The Film Business : A History of British Cinema 1896-1972

First published in 1973 The Film Business makes a factual survey of British films from their beginnings in 1896 to 1972. Ernest Betts  offers character studies of men who have built the film industry and made it what it is. He examines the financial and political background and shows how, while intending to encourage film production, it has often had exactly the opposite effect and inhibited its free development. Betts also attacks the manner in which the American film industry has taken over the British film industry and points to the failure of successive governments to save it from repeated crises and losses. Through these fluctuations the author keeps a firm eye on the film itself and brings the judgement of film critics past and present to bear on British cinema, as it moves uncertainly and not without its triumphs into the 1970s.

This is an interesting read for students and scholars of film studies, British film history and British cinema.