We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.
Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.
Trade Statistics ,
51
Production
Britain produced 67 features in 1948, compared with 92 French and 394 American films. Figures for five other years were :
1939 1941 1943 1945 1947 G.B. 90 51 47 28 59
France 83 60 61 74 75 U.S.A. 527 546 397 358 370 The number of feature films (1st and 2nd) produced at individual-studios in 1949 was :
a.b.p.c. Elstree
6
mgm British
3
Brighton
1
Nettlefolds
10
Brit. National
1
Pinewood
11
Denham
12
Riverside
3
Ealing
5
Shep. Bush
2
Exclus. Studios
6
Shepperton
5
Gate
1
Southall
5
Isleworth
5
Teddington Viking
4
Islington
1
1
Manchester
3
Welwyn
2
Merton Park
1
(These figures
include films which
were begun at the end of 1948 and completed in 1949, and exclude films made entirely on location. If a film was made at more than one studio, the film is included in the total of one studio only.) Films sponsored .by the Central Office of Information (excluding Colonial Film Unit)— 1947/8, 88 ; 1948/9, 88 (according to
C.O.I, annual reports). Newsreels are produced by five companies, all controlled by British or Americin production companies. Films produced for children's clubs by
C.E.F. : 1946 1947 1948 1949
44 44 36 26 (approx.)
Consumption of raw stock (pre-war) was 308,000,000 ft. annually, of which 30 per cent, was used by newsreels.
British Studios
Approximate total studio space in 1949 is 80 stages in 30 studios,or an area of 657,200 sq. ft.
Twenty-seven studios with 70 stages, or 564,000 sq. ft., are British owned and controlled (five studios with 18 stages, or 213,400 sq. ft., are in the Rank Organisation, with films made at Ealing — five stages, or 28,400 sq. ft.— distributed by the Rank Organisation) .
American controlled studios are M-G-M, Elstree and Teddington (Warner Bros.), with nine stages, or 92,200 sq. ft. 20th Century-Fox has a lease on half the studio space at Shepperton.
Some of the above studios, including the smaller ones, provide the producers of films other than first features with some 22 stages, or 69,000 sq. ft.
All the above totals are to the nearest 100 sq. ft.
Comparable Hollywood figures (1948 estimate) : eight major studios with 160 stages, or 2,406,000 sq. ft.
Labour
Labour regularly employed in the studios at March, 1949, was estimated at 1,094 technicians, 2,668 constructional personnel, and 1,457 office personnel.
About 1,800 technicians were engaged in the production of documentary films, and about 300 in the production of newsreels.
Membership of the two chief trade unions in 1949 was :
A.C.T. 7,788 (upwards)
N.A.T.K.E. 34,000 (upwards) The labour force engaged in exhibition in 1949 was estimated at 135,000.
Distribution
There were approximately 60 distributing companies in G.B. in 1949. Fifty of these are British companies. Three companies, integrated with production companies, handle the majority of new British films. Eight are U.S. companies, which handle their own output and a number of British films.
Exports
In 1947 France imported about 22 British films (6.8 per cent, of their total film imports).
In 1948 U.S.A. imported 34 British films (10.7 per cent, of their total film imports).
Children's Clubs
Children's cinema clubs in 1948-9 (A.B.P.C, G.-B. and Odeon) numbered 600, with a weekly attendance of nearly a million.