3 Councils, committees and the perils of the cinema
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Sian Barber
Abstract
This chapter covers local licensing authority concerns from the start of the 1930s to the rumblings of war in 1938, which range from the safety of the cinema space, children, and who was most appropriate to act as a local censor. Anxieties about propaganda films, applying the Home Office model conditions, what to do about sound films, and managing inflammatory film stock are also considered. Careful exploration of material from across the UK – including Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – indicates that in this period the BBFC did not (as was widely assumed) consolidate its power, but rather there were a range of challenges to its authority, including government initiatives and reinvigorated local censorship committees. This chapter will show the wide variety of ad hoc systems of censorship which persisted and how more formal interventions, such as amended or additional model conditions issued by licensing authorities were also in operation, adding further complexity to the censorship landscape.
Abstract
This chapter covers local licensing authority concerns from the start of the 1930s to the rumblings of war in 1938, which range from the safety of the cinema space, children, and who was most appropriate to act as a local censor. Anxieties about propaganda films, applying the Home Office model conditions, what to do about sound films, and managing inflammatory film stock are also considered. Careful exploration of material from across the UK – including Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland – indicates that in this period the BBFC did not (as was widely assumed) consolidate its power, but rather there were a range of challenges to its authority, including government initiatives and reinvigorated local censorship committees. This chapter will show the wide variety of ad hoc systems of censorship which persisted and how more formal interventions, such as amended or additional model conditions issued by licensing authorities were also in operation, adding further complexity to the censorship landscape.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures vi
- List of acronyms vii
- Acknowledgements viii
- Introduction 1
- 1 A new form of leisure 15
- 2 New regions and new anxieties 43
- 3 Councils, committees and the perils of the cinema 64
- 4 Wartime concerns and local anxieties 103
- 5 The changing landscape of the post-war world 137
- 6 Local alliances in a permissive decade 164
- 7 New categories, new permissions 191
- 8 New boundaries and new regions 228
- Conclusions 250
- Films cited 255
- Bibliography 259
- Index 269
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of figures vi
- List of acronyms vii
- Acknowledgements viii
- Introduction 1
- 1 A new form of leisure 15
- 2 New regions and new anxieties 43
- 3 Councils, committees and the perils of the cinema 64
- 4 Wartime concerns and local anxieties 103
- 5 The changing landscape of the post-war world 137
- 6 Local alliances in a permissive decade 164
- 7 New categories, new permissions 191
- 8 New boundaries and new regions 228
- Conclusions 250
- Films cited 255
- Bibliography 259
- Index 269
