3. How did the outbreak of World War II affect the content of British film in the early 1940s?
After the Hollywood influenced period in the 1930s (Newi.ac.uk) with films lacking political and social critique and a dominant working-class theme (Jill Nelmes: 314), British cinema changed with the beginning of World War II as the isolated Britain feared invasion (Robert Murphy) and political awareness became a major issue. Following a short closing of cinemas, suspecting raids at the outbreak of the war (British Film Resource: World War II), a new inward-look appeared, using the crisis to abandon old divisions and grudges (Jill Nelmes: 314-315).
Few victories first resulted in rare ideas, but early the need for escapism - with cinema as the biggest entertainment sector (James Chapman: 196) - nurtured absurd comedies and comedy-thrillers of the “phoney-war” period (Robert Murphy). In 1939-40, optimistic films such as Gasbags (Walter Forde and Marcel Varnel, 1940) used humour to make times endurable, offering a way to switch-off (Robert Murphy).
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