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HoMER Webinar - Robert James

‘Don’t Close Our Picture Theatres’: Cinema-going in Wartime Britain

Robert James, University of Portsmouth

On 26 February 1916 a contributor to the film fan magazine Pictures and the Picturegoer appealed to the government to do more to protect the cinema industry after it was suggested that foreign films, which of course included those from the lucrative Hollywood market, be prohibited. Clearly aghast at this proposal, and using the magazine as a mouthpiece for their views, the contributor – writing under the inflammatory headline ‘Don’t Close Our Picture Theatres’ to highlight the likely effect of the government’s proposals – highlighted the cinema’s important wartime role as a way to curry favour and seek protection. This was common practice during both world wars when, threatened with closure or some other form of hardship due to the impact of the war, film industry personnel promoted the positive contribution the leisure activity could have on society in order to ensure its survival.

This paper will outline the difficulties trade personnel faced when operating in wartime Britain, while also revealing the lengths to which they went to ensure that their businesses remained relevant. It will show how cinema operators championed the pastimes benefits as a propaganda source, entertainment medium, or economic commodity in order to protect it. In these periods of uncertainty, industry leaders repeatedly promoted the important role that cinema could play, making less than coded attempts to remind government officials and other critics of the pastime that they would need their full support if they were to fulfil the function they intended for them.

Mar 22, 2021 05:00 PM in London