The Great War in popular British cinema of the 1920s
Subtitle: before journey's end
By: Lawrence Napper, Kings College London, UK
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Published: 2015
Place of publication: Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 234
ISBN-13: 9780230371705
Subjects: Motion pictures; Motion pictures and the war; World War, 1939-1945; HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain; PERFORMING ARTS / Film & Video / History & Criticism; History
Description: "This book discusses British cinema's representation of the Great War during the 1920s in both battle reconstruction films and in popular romances. It argues that popular cinematic representations of the war offered surviving audiences a language through which to interpret their recent experience, and traces the ways in which those interpretations changed during the decade. A focus on the distinctive language evolved for battle reconstruction films forms a central chapter - such films use a distinctive kind of 'staged reality' to address their veteran audiences, and were often viewed within a specific Remembrance context. Other chapters cover the representation of the returning soldier as a 'war touched man' in a range of fictional narratives, and the centrality of rituals of remembrance to many post-war narratives. 1920s British cinematic representations of the war are distinctively of their period, and are appraised as part of a wider culture of war representation in the decade.  "--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 222-226) and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note:; title: List of FiguresAcknowledgementsIntroduction: Peace Days in Pictureland1. 'In the Midst of Peace we are at War': The Film Trade in 19192. Battle Reconstructions and British Instructional Films3. Remembrance and the Ambivalent Gaze4. 'When the Boys Come Home'BibliographyIndex.