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This book constitutes the first full volume dedicated to an academic analysis of the sport of boxing as depicted in British film. Through close textual analysis, production and reception histories and readings that establish social, cultural and political contexts, the book explores the ways in which prizefighters, amateur boxers, managers and supporters (from Regency gentry to East End gangsters) are represented on the British screen. Exploring a complex and controversial sport, it addresses not only the pain-versus-reward dilemma that boxing necessarily engenders, but also the frequently censorious attitude of those in authority, with boxing's social development facilitating a wider study around issues of class, gender and race, latterly contesting the whole notion of 'Britishness'. Varying in scope from Northern circuit comedies to London-based 'ladsploitation' films, from auteur entries by Alfred Hitchcock to programme fillers by E.J. Fancey, the boxing film also serves as a prismthrough which one can trace major historical shifts in the British film industry.
List of contents
Chapter 1- Introduction: The Rules of Boxing on Film.- Part I The Silent Treatment- Chapter 2-Opening Rounds: 1895 -1918.- Chapter 3- The Plot Thickens: 1919 - 1928.- Part II The Sound Treatment-Chapter 4 - Boxing Sound and Vision: 1929 -1939.- Chapter 5- The Post-war Return: 1945-1960.- Part III The Colour Treatment- Chapter 6 - Wider Representation: 1961-1999+ .- Chapter 7 - Final Rounds: 2000-Present.- Chapter 8 Conclusion: The Judges' Verdict
About the author
Stephen Glynn lectures in Film and Television at De Montfort University, UK. This volume completes a trilogy of sports genre studies for Palgrave, following on from
The British Football Film (2018) and
The British Horseracing Film (2019).
