Waving the Flag: Constructing a National Cinema in Britain

What does it mean to talk about a 'national' cinema? To what extent can British cinema, dominated for so many years by Hollywood, be considered a national cinema? Waving the Flag investigates these questions from a historical point of view, and challenges the received wisdoms of British cinema history in many ways. Drawing some revealing conclusions about the extent to which the many rich traditions of British film-making share the same distinctive stylistic and ideological characteristics, what emerges is a sometimes surprising picture of a specifically national cinema. Andrew Higson investigates theories of national cinema, and surveys the development of the British film industry and film culture. Three case studies combine histories of production and reception with textual analysis of key films from the 1920s, '30s, and '40s. Focusing on Cecil Hepworth's Comin' Thro' The Rye, the first of these looks at the evolution of an art cinema in the early 1920s. Two films of 1934, Sing As We Go and Evergreen, are then contrasted as the products of two quite distinct industrial strategies for coping with the overwhelming presence of Hollywood. Finally, Andrew Higson re-examines the status of the documentary idea in British national cinema and its influence on two Second World War films, Millions Like Us and This Happy Breed. Combining detailed analyses of film texts with studies of industrial and cultural contexts, including critical reception, Waving the Flag is an impressive and wide-ranging survey of the concept of national cinema.

Table of Contents:
1: Introduction 2: British Film Culture and the Idea of National Cinema 3: The Heritage Film, British Cinema, and the National Past: Comin' Thro' The Rye 4: Economic Competition and Product Differentiation - Popular Cinema and the Film Industry in the Mid-1930s: Sing As We Go and Evergreen 5: The Documentary Idea and the Melodrama of Everyday Life - the Public, the Private, and the National Family: Millions Like Us and This Happy Breed 6: Constructing a National Cinema in Britain - Some Conclusions Notes Appendices (Credits and Plot Synopses) -- I: Comin' Thro' The Rye; II: Sing As We Go; III: Evergreen; IV: Millions Like Us; V: This Happy Breed Filmography; Bibliography; Index

About the Author :
Andrew Higson is Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at the University of East Anglia

Review :
the book offers a comprehensive survey of national cinema in the UK./CAB Abstracts/28/9/98 `Waving the Flag represents a valuable addition to British film writing which pulls together and adds to his earlier discussions ... The case-studies are relatively self-contained and could, I imagine, be profitably read in isolation. Indeed, the details accumulated and the issues raised in each case aree so extensive that they characteristically exceed the strict requirements of the developing argument ... an impressive piece of scholarly research which adds considerably to our understanding of British film history.' John Hill, Screen, Vol. 37, No. 1, Spring '96 'At long last, the identity of British cinema is a subject of sustained and serious scholarly investigation.'Marcia Landy, Twentieth Century British History, February 1999 `Higson presents a fascinating and challenging examination of the connections between cinema and culture. I fully believe this book will be valuable for all those concerned with how the cultural analysis of films relates to the films' economic context. Higson writes in a clear and accessible manner ... his knowledge of production history,grasp of film aesthetics, and insightful interpretations make the connections between economics and art simply fascinating.' Lester D. Friedman, Film Quarterly, Vol. 49, No. 4, Summer '96