Object of the week: Sight and Sound’s Festival of Britain special from 75 years ago

“A year of film for three shillings and six pence…”

In the summer of 1951, the Festival of Britain defied the drab austerity of post-war Britain with a vibrant display of British culture and ingenuity. Inaugurated by King George VI on 3 May 1951, the national festival was designed as a celebration of British artistic, scientific and industrial achievements, which hoped (as Gerald Barry, the festival’s director-general put it) to inspire “a future no less creative than our past”. 

Film (and the British Film Institute) played a central role in the celebrations. The Telekinema – a pop-up forerunner to BFI Southbank – was installed on the South Bank; films such as The Magic Box (1951), Humphrey Jennings’ Family Portrait (1950) and a series of experimental 3D shorts were produced to mark the occasion; and pamphlets were produced to encourage community-led film screenings. 

Alongside this activity, Sight and Sound produced a standalone edition of the magazine: ‘Films in 1951’. Across 74 pages, the magazine surveys the state of British filmmaking and champions the artistry – and variety – of native cinema midway through the 20th century. 

Via a series of short case studies, part one praises a handful of filmmakers responsible for recent successes in British cinema. Including Basil Wright on director Carol Reed, Karel Reisz on editor Jack Harris (“the undisputed master craftsman”), and Ernest Lindgren on composer William Alwyn (“the representative film composer of our day”), the articles shine a spotlight on the interdisciplinary nature of filmmaking and perspectives on some of the exceptional talents working in the British film industry of the 1950s. 

Part two features articles that explore the thinking behind film’s role at the festival, the special programmes devised for the Telekinema, and an overview of the films produced for the event. 

Part three offers a richly illustrated summary of “coming attractions” from the UK’s various production companies, including London Films’ The Tales of Hoffmann (1951), directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, which also adorns – in full colour – the magazine’s back cover (billed as “the film event of festival year”). 

Finally, part four examines ‘films and society’ – a broad remit that encompasses articles on documentary filmmaking, children’s entertainment films, the nascent Edinburgh Film Festival and recent developments at the British Board of Film Censors. 

In an article by Michael Balcon, the great producer pines for the day when native critics would be “once more disposed to admire our native product”. While the critical eye would return in the standard quarterly editions of Sight and Sound, this special edition – perhaps driven by ‘festival fever’ – paints an optimistic picture and provides a fascinating snapshot of a national industry confident of its place on the world stage.  

Sight and Sound: Films in 1951 is available to read in the BFI Reuben Library and is also available as an online flipbook.

This article was produced with the support of the BFI Screen Heritage Fund, awarding National Lottery funding.