How Stage Playwrights Saved the British Cinema, 1930-1956 : The Well-Made Screenplay / David Cottis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cottis, David, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Dramatists.

Motion picture industry.

Motion pictures and theater.

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

Motion pictures.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (257 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Distribution:

London : Bloomsbury Publishing (US), 2024.

Place of Publication:

London : Bloomsbury Academic, 2024.

System Details:

text file HTML

Summary:

Examines the film careers and work of British playwrights who worked as screenwriters between 1930-1956. During the period between the 1927 Cinematograph Films Act and the 'new drama' of the 1950s, many British writers associated with the stage also wrote for films, bringing the techniques of the well-made play with them. Some, like Bernard Shaw, Noel Coward, and Terence Rattigan were screenwriter-stars, part of the publicity of the films they worked on - Pygmalion, Brief Encounter, The Way to the Stars. Others were less celebrated but had long, successful screen careers, such as R. C. Sherriff, author of Journey's End, who worked on films as different as The Invisible Man, The Four Feathers and The Dam Busters. Using the authors' original archives, this book follows the way in which these writers adapted their stage skills for the screen, contributing to the post-war 'Golden Age 'of the British cinema, and creating the classic form of screenplay that continues today.

Contents:

Cover

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1 The Well-Made Play

2 The British Cinema in the 1930s

3 George Bernard Shaw: The Screenwriter as Star

4 Noël Coward

5 Terence Rattigan

6 Rodney Ackland and Emlyn Williams

7 R. C. Sherriff and the Art of Adaptation

Conclusion

Notes

Filmography

Bibliography

Index.

ISBN:

9798765101087

9798765101063

9798765101070

OCLC:

1449678400