'HISTORY OF BRITISH FILMS'

'British Films from its Humble Beginnings to its Successes Today'

British Movie History

The beginning of British films dates back to the late 19th century the earliest moving picture was a 2 second film shot in Leeds, by a Frenchman in 1888. It was again two French brothers, Auguste and Louis Lumiere who are credited as the inventor of the motion picture camera or the cinematograph in 1895. They took up picture making in 1892 after their father’s retirement. 

What was Happening in the US?

In America, however, William Kennedy Dikson successfully developed the Kinetoscope around 1892, where it operated by illuminating a strip of sequential images which were set in a rolling wheel. However the images were not projected. The films were viewed through a window in the contraption.
 

Famous Brothers

The cinematograph of the Lumiere brothers however had the advantage that it could record, process or develop and project the images. The cinematograph was small and portable. It is said that he could shoot images in the morning, process them in the afternoon, and project them in the evening to a paying audience.   A public showing of their first films at the Grand Café in November, 1895 is considered by some historians as the beginning of the commercialization of the motion picture industry. The films shown were short – each strip was about 17 meters long, hand cranked and lasted from a short 38 seconds to the longest lasting 49 seconds. 
  

First British Film

The first 35mm camera to be built and used was made by Robert W. Paul and Birt Acres, they made the first British film ‘Incident at Clovelly Cottage’ in 1895, but shortly afterwards they had a falling out regarding the patent.  The kinetescope was introduced to the British film industry a year earlier in October 1894 by two Americans, Franck Maguire and Joseph Baucus. Maquire and Baucus also known as the Continental Commerce Company became agents for Edison and at the same time were distributors of Lumiere films. The London branch was later renamed as the Warwick Trading Company by Charles Urban.  In the beginning they mostly made documentary and news but later he formed the Charles Urban Trading Company, which produced early color films.
 

The Golden Era of Movies

The 1920’s and the 1930’s were considered boom years in British film history as the documentaries emerged. The introduction of sound in British films in 1929 and the first all color all talking British film in 1930 made filmmaking as well as film acting a lucrative industry.

British films' rapid expansion and high optimism created by the burgeoning industry, together with increasing costs, a recession was inevitable.   In 1937 only about 31% of the total British film productions outfits in the previous years still remained in operation.

The Rank Organisation

 
About this time, J. Arthur Rank of Yorkshire founded the Rank Organization as a way to consolidate his different film outfits and businesses. He was involved in producing, distributing and in the showing of  British films. He was able to successfully compete against Hollywood through aggressive expansion - acquiring several cinema chains and studios.   He  employed talented and great directors, had his own acting school, and put under contract famous actors and actresses.   J. Arthur Rank affected British film by encouraging lots of independent film makers; but he is also attributed as the man behind the break up of the British film industry.

By the 1960 the British film industry was enjoying another run of successful movies, attributed to a string of films that displayed a more liberal attitude to sex, British films capitalized on the ‘swinging London image.  By the1970’s another recessions was affecting American and British films, as American studios cut back on domestic productions they withdrew from financing British movies, although financing was hard to come by Britain was still able to create some quality movies.
 
With the cessation of film production by the Rank Organization in the 80s and a new government regulation prohibiting foreign studios filming in Britain to write off some of their costs, many studios closed down or downsized their operations.  There were odd movies that were highly successful though for example, Chariots of Fire (1981) won 4 Academy Awards including best picture.
 

Changes in the 1990's

By the 1990s the British cinema production had hit an all time low, British films were struggling in both domestic and foreign markets.  By the mid 1990’s with the surprise success of Four Weddings and a Funeral led to a renewed interested in British film.  The British National Lottery also helped public funding for British films. This has helped British films make a competitive comeback and this upward trend is expected to continue well into the millennium.