
● Bend it like Beckham
(2002)
● Slumdog Millionaire
(2009)

10. Working Title
● Production Company
founded in 1982
● Made a string of a very
succesful British movies –
Richard Curtis films (Four
Weddings... Notting Hill …
Love, Actually...
● International producers of
Coen Brothers movies
(Fargo, Barton Fink, The
Man Who Wasn't There)

11. British Gangster Movies
● Brighton Rock (1947)
● Get Carter (1971)
● The Long Good
Friday (1980)
● Mona Lisa (1986)
● Lock,Stock... (1998)

12. A Succesful Studio...
●Aardman
●Set up in 1976, making short films for TV and
short excerpts for other show
● Moving into original shorts, Creature Comforts
wins Oscar in 1989
●Wallace and Grommit star in a series of
successful films for TV and later for Cinema
●Into Co-Production with Dreamworks SKG (USA)
for Curse of the Were Rabbit and then with Sony
Pictures (USA) for Flushed Away

13. Categories of 'British Films' 1997
1. Films where the cultural and financial impetus is
from the UK and the majority of the production
personnel are British (Brassed Off, Trainspotting)
2. Majority UK co-productions: although there are
foreign partners there is UK cultural content and a
significant amount of UK finance and personnel (Nil
By Mouth, Secrets and Lies)
3. Minority UK co-productions: Foreign (but not
USA) co-productions where there is a small UK input
in finance or personnel (Breaking the Waves, Stealing
Beauty)
4. American films with a UK creative and/or part
financial interest (The Portrait of a Lady, Emma)

14. Categories of British Films from 1998
●It's British if it scores 20 points
●3 points for a British screenwriter
●2 points each for British director / producer /
editor, lead actors
●4 points if 75% or production costs are spent in
the UK
Why does this matter? Subsidies and Taxation.
●

15. Soooooo.......
What is 'British' about the following film clips?
1.Local Hero
2.Quadrophenia
3.Children of Men
4.The Beach
5.Dirty Pretty Things