Carefully chosen for your delectation and delight: eight rarely screened British supporting features, from the vaults of the BFI National Archive, to take you back to the halcyon days of the Great British 'B' movie.
Introduction by Vic Pratt
A night out at the pictures just isn't what it used to be. Take your seat at the local multiplex these days and, along with the feature film, the only extras you'll get are a few trailers, some adverts and a reminder to turn off your mobile phone. But it wasn't always so. Once upon a time audiences demanded more for their money.
As the 1930s dawned, and the awkward transition from silent to sound cinema took place, cost-conscious patrons considered carefully before they bought a ticket. Some smaller cinemas competed with wealthier rivals by showing an extra film with the main feature (the 'A' picture). The practice caught on: the 'B' picture, or supporting feature, was born.
Protective legislation had already been imposed to stem the flood of American product into British cinemas: the 1927 Cinematograph Films Act required exhibitors to show a certain percentage of home-grown film. Intended to encourage the production of quality cinema, the actual result was a wave of short, cheap, quickly shot supporting features - 'Quota Quickies' - derided by contemporary critics as a disgrace to British cinema. New legislation was introduced in 1938, but an obligation remained to programme British films as well as Hollywood product - as well as meeting a public desire for supporting features. 'B' pictures were a staple part of 'the full supporting programme' until television finally edged out a night at the pictures as the cheap entertainment of choice in the 1960s.
Inevitably overshadowed by big-budget screen extravaganzas and taken for granted at the time, British 'B' pictures still had much to offer. Looked at now, the films provide a window to a vanished, grubby, monochromatic post-war world. They remind us of the concerns and aspirations of everyday people in an austere pre-permissive Britain, concerns arguably absent from the glamorous, glossy, full-colour world of more 'worthy' 'A' pictures. And of course they supply some terrific unpretentious entertainment.
To celebrate publication of the book The British 'B' Film by Steve Chibnall and Brian McFarlane (BFI/Palgrave, pb, £16.99), please join us as, for one month only, as we revive the days of the double feature for some very British cheap thrills.
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