A History of British Film

The First US Invasion

In 1913 there was a minor invasion from the United States. Dr Ralph Jupp’s London Film Company and the American star, Florence Turner, both began making films in the UK using American actors and technicians. This was halted by the outbreak of World War I in 1914.
It left behind fully active, feature length film productions in some thirty studios up and down the country. Leading film makers of the time were Cecil Hepworth and Will Barker, who made Sixty Years A Queen and Jane Shore in which he used 5,000 extras. He also paid Beerbohm Tree $1500 for one days work as Wolsey in a film about Henry VIII. There was also G.B.Samuleson, Maurice Elvey and George Pearson.

The problem with the British film industry was it did not keep pace with the advances being made abroad and quickly became technically out of date. The films also remained very theatre orientated, filming a play exactly as it had been performed on stage and with the same actors and sets. The advent of the First World War caused more problems.

The British public wanted to see American films, by 1918, there was no money left for home production. Even with private sponsorship, the decline continued until in 1924 all production had ceased. Fortunately, before this occurred, several notable careers had been launched. Ronald Coleman, Clive Brook, Victor McLaglen, Lesie Howard, Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester and a small group of men anxious to rebuild the industry. They were Herbert Wilcox, Graham Cutts, Michael Balcon, Victor Saville and a very young man called Alfred Hitchcock.

They joined forces to make the outstandingly successful Woman to Woman in 1923 staring the American actress Betty Compson. These men, together with Anthony Asquith, the son of the Prime Minister, kept the embryonic industry alive. There was still an uphill battle. 1927 saw Parliament bring in the Cinematographers Trade Bill, designed to ensure there was a guaranteed home market for British made films. It stipulated from it’s induction that a minimum of 5% of the total number of movies shown had to be home produced, rising to 20% by 1936. The result was more movies, but the majority being of very poor quality.