J. Arthur Rank and the British Film Industry

Author:   Geoffrey Macnab
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Edition:   New edition
ISBN:  

9780415117111


Pages:   324
Publication Date:   15 September 1994
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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J. Arthur Rank and the British Film Industry


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Overview

"Presiding over the ""golden era"" of the British Film Industry from the mid to late 1940s, J. Arthur Rank financed movies such as Oliver Twist, The Red Shoes, Brief Encounter, Caesar and Cleopatra and Black Narcissus . Never Before, and never since, has the industry risen to such heights. J. Arthur Rank charts every aspect of the robust film culture that Rank helped to create. Having started out with relatively little knowledge of the cinema, Rank's sponsorship was to bring about astounding progress within the industry. He bought the Odeon and Gaumont-British chains, made inroads into the American marked and founded the Rank ""Charm School"" to create a genuine British star system. He invested millions in a radical new technique, ""Independent Frame"", commissioned newsreels and children's film and set up a ""B"" Feature training studio. He opened an animation department to rival Disney and even acquired a meteorological company so that he could predict the weather during shoots. By establishing an organization comparable in size to any of the major Hollywood studios, Rank briefly managed to reconcile and consolidate the competing demands of ""art"" and ""business"" - an achievemen very much absent from today's diminished and fragmented film industry. Macnab goes on to explain the eventual collapse of the Rank experiment amidst the economic and political maelstrom of post-war Britain, highlighting the problems still facing the industry today. Meshing archival research with interviews with Rank's contemporaries and members of his family, this definitive study firmly restores rank to this rightful place at the hub of British film history."

Full Product Details

Author:   Geoffrey Macnab
Publisher:   Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:   Routledge
Edition:   New edition
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 1.90cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.680kg
ISBN:  

9780415117111


ISBN 10:   0415117119
Pages:   324
Publication Date:   15 September 1994
Audience:   College/higher education ,  General/trade ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Introduction OF FLOUR AND FILM 1 ON THE WAY TO AN EMPIRE 2 WAR AND MONOPOLY 3 TILTING AT THE WORLD MARKET 4 RANK AND HIS PRODUCERS 5 RESEARCH AND INNOVATION From kids and cartoons to the Charm School 6 THE BOGART OR BACON DEBATE British cinema and society, 1946-50 7 ET; The entertainment tax 8 RETRENCHMENT AND ECONOMY Davis prunes 9 RANK AND THE 1950s The Xerox years

Reviews

`J. Arthur Rank and the British Film Industry I will prove an invaluable source of reference for budding entrepreneurs and tycoons...an excellent portrait of a most unusual man.' - Moira Shearer, Sunday Telegraph `His informative, often witty book illuminates an era and, for its contribution to an understanding of British filmmaking, belongs on the shelf beside Jake Eberts' My Indecision is Final.' - Philip French, The Observer Nominated for the British Film Institute's Michael Powell Award


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Geoffrey Macnab

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