Big Show

"In writing the definitive account of film exhibition and reception in Britain in the years 1914 to 1918, Michael Hammond shows how the British film industry and British audiences responded to the traumatic effects of the Great War. The author contends that the War's most significant effect was to expedite the cultural acceptance of cinema into the fabric of British social life. As a result, by 1918, cinema's function had shifted from public service educator to therapeutic pastime, and film-going had emerged as the predominant leisure form in Britain. Through a consideration of the films, the audience, the industry and the various regulating and censoring bodies, the book explores the impact of the Great War on the newly established cinema culture. It also studies the contribution of the new medium to the public's perception of the War."--Cover page 4.