Women, Empire, and British Cinema History

Colonial historians and postcolonial critics have long alerted us to the importance of empire to British film policy as well as British national identity in cinema.2 Film emerging at the height of the British Empire arguably links the history of British cinema inextricably with that of empire, an issue that is currently being addressed.3 By bringing the empire into the frame of British cinema, debates around national film policies, production, distribution, and exhibition become more complicated, particularly in relation to how cinema circulated internationally. [...]the use of film for propaganda and mass education were debated in international forums and publications, and disseminated and put into practice through figures such as John Grierson and institutions such as the League of Nations and UNESCO.11 Recent research has highlighted women's roles in the international exchange and development of documentary film practices, such as Barbara Evans's work on Marion Grierson and Jenny Gilbertson, British women who worked in Canada, and Evelyn Spice, a Canadian who worked in Britain.12 Melanie Bell has written about the difficulties Catherine De La Roche had, working as a film critic in the United Kingdom in the 1940s and 1950s, and how she continued her career in New Zealand from 1959 up until the 1980s.13 South Africa provides another example of the transnational links in film production, personnel, and investment between the United States, Britain, and its empire. [...]not least, Thelma Gutsche played an important role as a film critic, film historian, and promoter of educational film in South Africa, and she had strong connections with British and European film critics, archivists, and educators.15 British Instructional not only produced and distributed documentary and instructional film but also adventure and travel films. [...]she was approached by professional film companies and educational film distributors but did not take up commercial production.