Hollywood and the Invention of England

Jonathan Stubbs is an Professor in the Faculty of Communication at Cyprus International University. Prior to this he taught at the University of East Anglia in the UK, where he also completed his PhD, and at the University of British Columbia in Canada. His book Historical Film: A Critical Introduction was published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2013. His research has also been published in various academic journals including The Historical Journal of Film and Television, The Journal of Popular Culture, The Journal of British Cinema and Television, Exemplaria, and the Journal of American Studies of Turkey.

So much scholarship asks, “What is national film production?” This wonderful book poses a different question: “How do films produce nations?” Stubbs provides an answer through meticulous archival work and focused readings of movies. This is an important contribution to films studies and to the practices of history.

• AcknowledgementsIntroduction: England, their EnglandChapter One: The Uses of Literature: Adaptation and Englishness in the 1930s'Sound, Censorship and ‘Better Pictures’‘Properly English and Properly Dickensian’: David Copperfield (1935)‘The Best Possible Literature’: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935)Literature at War: Wuthering Heights (1939) and Pride and Prejudice (1940)Chapter Two: Abstractions of Empire: Filming British Imperialism in the 1930s and 1940s‘Ruling and Protecting These Countless Millions’: Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935)‘One of the Most Distinguished Events in History’: The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936)‘Delightfully Evil in the Fascist Sense’: Gunga Din (1939)Empire Films and World War II Chapter Three: Ideology and Adventure: the post-war Swashbuckler Film‘A Nation Divided’: Ivanhoe (1952)‘Under Banners Unknown’: Knights of the Round Table (1953)Chapter Four: Cosmopolitanism and the Cold War: Historical Epics in the 1950s and 1960s ‘A Show on Film’: Around the World in 80 Days (1956) ‘The Magic of Distant Places’: Lawrence of Arabia (1962)Chapter Five: Boom and Bust: The English Past in the Swinging Sixties‘A Living Past’: Tom Jones (1963) and The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968)‘Intimate Spectacle’: Becket (1964) and Anne of the 1000 Days (1969)Manhattan Transfer: My Fair Lady (1964) and Camelot (1967) Chapter Six: Intimations of Quality: English Heritage and the ‘Specialty’ Film the 1980s and 1990s‘A Holiday Out of Time’: Heritage Film and American Indies‘Films of Consequence’: Heritage Goes to Hollywood‘An Emotional Event’: the Rise of Miramax Chapter Seven: Pirates, Wizards and Wardrobes: The English Past in the Contemporary Family Film Licensing the Past: Intellectual Property, Conglomeration and the Franchise BoomFantastic Rebates and Where to Find Them: Global Production and Incentive SchemesConclusion: An Available PastBibliographyIndex