British Popular Films 1929-1939: The Cinema of Reassurance (Studies in Film, Television and the Media)

Shafer's study challenges the conventional historical assumption that British feature films during the Thirties were mostly oriented to the middle-class. Instead, he makes the critical distinction between films intended for West End and international circulation and those intended primarily for domestic, working-class audiences. Far from being alientated by a 'middle-class institution', working men and women flocked to see pictures featuring such music-hall luminaries as Gracie Fields and George Formby.