Mass-Observation at the Movies [Hardcover]

The Mass Observation social research organisation (1937 to early 1950s), a pioneering independent effort aimed at education, specialised in material about everyday life in Britain and recorded material through a panel of around 500 volunteer observers who maintained diaries or replied to open-ended questionnaires known as directives.

The collection of papers on film is one of the largest collections on a single theme produced by Mass-Observation but before this book was originally published in 1987 very little of the film material had been put into print. This anthology presents a selection from the Mass-Observation archive which offers unique insights into cinema-going trends, particularly in the years of the Second World War. This is a great reference work on the role of the cinema in national morale and other social effects during the war years with details of peoples behaviour at the cinema and their opinions of the films and the newsreels they saw at the movies.

Introduction  Part 1: Cinema-going in Worktown  1. Research Programme for the Investigation of Cinema-going in Bolton  2. The Cinema Manager Speaks  3. Replies to the Boston Questionnaire  Part 2: Cinema-going in Wartime  4. The Cinema in the First Three Months of the War  5. Letter and First Report from a Volunteer Film Reviewer  6. Report on Audience Preference in Film Themes  7. Report on Cinema Queue  8. Analysis of Joke Competition  9. Fade-out Competition Report  10. Social Research and the Film  11. The Hazards of Mass-Observing  12. Notes on the Effect of the War (January-September 1941) on the Film Industry  13. 1943 Directive Replies on Favourite Films  14. The Film and Family Life  15. The Lion Has Wings  16. Let George Do It  17. The l£r