Table of Contents

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1. British Film Comedy/British Film Culture

2. Theorizing British Comedy

3. Good Old Days: Music-Hall Roots and Early Film Comedy

4. British Film Comedy in the 1930's

5. Working-Class Comedy

6. Middle-Class Comedy

7. Female Comedy

8. Situation Comedy

Conclusion

Notes

Filmography

Bibliography

Index

About the Author

David Sutton is a freelance writer, researcher and lecturer. He has taught courses on British cinema at the BFI and Brunel.

Reviews

'It is only recently that the film comedies have come into focus. And this book is the most thorough investigation into the matter, concentrating on an period of growth for the British film industry in which, as David Sutton convincingly argues, British film comedy reached its maturity.' (Film & History. An Interdisciplinary Journal of Film and Television Studies Vol 32.1, 2002)
'The study is lively, well informed and thoughtful, and does not fall into the trap of some critical treatments of comedy which, in their drive for analytical rigour, fail to appreciate the humour in their subject. The best compliment that can be paid to a work of excavation is that it instills in the reader an urgent desire to experience the films.' (Scope: An Online Journal of Film Studies, 2001)
'One of the most useful recent theoretical discussions of comedy.' (Screening the Past, 2001)
'Sensible, thoughtful and wide-ranging . . . This book is essential reading for anyone interested in the 1930s in particular, and British film comedy in general.' (Journal of Popular British Cinema, Vol. 4, 2001)