Capital and creativity: some notes on the British film art director of the 1940s

The article reconstructs the industrial and creative environment of British film art direction of the 1940s in order to reappraise the efforts of some of the eighty-eight designers who designed the sets - sometimes the entire look - of the 625 features made in this decade. Analysing the complex work of designers involves taking into account the designer's role within a particular production context. Looking for consistencies in approach might be fruitful in assessing the contribution of more celebrated designers, but it is not so appropriate for those who worked on many films, in different countries and for a variety of studios/production companies, where it is more productive to analyse their work within a broader, comparative framework that takes into account other prevalent approaches and styles, genres and collaborators. (Quotes from original text)