B&C Kinematograph Company and British Cinema

Gerry Turvey has been involved in film education since the 1960s, including a Principal Lectureship in Film Studies at Kingston University, and a long association with the Phoenix Cinema Trust in North London. He continues to research early film.

• List of FiguresList of TablesINTRODUCTIONRediscovering British and ColonialPART I: BRITISH AND COLONIAL—A COMPANY HISTORY, 1908–1918The Bloomfield Years: Period One at B&C, 1908–1912McDowell in Charge: Period Two at B&C, 1913–1918PART II: PLANT, STUDIOS AND THE PRODUCTION PROCESSMaking Films at East Finchley and on Location, 1911–1914The Endell Street Plant and the Walthamstow Studio, 1913–1917PART III: PERSONALITIES AND THEIR BIOGRAPHIESOn Screen: Performers and Picture-PersonalitiesBehind the Screen: Policy-Makers, Directors and WritersPART IV: THE B&C FILMComics, Dramas and Series Films: The B&C Film in Period OneSpectacle, Sensation and Narrative: The B&C Film in Period TwoPART V: DISTRIBUTION, PROMOTION AND PUBLICITYFrom the Open Market to the Exclusives SystemPromoting B&C and its FilmsCONCLUSIONGodal, Aspiration and Bankruptcy: Period Three at B&C, 1918–1924NotesBibliography Index

Turvey’s latest book is an expertly piloted powerhouse-on-wheels that fairly rattles through story after story from cinema’s formative years. Along the way it rampages through such territories as class-specific cultural tradition, film industry business practice, media evolution, film technology, creative roles, genre, publicity and film form. It applies and tests scholarly models, overturns received wisdom, positively fountains evidence (both previously unknown and previously under-used) and identifies patterns galore; its passage leaves the ground of early cinema history yet more fertile.