BRITISH POPULAR FILMS 1929–1939 In a field generally neglected by film scholarship, British Popular Films 1929–1939 makes a valuable contribution to the social and British film history of the period. Stephen Shafer’s study of the role of cinema in 1930s British society uses research on the early cinema to offer original answers to questions such as why the British public was not more critical and disruptive during the economic hardship and unemployment of the Great Depression. Shafer’s study challenges the conventional historical assumption that British feature films during the thirties were mostly orientated toward the middle classes. Instead, he makes the critical distinction between films intended for West-End and international circulation and those intended primarily for domestic, working-class audiences. Far from being alienated by a “middle-class institution,” working men and women flocked to see pictures featuring music-hall luminaries such as Gracie Fields and George Formby. This contention is supported by an impressive amount of new research into unexplored source material, from statistics of working-class cinema-going to letters in fan magazines. From these fascinating letters, cinema itself emerges as the only solace that made life bearable during the Depression (it was listed by one Leeds shop girl, along with food and shelter, as one of the necessities of life). Significantly, escapist films such as High Society, Pygmalion, and The Lambeth Walk were box-office hits in the impoverished industrial north. Shafer’s detailed analysis of individual films helps to build up our understanding of contemporary attitudes, perceptions, and values, and offers a partial answer to why British society survived the strain of the slump and Depression. A major study of British cinema during the thirties, British Popular Films will also prove indispensable for historians of modern Britain and all those concerned with popular culture. Stephen C.Shafer has created and taught courses in film and history at the University of Illinois over the past twenty years. He currently serves as Assistant Dean in the University’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. He is a member of the British Film Institute, the American Historical Association, the Society for Cinema Studies, and the Popular Culture Association. STUDIES IN FILM, TELEVISION AND THE MEDIA General Editor: Dr Anthony Aldgate The Open University THE AMERICANIZATION OF GERMANY, 1945–1949 Ralph Willett FILM AND POLITICS IN AMERICA: A SOCIAL TRADITION Brian Neve EUROPEAN CINEMAS, EUROPEAN SOCIETIES, 1939–1990 Pierre Sorlin BRITISH POPULAR FILMS 1929–1939 The cinema of reassurance Stephen C.Shafer London and New York For Sue and Karen and Mom and Dad First published 1997 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledges’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 © 1997 Stephen C.Shafer All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic. mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Brtitish Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-203-35880-5 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-37136-4 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-00282-6 (Print Edition) CONTENTS Acknowledgments viii 1 INTRODUCTION 1 2 MYTHS AND UNSUPPORTED ASSUMPTIONS A statistical overview of the 9 content of British popular movies in the thirties 3 DEPICTING THE WORKING CLASSES IN BRITISH FILM IN THE 35 THIRTIES Escapist versus realistic portrayals 4 MISTAKEN IDENTITIES The Pygmalion motif 53 5 MISTAKEN IDENTITIES Posing poverty 80 6 INTER-CLASS ROMANCE Social escapism 102 7 THEMES IN BRITISH FILMS The downside of success 134 8 THE EMPHASIS ON COOPERATION AND SELF-SACRIFICE 165 9 PATRIOTISM AND CENSORSHIP Celebrating Britain and limiting social 198 criticism 10 CONCLUSIONS 212 Notes 216 References 239 Index 246 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book is a product of a longstanding interest in the history of motion pictures and specifically in the relationship between film and the history of this century. My college and graduate work centered on an interdisciplinary approach to history; during my graduate studies in modern British history, my focus began to shift to a growing fascination with the products of the British film industry, which seemed to me remarkably unappreciated both critically and academically, as a possible resource in examining the country’s social history. The result was a doctoral dissertation some years ago from which this work has evolved with the benefit of years of additional research and of teaching film and history. In the preparation of this study, I have had the assistance and support of a substantial number of individuals who have provided me with suggestions and encouragement. First and foremost, I am especially grateful to Professor Walter Arnstein of the University of Illinois whose calm, reasoned, and sensible advice enabled me to initiate my study in the first place and who has been a source of continuing inspiration both professionally as a scholar and teacher and personally as a friend. The earliest drafts of this material additionally had the benefit of the observations and comments of Professors John Frayne, Caroline Hibbard, and J.Alden Nichols, all of the University of Illinois. I also cherish many lengthy conversations on film and British history early in my work with Professor Randall McGowen of the University of Oregon, with Professor Jim Huston of Oklahoma State University, and with Dr Esther Simon Shkolnik. In particular, I want to thank Mr Gary Steller of Burlington College who read an early version of this work and provided me with excellent stylistic suggestions. Also, a portion of this material was presented to the Midwest Conference on British Studies and to the British History Association of the University of Illinois, and I am grateful for the comments and suggestions I received at that time. Although my primary duties at the University of Illinois center on my responsibilities as an Assistant Dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, for over twenty years I periodically have taught courses in the History Department here, and I am grateful for the encouragement I have received from many individuals in the department who have been supportive. In particular, I wish to express my gratitude to my friend and colleague, Professor John Dahl, now retired from the University of Illinois with whom I first began teaching Film and History in the 1970s. In recent years, I have had the benefit of the insights and encouragement from my teaching colleague, Professor Fred Jaher, also of the University of Illinois. In addition, I value and appreciate my association with the excellent faculty members of the university’s Unit for Cinema Studies; I especially wish to express my thanks to the Assistant Director of the Unit, Dr Richard Leskosky, whose expertise and friendship I have enjoyed for years. I also want to thank Associate Dean Robert Copeland of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences who has been supportive of my completion of this project. I also am grateful to the many students I have encountered in the classes I have taught over the past twenty years; they have proven to be a continuing source of inspiration to me, and I have delighted in the insights and enthusiasm I have derived from them. I also would like to thank the staff of the British Film Institute’s Library in London which provided continuous assistance in finding the treasures in their outstanding collections during the two summers of research I spent in London some years ago. The staff of the University of Illinois Library also has provided invaluable help in enabling me to make use of the outstanding collection of film materials that have been assembled in Urbana. Since British films from this period are so difficult to find and screen, particularly in the Midwest of the United States, I have depended heavily on the resources in these libraries to locate information about the making of the films themselves and about their plots, in periodicals, screenplays, and other sources. The assistance I have received in tracking down many hard-to-find materials, and in the case of the University of Illinois Library, in acquiring some very obscure items, has been invaluable. I also want to extend my appreciation to Ms Sandy Fitzgerald who has done an excellent job in typing the various manuscript revisions of this book and in transferring the text into disk form. A special note of appreciation must be expressed to three individuals without whose help this project never would have been realized. I owe an immense debt of gratitude to Professor Tony Aldgate who first noticed this study in its earlier form as a doctoral dissertation and who subsequently suggested that it be revised for publication. I have long admired Professor Aldgate’s work, and I was honored by the fact that he regarded my efforts as worthy not only of his attention but also of revision for publication. His suggestions and advice were especially helpful at a late stage in the preparation of this manuscript. Likewise, I wish to thank Ms Rebecca Barden of Routledge for her continuing interest in seeing this project through to publication in spite of the fact that completion was delayed on a variety of occasions.