Adrian Brunel and British Cinema of the 1920s

Uncovers the life and work of a key figure in British cinema, Adrian Brunel

• Offers an account of British film history through the prism of a unique creative voice within it
• Examines history through the interaction between archival research and textual analysis
• Explores the issues that beset British cinema in the late silent period, many of which pertained over subsequent decades

British cinema has been in the shadow of Hollywood for over a hundred years, constantly attempting to define itself in an effort to challenge its dominance. During the 1920s, a small group of intellectuals argued that injecting a level of ‘art’ into the medium was the way to do this, a view strongly opposed by the industry’s commercial forces.

Using the experiences of Adrian Brunel, Josephine Botting demonstrates how this clash affected the careers of filmmakers attempting to prove their theory. Brunel was cultured yet financially insecure, caught between the creative Bohemianism of 1920s London and a conventional, conservative film industry.

Tracing the ups and downs of Brunel’s biography with detailed reference to his personal papers, Adrian Brunel and British Cinema of the 1920s exposes the various forces controlling the production, distribution and exhibition of films in Britain as Brunel tried to negotiate them and find a niche in the insecure and competitive arena of British film.