BRITISH CLAIM EMPIRE BEING 'AMERICANIZED' BY FILM INDUSTRY
London (JFK+50) The September 25 1921 edition of The Evening News has a brief front page article stating that the American monopoly of the movie industry* is "raising the cry...that the British empire is being 'Americanized'."
The argument is made that the UK has been flooded with "Yankee films" over the past half decade. It is also reported that New Zealand will probably impose a surtax on foreign films.
The article says that American film producers are unconcerned about these developments because British films, in their opinion, have "little pep" and "many glaring technical defects."**
*The 1920s saw a big expansion of American movies & attendance world wide. The decade produced large movie theaters in major cities called "Picture Palaces."
**www.bfi.org/ lists six American movies of 1921 described as "Great Films" of the decade. They include "The Sheik" starring Rudolph Valentino, "The Blot," "The Boat" starring Buster Keaton, "The Affairs of Anatol," starring Gloria Swanson, "The Love Light," starring Mary Pickford & "The Kid," starring Charlie Chaplin.
SOURCES
"Britain 'Americanized' Through Films Is Cry," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., September 25, 1921, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
"Finds of the century: 12 great films from 1921," by Bryony Dixon and Pamela Hutchinson, 16 May 2021, www.bfi.org.uk/
