J. Arthur Rank and the British Film Industry

Presiding over the "golden era" of the British film industry from the mid to late 1940s, J. Arthur Rank financed such classic movies as Oliver Twist, The Red Shoes, Brief Encounter, Caesar and Cleopatra, and Black Narcissus Having started out with relatively litle knowledge of the cinema, Rank's sponsorship brought about astounding progress within the industry. He invested millions in a radical new technique, "Independent Frame," commissioned newsreels and children's film, set up a "B" Feature training studio, and opened an animation department to rival Disney. By establishing an organization comparable in size to any of the major Hollywood studios, Rank briefly managed to reconcile and consolidate competing demands of "art" and "business." J. Arthur Rank and the British Film Industry charts every aspect of the robust film culture that Rank helped to create. It goes on to explain the eventual collapse of the Rank experiment amidst the economic andpolitical maelstrom of post-war Britain, highlighting the problems still facing the industry today. Combining archival research with interviews with Rank's contemporaries and members of his family, this definitive study firmly restores Rank to his rightful place at the center of British film history.