The British 'B' Film [Paperback]

This is the first book to provide a thorough examination of the British 'B' movie, from the war years to the 1960s. The authors draw on archival research, contemporary trade papers and interviews with key 'B' filmmakers to map the 'B' movie phenomenon both as artefact and as industry product, and as a reflection on their times.

STEPHEN CHIBNALL is Professor of British Cinema at De Montfort University, UK.

BRIAN MACFARLANE is Adjunct Associate Professor at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia and Visiting Professor, University of Hull, UK.

Both an invocation and a loving catalogue, the book is rich in detail drawn from the history of the Bs before changing taste, alterations in the law and the irresistible rise of television rendered the species extinct. Times Literary SupplementCONTENTS.- Acknowledgements.- Foreword by Rona Anderson.- Preface.- 1. Big Ships and Little Ships: The Bs at War.- 2. 'What's on with it?' The Rise and Fall of the Bs.- 3. The 'B' Factories: Companies, Studios and Producers.- 4. Behind the Scenes.- 5. On the Screens.- 6. The Men from the Yard.- 7. Britain in the Bs.- 8. The Best of the Bs.- Appendix.- Revolving Bs: Second Features on the Gaumont British, Odeon and Rank Circuits.