From Pinewood to Hollywood : British Filmmakers in American Cinema, 1910-1969

This book is about the emigration, film careers and socio-cultural influence of British filmmakers moving to Hollywood in the studio era. It deals with some of the unknown and neglected émigrés, as well as the leading lights who founded, initiated and ensured that American film became the leading national cinema of the twentieth century. This book is about the emigration, film careers and socio-cultural influence of British filmmakers moving to Hollywood in the studio era. It deals with some of the unknown and neglected emigres, as well as the leading lights who founded, initiated and ensured that American film became the leading national cinema of the twentieth century. From Pinewood to Hollywood is a thoroughly engaging and critical examination of the emigration and careers of British writers and directors in Hollywood. As well as the likes of Chaplin and Hitchcock, Huxley and Greene, Schlesinger and Bolt, the book unveils a succession of personalities and practitioners who have never had the recognition they deserved but were hugely influential in the way the movie colony emerged and evolved in the first half of the twentieth century. From early moguls like Stuart Blackton, through leading writers such as Joan Harrison, to directors of the quality of Peter Yates, this is a story of how Hollywood came to be, seen through the eyes of British practitioners who have been travelling there for the best part of a century. Riveting and undiscovered, this is the first book to give the British perspective on writing and directing during the most fascinating period in the history of Hollywood movies Front Matter....Pages i-x Prologue: From Pinewood to Hollywood....Pages 1-5 Introduction: The British Connection: Themes and Theory....Pages 6-29 Early Invaders: The First British Wave....Pages 30-62 Sound and Vision: British Filmmakers and the Politics of Pre-War Hollywood....Pages 63-106 Movies for the Masses: The British in the Second World War....Pages 107-126 Post-War Directions: Ealing Escapism and the Menace of McCarthy....Pages 127-151 Atlantic Crossing....Pages 152-173 Back Matter....Pages 174-202 This title is about the emigration, careers and socio-cultural influence of British filmmakers moving to Hollywood in the studio era. It deals with some of the unknown and neglected emigres, as well as the leading lights who founded, initiated and ensured that American film became the leading national cinema of the 20th century 'A fascinating look at the British screenwriters and directors who went to Hollywood over a period of sixty years: how they adjusted, or didn't adjust, and what they contributed to American as well as British films. It's so good I wish it was longer.' - Tom Stempel, Los Angeles City College, USA