The History of Film

In the 1930’s, Britain had just been subject to the site of the First World War, and therefore from here on, the reconstruction of British cinema began. Two key film studios in this, British Picture Corporation and Gaumont British Picture Corp were founded. In 1935, Alfred Hitchcock, the saviour of British cinema, released 39 Steps and also in the 1930’s, The British Film Institute (BFI) and the National Film Archives were founded.

In the 1940’s, World War II took place, causing the industry of British cinema to again be rebuilt, and in 1947, The British Film Academy was founded.

In the 1950’s, a cultural convergence occurred with British and American themes and stars starting to mix. Also, World War II evoked a comeback of war films, bringing some of the best films of the decade. Furthermore, British cinema saw the beginning of the Carry On films, which became hits in Britain. In 1953, The Guild of Television Producers and Directors was formed, before merging with The British Film Academy in 1958 to become The Society of Film and Television Arts.

In the 1960’s, the first James Bond film was made; a British action hit, and became the beginning of a massively successful franchise, getting more successful with each film. In 1967, Alfred Hitchcock received an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement, a monumental success and the face of the British film industry. However, from 1960, where British cinema had reached profits of £501milion, the success of British cinema very quickly fell across the decade until it reached only £193million by 1970.

This was furthered into the 1970’s, where Hollywood continued to dominate as usual and through this American studios started to refuse the financing of British films. One of the most influential film companies to British cinema, The Associated British Picture Corp, was taken over by EI and began financing large US films. However, one of the ways Britain started to make more money was through the increased demand of Thriller films, and in 1976, the headquarters of The Society of Film and Television Arts was opened by the Queen and became officially known as The British Academy of Film and Television Arts, or BAFTA for short. 

In the 1980’s, the British film industry was again on the rise, and in his acceptance speech for his Oscar at the Annual Academy Awards, Colin Wellard said “The Brits are coming” as a statement about the nation’s growing success in the film industry.

In the 1990’s, Britain provided stars and production crew to a lot of films due to the growing success and talent of the British film industry, however finances largely came from the US. In turn, British cinema did exceptionally well at the Oscars in this decade, receiving 9 nominations for Best Picture in 7 years. Also, in 1999, BAFTA decided to give separate awards ceremonies to film and television in order to increase popularity. This decade is well-known in the British film industry for being the decade when Britain started to level the playing field between them and the US, this was down to many reasons:

• Hollywood writer’s decided that they were not being paid enough and went on strike. This caused there to be a deficit in scripts to make films with, ending up in a huge decrease in films being produced.
• The United Kingdom joined the European Union which resulted in grants being given to the British arts in order to make films.
• The Internet became available for promotion and advertising, allowing more people to find out about films and watch them, allowing the industry to make more money.

In the 2000’s, The Film Council was established to fund fewer better films, and similarly to the EU grants, the National Lottery began which also produced a lot of funding for Britain to use for filmmaking, amongst other things. Finally, in the 00’s, one of the most successful franchises in the world began when film adaptions of the novel series started being made. The first Harry Potter film was released in 2001, and the success of the franchise only escalated until now, three years after the release of the final film in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. This franchise alone displayed the calibre of British talent in filmmaking and in acting, and overall sent out a message to the Hollywood film industry about how the British film industry was making a comeback and was out to compete with the US. Unfortunately, as previously discussed, the Harry Potter franchise did rely heavily on Hollywood funding, and therefore it can’t be said that Harry Potter sent out a wholly British message about how wonderful the British film industry is. This shows that the US film industry still proudly dominates the global market in film, and the British industry is yet to make a particularly deep impact in rivalling the success of the Americans.