Appendix 2.2: PG, KW, MPH; Annual assessments of UK box office
survived. Certainly 'horror' is a generic description as
familiar to the student of film in the 1990s as 'western'. These
new generic descriptions followed the demise of categories based
on technological definitions, supporting Billings' warnings to
his readership to pay attention to the narrative content of the
film despite the 'enhancing' effect of wide screen and other
innovations.
The nationality of origin of films was an important and
consistently used mode of description which revealed a simple
perception of the world of film production as divided into the
UK, the USA and the Continent (i.e., I suspect, non-English
speaking, 'foreign').
Clearly the single most important means of perception of a film's
success was through the individual actors, the stars, who
appeared in it. This is a self perpetuating process with a
history as long as the industry itself - indeed the film industry
could be seen as the most effective means to date of the
marketing of individuals which is the star system. The
valorisation of the individual which is characteristic of
Romanticism from the 18th century onwards gathered momentum
against a background of increasing industrialisation, increasing
maximisation of profits through larger and larger scale
enterprises. Looked at like this the industrialised star system
is a perfect mesh of profit and fantasy: the conditions and
consequences are well documented in Dyer (1982, 1987).
MOTION PICTURE ALMlkNAC ANNUAL AWARD CATEGORIES 1945-1956
A: Top ten money making stars in British productions (poll of
British exhibitors).
B: Top ten western stars.
C: Top ten international stars (players from Hollywood whose
pictures brought the most money to the British box office).
D: Leading producers of Great Britain (evaluation of the London
office of Quigley publications).
E: Leading directors of Great Britain.
F: Leading showmen of Great Britain.
G: Top grossing pictures at the British box office (MPH annual
survey of the British box office).
H: National Film Award: Best Film (nationwide poll of
theatregoers).
I: National Film Award: Best Actress (nationwide poll of
theatregoers).
J: National Film Award: Best Actor (nationwide poll of
theatregoers).
K: Best shorts in Britain.
L: Top cinemascope films.
|
YR |
A__ |
B___ |
C___ |
D___ |
E___ |
F___ |
G__ |
H__ |
I___ |
J__ |
K__ |
L |
|
45 |
* |
* |
* |
100