What do you think?
Rate this book
J. Arthur Rank and the British Film Industry
Presiding over the "golden era" of the British Film Industry from the mid to late 1940s, J. Arthur Rank financed movies such as Oliver Twist , The Red Shoes , Brief Encounter , Caesar and Cleopatra and Black Narcissus . Never before, and never since, has the industry risen to such heights.
J. Arthur Rank charts every aspect of the robust film culture that Rank helped to create. Having started out with relatively little knowledge of the cinema, Rank's sponsorship was to bring about astounding progress within the industry, and by establishing an organization comparable in size to any of the major Hollywood studios, Rank briefly managed to reconcile and consolidate the competing demands of "art" and "business" - an achievement very much absent from today's diminished and fragmented film industry.
Macnab goes on to explain the eventual collapse of the Rank experiment amidst the economic and political maelstrom of post-war Britain, highlighting the problems still facing the industry today. By meshing archival research with interviews with Rank's contemporaries and members of his family, this definitive study firmly restores Rank to his rightful place at the hub of British film history.
J. Arthur Rank charts every aspect of the robust film culture that Rank helped to create. Having started out with relatively little knowledge of the cinema, Rank's sponsorship was to bring about astounding progress within the industry, and by establishing an organization comparable in size to any of the major Hollywood studios, Rank briefly managed to reconcile and consolidate the competing demands of "art" and "business" - an achievement very much absent from today's diminished and fragmented film industry.
Macnab goes on to explain the eventual collapse of the Rank experiment amidst the economic and political maelstrom of post-war Britain, highlighting the problems still facing the industry today. By meshing archival research with interviews with Rank's contemporaries and members of his family, this definitive study firmly restores Rank to his rightful place at the hub of British film history.
324 pages, Paperback
First published May 21, 1993
8 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
April 3, 2026
Research.
A fascinating study of J. Arthur Rank’s various attempts to reinvigorate the flagging British film industry from the late 1930’s and into the early 1950’s. The book is primarily focused on Rank’s various business dealings (his successes and failures) but you also get a strong sense of his character and the personalities of those who worked alongside him.
MacNab makes the case that, through Rank’s efforts, we had the potential to develop a truly vertically integrated production outfit that could compete with the Hollywood studios but it was a dream destroyed by petty infighting between exhibitors, renters, the unions and a government reeling from post-war austerity.
After putting all of his energy into the British Film Industry for almost two decades you can’t help feeling sorry for him and it’s no wonder that he pulled back in 1952 and left the running of the Organisation to others (namely the universally reviled John Davis).
In many ways it’s a very sad story.
A fascinating study of J. Arthur Rank’s various attempts to reinvigorate the flagging British film industry from the late 1930’s and into the early 1950’s. The book is primarily focused on Rank’s various business dealings (his successes and failures) but you also get a strong sense of his character and the personalities of those who worked alongside him.
MacNab makes the case that, through Rank’s efforts, we had the potential to develop a truly vertically integrated production outfit that could compete with the Hollywood studios but it was a dream destroyed by petty infighting between exhibitors, renters, the unions and a government reeling from post-war austerity.
After putting all of his energy into the British Film Industry for almost two decades you can’t help feeling sorry for him and it’s no wonder that he pulled back in 1952 and left the running of the Organisation to others (namely the universally reviled John Davis).
In many ways it’s a very sad story.
Displaying 1 of 1 review