Chapters in this book

1. Front matter i
2. Contents v
3. Acknowledgements vii
4. A 1950s timeline viii
5. Celebrating British cinema of the 1950s 1
6. Raymond Durgnat and A Mirror for England 13
7. Lindsay Anderson 23
8. Mirroring England
9. National snapshots 35
10. Film and the Festival of Britain 51
11. The national health 64
12. The long shadow 74
13. ‘If they want culture, they pay’ 87
14. Boys, ballet and begonias 98
15. Intimate stranger 111
16. Women of Twilight 127
17. Yield to the Night 130
18. From script to screen 133
19. Housewife’s choice 143
20. Adaptibility
21. Too theatrical by half? 157
22. A Tale of Two Cities and the Cold War 168
23. Value for money 176
24. Adaptable Terence Rattigan 190
25. Personal views
26. Archiving the 1950s 205
27. Being a film reviewer in the 1950s 213
28. Michael Redgrave and The Mountebank’s Tale 221
29. Index 231