Studying the British Crime Film

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by Paul Elliott

Type

Studies

Subject

Genre > Mystery

Keywords

crime films, Great Britain, murder, drama, genre

Publishing date

2014

Publisher

Liverpool University Press

Collection

Studying British Cinema

Language

English

Relative size

Physical desc.

Paperback • 192 pages
6 x 9 ¼ inches (15.5 x 23.5 cm)

ISBN

978-1-906733-74-2

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Book Presentation:
Ever since its inception, British cinema has been obsessed with crime and the criminal. One of the first narrative films to be produced in Britain, the Hepworth's 1905 short Rescued by Rover, was a fast-paced, quick-edited tale of abduction and kidnap, and the first British sound film, Alfred Hitchcock's Blackmail (1930), centered on murder and criminal guilt. For a genre seemingly so important to the British cinematic character, there is little direct theoretical or historical work focused on it. The Britain of British cinema is often written about in terms of national history, ethnic diversity, or cultural tradition, yet very rarely in terms of its criminal tendencies and dark underbelly. This volume assumes that, to know how British cinema truly works, it is necessary to pull back the veneer of the costume piece, the historical drama, and the rom-com and glimpse at what is underneath. For every Brief Encounter (1945) there is a Brighton Rock (2010), for every Notting Hill (1999) there is a Long Good Friday (1980).

About the Author:
Paul Elliott teaches film and film theory at the University of Worcester. He has published research on Hitchcock, embodied film theory, the French psychoanalyst Felix Guattari, and various elements of British cinema.

See the publisher website: Liverpool University Press