The 1970s – the decade that film researchers forgot

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Sian Barber’s new book reveals British films of the 1970s as ‘imaginative, diverse and successful’ says Ian Jones

The British Film Industry in the 1970s: Capital, Culture and Creativity by Sian Barber

The 1970s may not be remembered as the most successful decade for British film studios.  It was the era of Carry-On films that were neither as fresh nor as funny as their 1960s predecessors; low-budget horror films from the Hammer film studio, which was in financial peril; and James Bond films that had strayed into action-comedy rather than staying true to Ian Fleming’s books.  The result was a decade often considered to be a low point in British cinema.  Nonetheless, British film studios offered a great deal more to audiences and Sian Barber’s book The British Film Industry in the 1970s demonstrates that while the industry was experiencing significant problems, it was still producing a variety of films that were imaginative, diverse and successful. 

It may be true that the 1970s were the decade that taste forgot and, until recently, also the decade that film researchers forgot.  Sian Barber’s study of the British film industry during the 1970s is the first major publication by a single author on the UK film industry in this period.  The book avoids jargon, has comprehensive footnotes and a detailed bibliography of primary and secondary sources.  It complements other recent publications such as British Culture and Society in the 1970s: The Forgotten Decade (Cambridge Scholars Publishing) edited by Laurel Foster and Sue Harper, and is the third major publication to be written as a result of the University of Portsmouth project, ‘1970s British Cinema, Film and Video; Mainstream Counter-culture’. 

The challenging national economic conditions at the time, combined with the success of Hollywood film studios and the increased domestic ownership of television sets, resulted in a lack of inward investment in UK film studios and had a negative impact on the films that they produced.  Barber moves beyond previous histories of a stereotypical British industry in crisis and beset by industrial action to chart the hidden political and economic restrictions that affected the British film industry in the 1970s. 

During this decade the influential and critical film journal Screen chronicled a wide range of film theories, most famously feminist film theory championed by Laura Mulvey in her essay ‘Visual pleasure and narrative cinema’, published in 1975.  Sian Barber attempts a reappraisal of film and culture away from these extravagant theories.  She explains that films of the 1970s would not necessarily reflect the social changes of the decade.  There would be a time lag explained by the time that it takes to write a screenplay, pitch the idea to a film studio, secure funding and schedule into studio production timetables and cinema release schedules.  She notes the exception of Carry On at Your Convenience (1971) as a rare example of a film mirroring society in its dealing with strikes and trade unionism. It was not a box office success.  The idea that films mirror the period of the time in which they were made is too simplistic.  They are not uncritical reflections of contemporary culture but are crafted and created by filmmakers in an attempt to appeal to the audiences of the time.

The book is divided into two parts.  Part one examines cinema industries and introduces Barber’s central theory of changes to the way that films were produced and their relationship to cultural history during the 1970s.  The people involved, the pressure groups, production companies and financial backers are examined to present a detailed picture of the complex relationship between moviemaking, business, government, art and culture. 

A series of case studies make up the second part of the book. The films have been chosen because they illustrate and complement the theories previously identified.  The author takes a dual approach to studying the culture and society surrounding the British Film industry in the 1970s, incorporating archive material and textual readings.  Archival sources on film production are integrated with  analyses (such as the psychedelic colours used in the costumes of the 1975 film Tommy).  Long-forgotten government bodies such as the NFFC and UK tax systems such as the Eady Levy, a UK tax on box office receipts intended to subsidize the British film industry, are presented. 

Barber discusses well-known personalities within the film industry, including Ken Russell and Derek Jarman, as well as the less well known Sir Wilfred Eady, the senior civil servant who introduced and implemented the eponymous levy.  Alternative film funding came from some unconventional business sources.  Financial backing for the film That’ll be the Day (1973) came from the record company Ronco Music and successful music groups Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin also invested in the production of feature films. 

There are many parallels between economically challenged Britain in the present day and the 1970s.  Britain’s place in Europe continues to be argued; a question that had been previously debated before the country joined the EEC in 1973.  History has a tendency to repeat itself and British film funding via the National Film Finance Corporation was withdrawn at the end of the 1970s to be replaced by the UK Film Council.  The UK Film Council was itself eventually abolished by the government in 2010 and its duties transferred to the British Film Institute. 

In conclusion, the years between the 1960s and 1980s have been chronicled as a crucial turning point in the history of British cinema.  The 1970s were not a cultural wasteland but a period that saw significant changes in the way that films were produced.  It was a period that saw the end of some British film studios and the beginning of innovative filmmaking.  It was also a period that saw the rise of independent studios and film financiers leading to the beginning of an independent British film industry.  Unfortunately before this could fully develop and mature the subsequent decade saw the unbeatable combination of a rise in the popularity of television, the introduction of the cinema multiplex and US blockbuster films.

The British Film Industry in the 1970s: Capital, Culture and Creativity by Sian Barber is published by Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. 221pp.Not illustrated. ISBN 978-0-230-36095-2