British Science Fiction Cinema

<p><em>British Science Fiction Cinema</em> is the first substantial study of a genre which, despite a sometimes troubled history, has produced some of the best British films, from the prewar classic <em>Things to Come to Alien</em> made in Britain by a British director. The contributors to this rich and provocative collection explore the diverse strangeness of British science fiction, from literary adaptions like <em>Nineteen Eighty-Four</em> and <em>A Clockwork Orange</em> to pulp fantasies and 'creature features' far removed from the acceptable face of British cinema.<br>Through case studies of key films like <em>The Day the Earth Caught Fire</em>, contributors explore the unique themes and concerns of British science fiction, from the postwar boom years to more recent productions like <em>Hardware</em>, and examine how science fiction cinema drew on a variety of sources, from TV adaptions like <em>Doctor Who and the Daleks</em>, to the horror/sf crossovers produced from John Wyndham's cult novels <em>The Day of the Triffids</em> and <em>The Midwich Cuckoos</em> (filmed as <em>Village of the Damned</em>). How did budget restrictions encourage the use of the 'invasion narrative' in the 1950s films? And how did films such as <em>Unearthly Stranger</em> and <em>Invasion</em> reflect fears about the decline of Britain's economic and colonial power and the 'threat' of female sexuality?<br><em>British Science Fiction Cinema</em> celebrates the breadth and continuing vitality of British sf film-making, in both big-budget productions such as <em>Brazil</em> and <em>Event Horizon</em> and cult exploitation movies like <em>Inseminoid</em> and <em>Lifeforce</em>.</p> Introduction: the strange world of the British science fiction film 1 Things to Come and science fiction in the 1930s 2 ‘We’re the Martians now’: British sf invasion fantasies of the 1950s and 1960s 3 Apocalypse then!: the ultimate monstrosity and strange things on the coast...an interview with Nigel Kneale 4 Alien women: the politics of sexual difference in British sf pulp cinema 5 ‘A stiff upper lip and a trembling lower one’: John Wyndham on screen 6 Trashing London: the British colossal creature film and fantasies of mass destruction 7 The Day the Earth Caught Fire 8 Adapting telefantasy: the Doctor Who and the Daleks films 9 ‘A bit of the old ultra-violence’: A Clockwork Orange 10 The British post-Alien intrusion film 11 Dream girls and mechanic panic: dystopia and its others in Brazil and Nineteen Eighty-Four 12 ‘No flesh shall be spared’: Richard Stanley’s Hardware