British Children's Cinema: From The Thief of Bagdad to Wallace and Gromit by Noel Brown (review)

In the 1968 film version of Oliver!, the musical adaptation of Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist, blond, angelic child actor Mark Lester walks forlornly through the orphanage dining hall, timidly holds out his empty gruel bowl, and says softly to Mr. Bumble, "Please, sir. I want some more." This memorable Dickensian image of childhood innocence graces the cover of Noel Brown's British Children's Cinema. Although Hollywood eclipses London in its production of movies for and about children, Brown reminds readers that Oliver! is but one of Britain's many important contributions. A professor of film at Liverpool Hope University, he presents his most recent book as the third in a trilogy, following The Hollywood Family Film: A History, from Shirley Temple to Harry Potter and (with Bruce Babington) Family Films in Global Cinema: The World Beyond Disney. Brown argues that "children's films and family films deal with serious meanings and constitute an important and unique form of cultural expression" (3). Taking a combined chronological and thematic approach, he looks at Britain's output of live-action and animated family and youth films for the twelve-and-under audience, beginning in the silent era and continuing into the twenty-first century, highlighting key entertainers, trends, and studios. Brown categorizes his book as a cultural history that "explores the complex, ever-changing relationship between children's cinema and British culture and society" (2). He regards children's films as a genre, "a body of films with their own internal structures and externally-imposed significations" (5). Focusing on genre rather than audience, he does close textual readings and explores common themes. Brown demonstrates deep respect for his subject matter. Acknowledging that both British films and children's films have been marginalized, he gives them their due by showing how they function as important reflectors of industry and culture.

The book begins with a discussion of British film in the silent era, when children went to see movies but movies were not made expressly for them. Brown notes that no references to "children's film" appear in periodicals of the time, although many films, especially those based on literary classics such as Oliver Twist (1912) and David Copperfield (1913), were suitable for young viewers. Film exhibitors attracted children with cheap tickets and matinee showings, building a loyal audience. Almost immediately, though, authorities raised concerns about children skipping school to go to the movies and watching content not appropriate for them. The British Board of Film Censors was established in 1912 and developed a classification system that barred youth from content deemed too adult. The arrival of the talkies, with their added threat of unsuitable language, caused further alarm.

Prior to 1935, Brown contends, Britain had no children's cinema, as youths watched family films and Hollywood fare, but that changed with the release of Emil and the Detectives (1935), the first British film made especially for the child audience and with a cast mostly of children. Directed by Milton Rosner, it was simply a B-movie remake of a German film and quickly fell into obscurity, but it did mark the beginning of a popular subgenre of British children's adventure films that lasted until 1960 and included titles such as Elephant Boy (1937), The Thief of Bagdad (1940), Hue and Cry (1947), and Innocent Sinners (1958). Sabu, the Indian boy who played the role of "child as outsider" in Elephant Boy, became Britain's first child star. Brown points out that thematically, films in this cycle emphasize "children's agency and autonomy . . . with adults typically relegated to the background; however, moral subtexts and overtones are always present" (13).

Except for some family fare and comedies featuring star performers such as George Formby, Will Hay, or Arthur Lacan, British children's movies in the 1930s and '40s were rare. Children enjoyed British slapstick with a populist bent and self-parody but were also attracted to Hollywood fare...