Made in Four Weeks

At first sight this book would seem to be of limited interest, either to British film scholars or those like myself who spent their formative years scouring late-night television schedules in search of relief from writing their doctoral theses. Chibnall himself admits that little has been published on the topic (4).

As the narrative unfolds, however, it becomes evident that the growth of the 'quota quickie' in the 1930s was chiefly due to the Hollywood studios, who established premises in Great Britain and injected increasing amounts of case into the indigenous production sector. While British critics liked to characterize the studios as cultural imperialists, they nonetheless helped to forge a spirit of cultural cooperation. Chibnall observes that "the quickies sponsored by Hollywood companies […] gave characteristically British treatments to indigenously produced material" originating from all four corners of the United Kingdom (251).

The term 'quota quickie' was used to describe motion pictures made in four weeks, with the primary aim of fulfilling the obligations laid down by the Cinematographic Films Act of 1927, which required that a certain percentage of titles distributed and exhibited in Britain had to be British in origin. The quota varied between 5-20% for exhibitors, and 7.5-20% for distributors. In the early 1930s many Hollywood studios were chiefly interested in meeting these quotas; but by mid-decade both Warner and Fox had increased their budgets, closely followed by MGM. Chibnall comments: "once British productions became more significant percentage of the American companies' business, and a larger factor in their profitability," it was time to improve the films' overall quality (86).

The subjects for quota quickies were predictable—love stories, thrillers, farces, musicals and the occasional costume drama. Nonetheless they analyzed many of the social and political issues dominating Britain at that time. Sometimes the films commented directly on the ways in which American studios influenced British screenplays. Universal's Annie, Leave the Room! (1935), based on a successful London play, imagined the American-dominated film world "as a saviour from financial failure and social repression, liberating the potential within the 'Old Country'" (129).

However such potential was often curbed by a combination of rigid censorship and primitive distribution. Those involved in making quota quickies were always required to bear the demands of the so-called "family audience" in mind—especially in the provinces (149). Even if they fulfilled this objective, they were still making films chiefly for the domestic market. The only British 'B' movies to achieve regular distribution in America were the melodramas starring the barnstorming actor Tod Slaughter. Other films were liable to be ruthlessly pruned and consigned to the lower half of a double bill. Cary Grant's British film The Amazing Quest of Ernest Bliss (1936) was reduced from eighty to fifty-six minutes and retitled Romance and Riches.

Thoroughly researched, entertainingly written and profusely illustrated with black-and-white stills, many of which come from the author's own collection, Quota Quickies demonstrates how American-financed films both reinforced and developed images of British popular culture during the 1930s. By doing so they helped to tell the kind of stories the film-going public wanted to hear about themselves. Reviewers might have hated them; but quota quickies remained eternally popular with audiences, especially outside London. Although not many examples actually survive in film libraries—either in Great Britain or elsewhere—they deserve to be studied in greater depth.