War pictures : cinema, violence, and style in Britain, 1939-1945 / Kent Puckett.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Puckett, Kent, author.

Contributor:

Sabin W. Colton, Jr., Memorial Fund.

Series:

World War II--the global, human, and ethical dimension

World War II: the global, human, and ethical dimension

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

World War, 1939-1945--Motion pictures and the war.

War and motion pictures.

War films--Great Britain--History and criticism.

Motion pictures--Great Britain--History--20th century.

Motion pictures.

War films.

Great Britain.

History.

Genre:

Criticism, interpretation, etc.

History.

Physical Description:

xiii, 264 pages ; 23 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Fordham University Press, 2017.

Summary:

In this original and engaging work, author Kent Puckett looks at how British filmmakers imagined, saw, and sought to represent its war during wartime through film. The Second World War posed unique representational challenges to Britain's filmmakers. Because of its logistical enormity, the unprecedented scope of its destruction, its conceptual status as total, and the way it affected everyday life through aerial bombing, blackouts, rationing, and the demands of total mobilization, World War II created new, critical opportunities for cinematic representation. Beginning with a close and critical analysis of Britain's cultural scene, Puckett examines where the historiography of war, the philosophy of violence, and aesthetics come together.Focusing on three films made in Britain during the second half of the Second World War-Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), Lawrence Olivier's Henry V (1944), and David Lean's Brief Encounter (1945)-Puckett treats these movies as objects of considerable historical interest but also as works that exploit the full resources of cinematic technique to engage with the idea, experience, and political complexity of war. By examining how cinema functioned as propaganda, criticism, and a form of self-analysis, "War Pictures" reveals how British filmmakers, writers, critics, and politicians understood the nature and consequence of total war as it related to ideas about freedom and security, national character, and the daunting persistence of human violence.

Contents:

Introduction

"But what is it about?": the life and death of Colonel Blimp

Pistol's two bodies: Henry V at war

Celia Johnson's face: before and after brief encounter

Epilogue: Derek Jarman's war.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Sabin W. Colton, Jr., Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

9780823275748

0823275744

9780823276509

0823276503

OCLC:

961408899