Public Information Films: British Government Film Units, 192852
By (Author) Alan Harding
Manchester University Press
Manchester University Press
1st August 2024
United Kingdom
General
Non Fiction
Film history, theory or criticism
Film: styles and genres
791.436
Hardback
344
Width 138mm, Height 216mm, Spine 21mm
540g
In the years after the First World War the British government had to adapt its communication policy to connect with the new mass electorate. This book examines the governments own Film Units and their slow development of the Public Information Film. By reviewing the entire film catalogue produced by the Empire Marketing Board, the General Post Office and Crown Film Units, particular themes are identified which not only reflect the demands of the Units sponsors but also the anxieties and concerns of the 1930s and 1940s. The impact of the films is explored through the contemporary reaction of the audiences to them. By the time the Crown Film Unit was closed in 1952 a style of Public Information Film had been developed and continued into the 1970s.
Alan J. Harding is a former Programme Director at the University of Southampton and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy