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Soho on Screen
Cinematic Spaces of Bohemia and Cosmopolitanism, 1948-1963
Jingan Young
Foreword by Peter Bradshaw
262 pages, 22 illus., bibliog., index
ISBN 978-1-80073-477-7 $135.00/£104.00 / Hb / Published (May 2022)
ISBN 978-1-80539-729-8 $24.95/£19.95 / Pb / Not Yet Published (February 2025)
eISBN 978-1-80539-931-5 eBook
Reviews
“Young’s writing is engaging and well-researched, and, as with many of these types of books, will leave the reader seeking out many of the films analysed. It’s a fascinating period in British cinema history and focusing on films connected to this one square mile of London is a great way to really dig into that history. Soho on Screen is highly recommended.” • Cinema Retro
“This impressive and imaginative study explores Soho’s representation in films from multiple angles, situating these films in the broader social and cultural context of postwar Britain. By covering an admirably wide range of films, including some lesser-known ones, Jingan Young explores Soho’s image on screen during the 1950s and early 1960s as a way of examining changing ideas surrounding British national identity, London’s immigrant communities, youth culture, sex and commercialism.” • Chris O’Rourke, University of Lincoln
Description
Despite Soho’s rich cultural history, there remains an absence of work on the depiction of the popular neighbourhood in film. Soho on Screen provides one of the first studies of Soho within post-war British cinema. Drawing upon historical, cultural and urban studies of the area, this book explores twelve films and theatrically released documentaries from a filmography of over one hundred Soho set productions. While predominantly focusing on low-budget, exploitation films which are exemplars of British and international filmmaking, Young also offers new readings of star and director biographies, from Laurence Harvey to Emeric Pressburger, and in so doing enlivens discussion on filmmaking in a time and place of intense social transformation, technological innovation and growing permissiveness.
Jingan Young is an award-winning playwright and journalist. She holds a PhD from King’s College London, and is a regular contributor to The Guardian. She is editor of Foreign Goods: A Selection of Writing by British East Asian Artists (Oberon Books, 2018).
Subject: Film and Television StudiesMedia Studies
Area: Europe
Contents
Download ToC (PDF)