Popular Filmgoing In 1930s Britain
A Choice of Pleasures
Distributed for University of Exeter Press
“Sedgwick’s attempt to bring about a new kind of synthesis of economic and cultural history, offering in the process a new way of assessing the relative popularity of the films that were available to the enormous cinema-going public in the Britain of the 1930s, is a resounding success. It should be essential reading for business historians, because it starts from the premise that the making and distribution of films is above all a business . . . a book which deserves to dominate its field for years to come, generating valuable follow-up research in the process.” –Business History, 2002
“The book brings a valuable new economist’s perspective to our understanding of cinema and a strong argument that British cinema enjoyed good health in the 1930s.” –Contemporary British History, 2002
“Thorough and engaging . . . fascinating to a wide range of scholars and students . . . a terrific bibliography that will allow any scholar or reader wishing to delve into the motion picture industry an easy leg up on the literature . . . while the rich data set that Sedgwick uses is from 1930s Britain, the points he highlights are general and should appeal to anyone with an interest in the economic or social history of the movies . . . The theories he proposes and the models he creates to test them are general in scope and leave lots of room for future scholars to follow his path and extend his research. In the end, he has produced a top-notch study of an industry that is under-explored in the economics literature. While focusing on a narrowly defined data set, he manages to produce a volume that cuts a wide swath through the history of the motion picture industry. It is a highly recommended read.” –EH.NET, August 2001
“Sedgwick's work on popular film preferences constitutes probably the most thoroughgoing revisionist challenge to many of the accepted wisdoms of British cinema history at the present moment. His book will be eagerly awaited by historians.” –James Chapman, Open University, Society for the Study of Popular British Cinema Newsletter, Autumn 1999
CHAPTER 1: A Simple Theory of Film Choice
CHAPTER 2: The Context Film in 1930s Britain
CHAPTER 3: Measuring Popularity
CHAPTER 4: Shares in the British Market
CHAPTER 5: Popular Films and their Stars in Bolton (Worktown)
CHAPTER 6: Comparative Cinemagoing Preferences, 1934-1935: National, Bolton and Brighton audiences
CHAPTER 7: Profits, Film Budgets and Popularity
CHAPTER 8: Genres, Generic Lineages and 'Hits'
CHAPTER 9: Stardom and 'Hits'
CHAPTER 10: Michael Balcon's Close Encounter with the American Market
CHAPTER 11: Difficulties Facing the Production Sector of the British Film Industry during the late 1930s
CHAPTER 12: Conclusion
APPENDIX 1: The national sample cinema set
APPENDIX 2: 126 London West End 'hits' screened between 1 January 1932 and 31 March 1938
APPENDIX 3: POPSTAT Top 100 films in Britain, 1932-1937
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