Kiri Bloom Walden - Böcker

A beautifully illustrated introduction to the history of British film-making and the leading studios, such as Ealing, Pinewood, Shepperton and Elstree.The British film industry was already well established when Hollywood sprang to life in 1911, and has remained at the forefront of film-making ever since; from Cecil Hepworth and Alfred Hitchcock to Ridley Scott and Christopher Nolan, and all the innumerable artistic and technical titans in between, the UK has never been far from the cinematic vanguard.Originally flat theatrical sets on temporary stages (often in gardens!), early British studios could be found everywhere from Glasgow to Brighton, and by the 1920s elaborately lit indoor production stages had developed. Stiff competition from the ‘big five’ US studios led to seismic upheavals over the coming decades, yet names like Alexander Korda, Carol Reed, David Lean and Richard Attenborough attest to Britain’s enduring stature.From quintessentially British studios and productions – Gainsborough romances, Ealing comedies, Hammer horrors and many more – to the British role in blockbusting franchises like James Bond, Star Wars and Harry Potter, Kiri Bloom Walden here tells the century-long story of British film, illustrating it with colourful photographs of actors, directors and production staff at work.

This book explores the foundation and work of the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) and other entertainment organisations such as CEMA and Stars in Battledress. These organisations ensured that troops in all theatres of the Second World War were visited by big bands, ballet stars, Shakespearian actors and the most famous popular entertainers of the day in order to raise morale. Many of Britain’s biggest stars cut their teeth performing on makeshift stages to homesick soldiers, sailors and airmen and women during the war years, with famous performers including Laurence Olivier, Gracie Fields, George Formby, Vera Lynn, Margot Fonteyn and members of The Goons. This book also details the alternative arrangements made when the entertainment organisations couldn’t come – the forces often put on their own shows, with pantomimes and plays written and performed by POWs being a prime example.

Reviled on its release, Peeping Tom (1960) all-but ended the career of director Michael Powell, previously one of Britain's most revered filmmakers. The story of a murderous cameraman and his compulsion to record his killings, Powell's film stunned the same critics who had acclaimed him for the work he'd made with writer-producer Emeric Pressburger (The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, 1943; A Matter of Life and Death, 1946), resulting in the film falling out of circulation almost as soon as it was released. It took the 1970s 'Movie Brat' generation to rehabilitate the director, and the film, which is now regarded as a masterpiece. In this Devil's Advocate, published to coincide with the film's 60th anniversary, Kiri Walden charts the origins, production and devastating critical reception of Peeping Tom, comparing it to the treatment meted out to its contemporary horror classic, Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960).