Seventies British Cinema provides a comprehensive re-evaluation of British film in the 1970s. The decade has long been written off in critical discussions as a 'doldrums' period in British cinema, perhaps because the industry, facing near economic collapse, turned to 'unacceptable' low culture genres such as sexploitation comedies or extreme horror.
The contributors to this new collection argue that 1970s cinema is ripe for reappraisal: giving serious critical attention to populist genre films, they also consider the development of a British art cinema in the work of Derek Jarman and Peter Greenaway, and the beginnings of an independent sector fostered by the BFI Production Board and producers like Don Boyd. A host of highly individual directors managed to produce interesting and cinematically innovative work against the odds, from Nicolas Roeg to Ken Russell to Mike Hodges. As well as providing a historical and cinematic context for understanding Seventies cinema, the volume also features chapters addressing Hammer horror, the Carry On films, Bond films of the Roger Moore period, Jubilee and other films that responded to Punk rock; heritage cinema and case studies of key seventies films such as The Wicker Man and Straw Dogs. In all, the book provides the final missing piece in the rediscovery of British cinema's complex and protean history.
Contributors: Ruth Barton, James Chapman, Ian Conrich, Wheeler Winston Dixon, Christophe Dupin, Steve Gerrard, Sheldon Hall
I. Q. Hunter, James Leggott, Claire Monk, Paul Newland, Dan North, Robert Shail, Justin Smith and Sarah Street.
Acknowledgements
Notes on Contributors
Introduction: Cinema in the Era of 'Trouble and Strife'
PART I: POPULAR GENRES
Take an Easy Ride: Sexploitation in the 1970s; I.Q.Hunter
The End of Hammer; W.W.Dixon
The Divergence and Mutation of British Horror Cinema; I.Conrich
What a Carry On! The Decline and Fall of a Great British Institution; S.Gerrard
When the Chickens Came Home to Roost: British Thrillers of the 1970s; R.Barton
From Amicus to Atlantis: The Lost Worlds of 1970s British Cinema; J. Chapman
PART II: CONTEXTS AND STYLES
Glam, Spam and Uncle Sam: Funding Diversity in British Film Production during the 1970s; J.Smith
'Now, what are we going to call you? Scum! … Scum! That's commercial! It's all they deserve!': Jubilee, Punk and British Film in the Late 1970s; C.Monk
Nothing to do Around Here: British Realist Cinema in the 1970s; J.Leggott
Heritage Crime: The Case of Agatha Christie; S.Street
PART III: FILMS AND FILM-MAKERS
Folksploitation: Charting the Horrors of the British Folk Music Tradition in 'The Wicker Man'; P.Newland
Under Siege: The Double Rape of Straw Dogs; S.Hall
Don Boyd: The Accidental Producer; D.North
'More, Much More … Roger Moore': A New Bond for a New Decade; R.Shail
The BFI and British Independent Cinema in the 1970s; C.Dupin
Select Bibliography
Index
The Editor: Robert Shail is Head of the Department of Film and Media at the University of Wales, Lampeter. He is the author of Stanley Baker: A Life in Film (2008) and British Film Directors: A Critical Guide (2007).
Description
Seventies British Cinema provides a comprehensive re-evaluation of British film in the 1970s. The decade has long been written off in critical discussions as a 'doldrums' period in British cinema, perhaps because the industry, facing near economic collapse, turned to 'unacceptable' low culture genres such as sexploitation comedies or extreme horror.
The contributors to this new collection argue that 1970s cinema is ripe for reappraisal: giving serious critical attention to populist genre films, they also consider the development of a British art cinema in the work of Derek Jarman and Peter Greenaway, and the beginnings of an independent sector fostered by the BFI Production Board and producers like Don Boyd. A host of highly individual directors managed to produce interesting and cinematically innovative work against the odds, from Nicolas Roeg to Ken Russell to Mike Hodges. As well as providing a historical and cinematic context for understanding Seventies cinema, the volume also features chapters addressing Hammer horror, the Carry On films, Bond films of the Roger Moore period, Jubilee and other films that responded to Punk rock; heritage cinema and case studies of key seventies films such as The Wicker Man and Straw Dogs. In all, the book provides the final missing piece in the rediscovery of British cinema's complex and protean history.
Contributors: Ruth Barton, James Chapman, Ian Conrich, Wheeler Winston Dixon, Christophe Dupin, Steve Gerrard, Sheldon Hall
I. Q. Hunter, James Leggott, Claire Monk, Paul Newland, Dan North, Robert Shail, Justin Smith and Sarah Street.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Notes on Contributors
Introduction: Cinema in the Era of 'Trouble and Strife'
PART I: POPULAR GENRES
Take an Easy Ride: Sexploitation in the 1970s; I.Q.Hunter
The End of Hammer; W.W.Dixon
The Divergence and Mutation of British Horror Cinema; I.Conrich
What a Carry On! The Decline and Fall of a Great British Institution; S.Gerrard
When the Chickens Came Home to Roost: British Thrillers of the 1970s; R.Barton
From Amicus to Atlantis: The Lost Worlds of 1970s British Cinema; J. Chapman
PART II: CONTEXTS AND STYLES
Glam, Spam and Uncle Sam: Funding Diversity in British Film Production during the 1970s; J.Smith
'Now, what are we going to call you? Scum! … Scum! That's commercial! It's all they deserve!': Jubilee, Punk and British Film in the Late 1970s; C.Monk
Nothing to do Around Here: British Realist Cinema in the 1970s; J.Leggott
Heritage Crime: The Case of Agatha Christie; S.Street
PART III: FILMS AND FILM-MAKERS
Folksploitation: Charting the Horrors of the British Folk Music Tradition in 'The Wicker Man'; P.Newland
Under Siege: The Double Rape of Straw Dogs; S.Hall
Don Boyd: The Accidental Producer; D.North
'More, Much More … Roger Moore': A New Bond for a New Decade; R.Shail
The BFI and British Independent Cinema in the 1970s; C.Dupin
Select Bibliography
Index
Authors
The Editor: Robert Shail is Head of the Department of Film and Media at the University of Wales, Lampeter. He is the author of Stanley Baker: A Life in Film (2008) and British Film Directors: A Critical Guide (2007).
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