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Michael Powell's and Emeric Pressburger' s films sit untidily within the dominant paradigm of 1940s British Cinema. This thesis examines how far their work partakes in a discourse of nation (and how far it can be referred to as 'British'). It also identifies 'sites of resistance'. In the context of the 1930s and 1940s, Section 1 briefly considers the terms 'nation' and 'national cinema' as hegemonic discursive strategies Section 2 sees Pressburger's immigrant status as introduces the running motif of 'alien territory'. Images of 'Home' are considered in terms of his exile; Powell's aestheticism is discussed, while 'magic spaces' in the films are taken as self-reflexive metaphors for cinema itself. Section 3 focuses on two wartime films, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp and A Canterbury Tale. These 'narratives of aspiration' are considered in the light of Fredric Jameson's notion of ideology as utopia. Blimp charts the rejection of an old order and the emergence of a hegemonic state. Alluding to Korda's Imperial epics, its construction of masculine authority is examined. With A Canterbury Tale, the pastoral imagining of England is examined, referring to Kipling, while links are made to the British Documentary Movement (especially Humphrey Jennings). In Section 4, the focus shifts to foreignness and hybridity. German elements in 1930s British cinema are charted (and their Romantic/Expressionist credentials). A relatively international cinema is seen to be submerged as a realist cinematic aesthetic establishes itself. The Spy ill Black's gothic antecedents are looked at via the spy genre's engagement with the 'Other'; and Anton Walbrook is studied as an embodiment of a Germanic aesthetic in British cinema. In Section 5, the post-war Technicolor melodramas are examined in the light of the cultural retrenchment post-1945. The representation of women, and the role of spectacle is examined.

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In this thesis, I examine the Beatles’ five feature films in order to argue how undermining generic convention and manipulating performance codes allowed the band to control their relationship with their audience and to gain autonomy over their output. Drawing from P. David Marshall’s work on defining performance codes from the music, film, and television industries, I examine film form and style to illustrate how the Beatles’ filmmakers used these codes in different combinations from previous pop and classical musicals in order to illicit certain responses from the audience. In doing so, the role of the audience from passive viewer to active participant changed the way musicians used film to communicate with their fans. I also consider how the Beatles’ image changed throughout their career as reflected in their films as a way of charting the band’s journey from pop stars to musicians, while also considering the social and cultural factors represented in the band’s image. Such elements in the Beatles’ carefully constructed image reflected youth culture and countercultural thoughts and beliefs. Finally, through a close analysis of the Beatles’ musical sequences I have shown how experimentation with artistic synergy enabled the band to produce new and innovative films and lyrics while allowing each member to develop as individual musicians. This experimentation and willingness to undermine traditional film and pop music practices helped to change artists’ approaches in the entertainment industries.

The aim of this thesis is to analyse the function of colour in film through three films by British director Nicolas Roeg. To this end, this thesis has the following three correspondent aims: first to consider the theoretical relationship between colour and film within film studies as a discipline. Second, to propose a means of discussing film colour outside the dominant approach of restoration and degradation. Third to explore how Roeg’s implements colour within three of his films Performance, Don’t Look Now, and finally Bad Timing, and the ideological and aesthetic questions that emerge through a consideration of colour in these works. By looking at colour and Nicolas Roeg this thesis will not only present a critical response to the research question but it will also fill a small gap in the current dearth of work that exists on both colour and British cinema in the 1970s.

Hammer Film Production’s brand of melodramatic Gothic Horror reinvented horror cinema in 1957. Despite bringing tremendous financial success throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Hammer’s Gothic had run its course by the early 1970s and cinematic production ceased altogether by 1975. After establishing multiple iterations of a markedly recognizable house style, it is generally agreed that Hammer failed to adapt to the demands of a changing marketplace. This thesis investigates the circumstances surrounding Hammer’s demise by conducting neoformal analysis of case study films and examining how they were affected by cultural, historical, and industrial factors. Looking to Hammer’s films themselves helps determine to what extent they were responsible for Hammer’s misfortune and why. This thesis demonstrates how Hammer’s own production setup and early genre success contributed to the studio’s eventual downfall and the outside factors that underscored this process. I argue that Hammer did experiment with house formula but the studio’s attempts to renegotiate the 1970s horror landscape were unsuccessful because of changing audience demographics, an industry in transition, and Hammer’s own perceived corporate identity. / text

Ken Loach has been playing an important role for the British cinema for more than five decades now. His work has gained international regocnition and recieved various prestigious awards. Some of his films were even quite successful at the box office, nevertheless many people have still not heard of him. That is regrettable, because Loach is without doubt one of the best in his field. This paper is meant to show what distinguishes his films from the work of other directors and explains why his films are of such great value. Loach's career can be broadly divided into three stages, which will be specified in the first chapter of the paper. Afterwards three examples were chosen to illustrate Loach's working methods and the results of these. The films Kes (1969), Riff-Raff (1991) and My Name Is Joe (1998) are dealt with in separate chapters in chronological order, in this way the development of Loach's career can be reproduced. First the contents and backgrounds of the particular films will be briefly explained, followed by the analysis of important aspects of Loach's work based on the examples. / Ken Loach ist seit mehr als fünf Jahrzehnten ein wichtiger Teil der britischen Filmszene. Längst hat seine Arbeit auch international Anerkennung gefunden und wurde mit vielen renommierten Auszeichnungen bedacht. Einige seiner Filme liefen sogar an den Kinokassen recht erfolgreich, trotzdem ist er für viele Menschen noch immer kein Begriff. Das ist sehr bedauerlich, denn Loach gehört zweifelsohne zu den ganz Großen in seinem Fach. Diese Arbeit soll aufzeigen, worin seine Filme sich von den Werken anderer Regisseure unterscheiden und warum sie so wertvoll sind. Loachs Werdegang lässt sich grob in drei Phasen unterteilen, welche im ersten Teil der Arbeit näher beschrieben werden. Anschließend wurden drei Beispiele ausgewählt, mit deren Hilfe Loachs Arbeitsweise und die dadurch erzielte Wirkung veranschaulicht werden. Den Filmen Kes (1969),Riff-Raff (1991) und My Name Is Joe (1998) ist in chronologischer Reihenfolge jeweils ein Kapitel gewidmet, um auf diese Weise auch eine Entwicklung in Loachs Laufbahn nachvollziehen zu können. Die Inhalte und die Hintergründe der einzelnen Filme werden zunächst kurz erläutert, um dann anschließend auf wichtige Aspekte von Loachs Schaffen anhand der Beispiele einzugehen.

Cette thèse porte sur l’émergence, puis l’évolution, d’une esthétique de l’altérité dansle cinéma de David Lean à partir du Pont de la Rivière Kwaï (1957) et jusqu’à sondernier film réalisé, La Route des Indes (1984). Elle adopte également la perspectived’une réévaluation qualitative du cinéma du cinéaste britannique, en mettant au jourles fondements idéologiques qui expliquent sa marginalisation dans le contextefrançais.Cette thèse interroge la façon dont le cinéma de David Lean contribue aux définitionsanthropologiques et culturelles de l’identité occidentale, dans sa relation avecl’altérité orientale. Le rôle des représentations de genre, de race et de classe estexaminé en lien avec les techniques cinématographiques dans la perspective de faireapparaître l’historicité et l’ethnicité des modalités de la figuration.L’analyse détaillée des quatre films que David Lean a consacrés à la représentationde l’histoire impériale britannique s’accompagne d’une étude précise du contexte deproduction de chacun des films. De plus, les filiations cinématographiques sontprises en compte afin de situer les films dans une histoire des représentations del’altérité. Le rôle central de la relation coloniale et postcoloniale dans l’élaborationd’une esthétique de l’altérité est envisagé tout au long de la période étudiée.Cette thèse aboutit à la conclusion d’une esthétique de l’altérité structurée par lanécessité pour la civilisation occidentale d’intégrer la notion de crise dans unprocessus de reconfiguration permanent. Cette nécessité émerge avec lesindépendances et la décolonisation. Elle s’impose à partir des années 1970 avecl’autonomie des sujets dominés qui composaient jusque-là l’Orient imaginaire / The topic of this thesis is the emergence and the subsequent evolution of anaesthetics of otherness in the cinema of David Lean, starting with The Bridge on theriver Kwai (1957) and up to A passage to India (1984), the very last film he made.This thesis seeks as well a qualitative reassessment of the British filmmaker's work,unearthing thereby the ideological factors behind his marginalization in the contextof French critical discourse.This thesis explores the ways in which David Lean's work contributes to theanthropological and cultural definition of Western identity in its relationship withOriental otherness. I examine the role played by gender, race and classrepresentations in relationship with cinema techniques in view of shedding light onthe historicity and ethnicity of modes of figuration.The detailed analysis of the four David Lean films taking as their topic therepresentation of British imperial history is complemented by a meticulous study ofeach film's context of production. Furthermore, I consider cinematic genealogies soas to situate the films within a history of the representation of otherness. I take intoaccount the central role played by colonial and postcolonial relationships in thedevelopment of an aesthetics of otherness throughout the historical period underconsideration.This thesis reaches the following conclusion regarding an aesthetics of otherness :namely, that it is structured by the necessity for Western civilization of incorporatingthe notion of crisis in a process of constant reconfiguration. Emerging with liberationmovements and decolonization, this necessity imposes itself from the 1970s onwardsfollowing the independence of dominated subjects who, up to then, had been makingup an imaginary East

Aiming to make an intervention in critical theory, film-philosophy and British Cinema scholarship, this thesis investigates what a marriage of Lacanian and Badiouian theories of the subject can bring to the study of the radical British feature film of 1968: films which in differing ways represent the political and intellectual debates current in the culture. The question of what can be learnt through an analysis situated within theories of the subject has not been addressed within British Cinema studies. Psychoanalytic film theory in its previous incarnations utilised a section of Lacan's thought in order to focus on the ways in which the spectator was placed into a subject position by the unseen workings of the apparatus. Furthermore, the limited amount of Badiouian film scholarship is concerned with whether films can be thought philosophically. A fuller use of Lacan with Badiou as a hermeneutic model to address films from a specific period and context creates a new interpretive model on the porous boundary between critical theory and film-philosophy. This thesis utilises Lacan's categories of the Imaginary, Symbolic and, predominantly, the Real alongside the Badiouian Event to interrogate the ways in which Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment (Karel Reisz, 1966), Privilege (Peter Watkins, 1967), Herostratus (Don Levy, 1967), Performance (Donald Cammell & Nicolas Roeg, 1970) and if ... (Lindsay Anderson, 1968) represent the radical subject of 1968, in order to argue for the efficacy of ideological critique, to think politically about cinema, and advocate the continuing resonance of the period in contemporary praxis.