The Ciné “Never Sets…”: British Cinema As a Transatlantic
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THE CINÉ “NEVER SETS…”: BRITISH CINEMA AS A TRANSATLANTIC CULTURAL COMMODITY, 1927-1938 By KAREN E. BEASLEY DISSERTATION Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Texas at Arlington May, 2016 Supervising Committee: Elisabeth A. Cawthon, Supervising Professor Imre J. Demhardt Sam W. Haynes ABSTRACT THE CINÉ “NEVER SETS…”: BRITISH CINEMA AS A TRANSATLANTIC CULTURAL COMMODITY, 1927-1938 Karen E. Beasley, PhD The University of Texas at Arlington, 2016 Supervising Professor: Elisabeth A. Cawthon This dissertation exemplifies how the application of a transatlantic commodity approach can broaden understanding of film as a mass medium, its business, and its cultural influences. By employing a more inclusive national cinema framework, this study is able to investigate sites of interaction between the British and Hollywood film industries as a two-way exchange as well as engage those sites at their peripheries, including those between the cultural product and its consumer throughout the broader Atlantic community. This dissertation focuses on the diversity of British audiences throughout a “British world” and the distribution and exhibition methods used to reach them. Based less on the profitability of internationally-exported British films, this British film history enlarges the frame to draw upon these transatlantic connections to adjust and provide a more comprehensive look at British Cinema of the 1930s. A British imperial film culture propagated cultural ties to the homeland through the government’s support of a domestic industry, the endeavors of British filmmakers to build a competitive and distinctively British film product, and the machinations of businessmen attempting to distribute this British output to consumers worldwide with a particular focus upon fellow British and English-speaking peoples, especially with the advent of sound motion pictures. British films were dispersed to both vital and subsidiary markets to establish a more international and presumably profitable market through the reliance upon British cultural similarities and interests of ii peoples throughout English-speaking markets. Coming from a nearly obliterated industry of the mid-1920s, the growth and development of the industry relied heavily upon the perceived cultural value of their product. Extensive use of various legal and business documents, especially from the United Artists corporation records, sheds light upon two independent British producers’ aims, means, and attempts to acquire access to the US market in contrast to the methods employed by the major British combine Gaumont British. Furthermore, the UA archive provided this study an opportunity to explore the distribution and exhibition patterns in other overseas markets and expand upon British film scholarship within these specific areas, including Canada, South Africa, the British West Indies, and even beyond the Atlantic to Australia. This study argues that a distinctive national cinema was created and built upon in Britain during the interwar years, particularly during this decade; this distinction is reflected in the transatlantic interactions of the business and in the films’ use as supposed representatives of Britishness and as a British-made product. By engaging the latter, connections are drawn between the economic side of the film industry and the cultural component of the medium’s dispersal to consumers. To do so, this dissertation explores trends in how Britishness is portrayed in the films’ marketing and advertising in the English-speaking market with a particular focus upon South Africa and the British Caribbean. A qualitative analysis of the supply side’s marketing and publicity supports that with the British film industry’s growth and increased efforts for international distribution, British films became increasingly perceived as an entertaining alternative to Hollywood product. They were able to negotiate a degree of space within each of these markets by the mid-1930s; and with the creation of this space, British films of following decades would continue to have an outlet in these markets. iii Copyright © by Karen E. Beasley 2016 All Rights Reserved iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Upon my entrance into the doctoral program at UTA, I recognized without a doubt that I needed to write about film and incorporate it into the field of transatlantic history. I would first like to thank the History Department at UTA and especially my committee members for their encouragement as I followed this path. It has been a long and arduous process, and without the assistance, motivation, and patience of the following people this project would be sadly lacking. My supervising professor, Dr. Elisabeth Cawthon, has been the steadying force through the entire process; her coaching, patience, and enthusiasm for my work continues to inspire me. I want to thank my dissertation committee members Dr. Imre Demhardt and Dr. Sam Haynes for taking me on, providing immeasurable help and advice, and being willing to step up during a shaky period when previous members retired before this project’s completion. Other professors at UTA were active in my progression towards earning a doctorate, and I would like to thank these scholars for shaping my understanding of history into a broader world view of interacting cultures and peoples: Drs. Stanley Palmer, Richard Francaviglia, Thomas Adam, John Garrigus, Gerald Saxon, Steven G. Reinhardt, Stephanie Cole, and Robert Fairbanks. I would like to thank the Office of Graduate Studies and the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Texas at Arlington for providing me with funds with made the national and international research travel and the long writing periods of this thesis possible. This dissertation has benefited from their financial support with the Graduate Studies Dissertation Fellowship and COLA’s Doctoral Fellowship and Dean’s Award for Research Travel. Researching at archives can feel simultaneously exciting and overwhelming, and the efforts of those who helped ease this process should be applauded. I would like to thank the staff of the British Film Institute Special Collections and National Film Archive, especially Jonny Davies, who facilitated the process of planning my research visits and willingly dealt with my countless off-site requests with aplomb and generosity. Additionally I would like to acknowledge the librarians and archivists of the British Library Newspapers at Colindale (although they have v moved on with its recent closure) and the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research in Madison, WI. Additionally, my gratitude goes to the various staff of the front desk and the Interlibrary Loan Services Department at the UTA Library, who stayed busy with my endless requests. Lastly, another key personage who treaded this same doctoral path alongside me, from our coursework years through the writing of this thesis, is my colleague Mylynka K. Cardona. I can never thank her enough for her ceaseless support and enthusiasm, her willingness to make suggestions and throw around ideas, and the many Starbucks study sessions (and text message counselling) that helped us both to achieve our academic goals. April 7, 2016 vi DEDICATION For years I have spouted off random film facts when nobody asked for them, taken over the television to watch any British films related to this work, bemoaned my aches and pains from long writing binges, and generally put my close friends and family through much for which I can never fully repay. To my friends and family, thank you for your unequivocal support and for putting up with me in times of pressure and in times of procrastination. Finally and most importantly, I want to specially thank my parents for their limitless support, tolerance, guidance, and encouragement through the course of this doctorate; I am forever indebted to their generosity and love. I dedicate this work to them. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .......................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................... v DEDICATION ..................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS ................................................................................................. ix LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................ x LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................ xi KEY TO ARCHIVAL SOURCES ........................................................................................ xii Chapter 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1 Chapter 2 Britishness: Film, Industry, & Identity .............................................................. 21 Chapter 3 “No Stone Unturned”: Moving British Films into the American & English- Speaking Markets ........................................................................................... 71 Chapter 4 “The United Artists of the World”: An “International Alliance” Between British Producers & Hollywood to Create a Worldwide Market ...................... 96 Chapter 5 “Bonds of Empire”: Britishness, Empire, and English-speaking Film Markets ........................................................................................................