Ebook: The Unknown 1930s: An alternative history of the British cinema, 1929–39

A group of film historians chart a map of 1930s British cinema. They reassess the films, stars, genres and directors omitted from accounts of the decade, and they evaluate its forgotten and recently discovered films. The book includes, for example, a view of British audiences over the period, a fresh look at the producer Julius Hagen and his independent Twickenham film studios, and the story of how MGM dealt with the dictates of the Films Act. Stars Conrad Veidt and Tod Slaughter, and directors Bernard Vorhaus and Robert Stevenson, are central to chapters which explore how star images are constructed, how class and gendre issues interact in British melodrama, and how "imported" directors gave new vitality to British cinema. The British shocker and the British musical, popular 1930s genres, provide views of cinema and national identity, and there is fresh analysis of a neglected period in Michael Powell's directorial career, when he was learning his creaft on the notorious "quota quickies". The contributors include Anthony Aldgate, Geoff Brown, James Chapman, H. Mark Glancy, Keven Gough-Yates, Stephen Guy, Sue Harper, Brian McFarlane, Jeffrey Richards, John Sedgewick and Linda Wood.