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British Films 1971 - 1981
WHAT IS A BRITISH FILM?
CRITERIA WHICH CAN BE USED TO A S S E S S
WHETHER A FILM IS BRITISH
By examining the various factors which can be used
to define what is a British film, it is possible to indicate
the difficulties involved in arriving at a generally
acceptable definition.
SOURCE OF FINANCE
In the past somewhere between 70% and 90% of the
finance for films made in Britain has come from
American sources. Although there has been a recent
slight withdrawal of American money, it has been
replaced by alternative but nevertheless still foreign
investment. It is no longer always possible to attach
a nationality to the source of finance. The trend is
i n c re a s i n g ly towa rds international companies
whose bases shift according to the financial incentives
operating at any given time and which lack any
distinct nationality. Moreover, there are British based
companies such as EMI which over the past few
years have financed a series of major productions in
the USA e.g. ‘The Deer Hunter’ and ‘Honky Tonk
Freeway’, and it would stretch both credibility and
common sense if such films were described as
British.
WHERE THE PRODUCTION COMPANY IS
REGISTERED
The registration of a company as British does not
guarantee that the films it produces will have any
British bias. The legal requirements for setting up a
c o m p a ny are easy to comply with and most
American majors have established satellites here.
While these deal with the day-to-day running of the
company, general policy is decided and overall control
exercised from outside Britain. Decisions tend
to be made on the basis of how far they contribute to
the interests of the parent company and how they fit
into its general policy; the effects of these decisions
on the development of a British cinema is a secondary
consideration.
WHERE THE FILM IS MADE
Some films have been made in Britain solely
because it was cheaper either through low direct
costs, high subsidies or tax incentives to make them
here; the cast and many of the key technical personnel
have all been foreign and the films lack either
British backgrounds or themes. ‘Reds’, ‘Dutchman’
and ‘The Ritz’ are all examples of this.
NATIONALITY OF THE CAST AND CREW
It is very rare for a film to have a 100% British cast
and crew. The problem arises of deciding at what
percentage point of British staffing a film ceases to
count as British.
BFI Information Services
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CONTENT
Unlike the other factors examined which can be
assessed against objectively quantifiable criteria, no
hard and fast rules can be established for judging
the presence of British content. It is, in fact,
extremely difficult to pin down what exactly invests
a film with a sense of Britishness and definitions,
when people are prepared to commit themselves,
remain vague and open to interpretation.
Rosamund John in the mid-fifties spoke of ‘films
which present the British’ (New Theatre, September
1948). Jean Paul Torok in an article in Positif (June
1971, translated in Monogram. No.3, 1972) referred to
‘films which have a definite sense of origin’. John
Russell Taylor in an article in Sight and Sound (vol.43
no.2 Spring 1974) referred to films ‘which reflect the
British scene and seem vitally connected with observation
of the British way of life’. British films have
been criticised for failinq to identify with or look at
British society as a whole, of dealing with and being
made from the standpoint of a small minority, that
of middle class England. A further criticism made is
that the potential of films which do present realistic
backgrounds and working class characters is often
dissipated by their makers using this as a substitute
rather than a starting point for any moral/psychological
conflict, social commitment or any meaningful
examination of society.
Official organisations with their dislike of subjectivity
and anything possibly controversial have tended
to avoid any reference to content in their definition
of what is a British film.
Given the problem of arriving at a totally satisfactory
definition of ‘British’ and the difficulties involved
in checking any new set of criteria, it was decided to
base the first part of the catalogue on the
Department of Trade’s registration system. However,
there is also a list of films made wholly or in part by
British registered companies which did not qualify
for British registration.
There are three main advantages to be gained from
using the Department’s register:
Its comprehensiveness - there exists a statutory
obligation to register all films theatrically shown.
The flexible nature of the definition (see below).
Its thoroughness - the Film Branch vigorously scrutinises
any film submitted for British registration.