Chapter 14: New Cinemas in Britain and the English-Speaking Commonwealth
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. All of the following are true of the British cinema before and during World War II EXCEPT
a. the British industry produced many important narrative films.
b. the British produced many significant documentary films.
c. British filmmakers combined documentary and narrative form during the war.
d. for the most part, only Hitchcock and Korda made notable fiction films.
e. the GPO production operation was renamed the Crown Film Unit.
f. All of the above are true.
2. The GPO was
a. the largest British movie studio run by Michael Korda and specializing in costume films.
b. the organization run by John Grierson that produced documentaries.
c. the government organization focused on issues of film censorship.
d. the movie studio run by Michael Balcon that specialized in satirical comedies.
e. the government organization dedicated to ensuring that not too many American films were
imported in Britain.
f. none of the above
3. The studio run by Michael Balcon that specialized in intelligent comedies during the postwar period
was
a. Hammer. d. Exclusive Films.
b. GPO. e. Archers.
c. Ealing. f. none of the above
4. Hammer Films
a. was founded by Alexander Korda.
b. specialized in witty, intelligent comedy.
c. favored a documentary style of production.
d. produced science fiction, crime, and horror movies.
e. was known for their big budget spectacles.
f. none of the above
5. The Quartermass Experiment
a. was the first successful Hammer film.
b. was based on a British TV series.
c. was given a “Certificate X,” banning children from seeing the film.
d. was a series of three films.
e. all of the above
f. none of the above
6. The Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula
a. were both shot in black-and-white.
b. contained little actual gore or violence.
c. were praised by British critics at the time of their release.
d. were both directed by Christopher Lee.
e. were popular despite poor scripts and shoddy production values.
f. none of the above
7. All of the following are associated with Hammer Films EXCEPT
a. Carol Reed.
b. Jimmy Sangster.
c. Terrence Fischer.
d. Peter Cushing.
e. James Carreras.
f. All of the above are connected to Hammer.
8. The Free Cinema movement
a. was influenced by the French New Wave.
b. was dedicated to “the significance of the everyday.”
c. produced primarily low-budget feature films.
d. produced fictional films about common people.
e. never showed their films publicly.
f. all of the above
9. The two future directors who edited the Oxford film journal Sequence were
a. Tony Richardson and Karel Reisz.
b. Lindsay Anderson and Tony Richardson.
c. Lindsay Anderson and Karel Reisz.
d. Karel Reisz and Jack Clayton.
e. Tony Richardson and Jack Clayton.
f. none of the above
10. O Dreamland and Momma Don’t Allow are examples of
a. British New Cinema. d. Free Cinema.
b. British social realism. e. the British New Wave.
c. angry young man films. f. none of the above
11. The two films that introduced British “social realism” in 1959 were
a. Look Back in Anger and The Entertainer.
b. both adaptations of successful plays.
c. unsuccessful at the box office, showing that there was no audience for serious British films.
d. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and A Taste of Honey.
e. both big-budget commercial films featuring major stars.
f. none of the above
12. Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
a. was shot on location with unknown actors.
b. had a budget less than one-third of the average British film.
c. became the most financially successful British film since the 1930s.
d. became the prototype for the British New Cinema.
e. was Woodfall Films’s first completely independent production.
f. all of the above
13. All of the following are common traits of films of the British New Cinema EXCEPT
a. they were shot in grainy, desaturated color.
b. they were generally set in the industrial Midlands.
c. they combined elements of neorealism, Free Cinema, and the French New Wave.
d. they utilized unknown actors.
e. they focused on rebellious, working-class youth.
f. All of the above are traits.
14. The British New Cinema
a. continued through the 1960s and into the 1970s.
b. declined about the same time as the French New Wave.
c. moved to an urban setting but otherwise changed little to become the “swinging London” film.
d. captured the general feeling of optimism among British youth of the period.
e. produced very few films and was never commercially popular.
f. none of the above
15. The New Cinema director whose book The Technique of Film Editing influenced a generation of
international filmmakers was
a. Karel Reisz. d. John Schlesinger.
b. Jack Clayton. e. Lindsay Anderson.
c. Tony Richardson. f. none of the above
16. Both Karel Reisz and Tony Richardson
a. continued to produce equally outstanding work throughout the 1960s.
b. have worked exclusively in Britain throughout their careers.
c. experienced a general creative decline during the 1960s.
d. saw their careers end shortly after the decline of the New Cinema.
e. continued to work in the social realist style for the rest of their careers.
f. none of the above
17. The New Cinema director who went on to great commercial and artistic success with films such as
Darling, Far from the Madding Crowd, and Midnight Cowboy is
a. Karel Reisz. d. John Schlesinger.
b. Jack Clayton. e. Lindsay Anderson.
c. Tony Richardson. f. none of the above
18. Jack Clayton
a. began his career after the New Cinema movement was over.
b. continued to work in the social realist style of the New Cinema throughout his career.
c. had great Hollywood success with The Great Gatsby.
d. turned to television directing in the 1960s after the decline of the New Cinema.
e. directed horror films after his New Cinema debut.
f. none of the above
19. The War Game
a. was a documentary about the Vietnam War.
b. was never shown by the BBC.
c. was banned from television only in Great Britain.
d. was never released theatrically.
e. was the last film Peter Watkins ever made.
f. none of the above
20. The American expatriate director who collaborated with playwright Harold Pinter on such notable
films as The Servant and The Go-Between was
a. Richard Lester. d. John Schlesinger.
b. Joseph Losey. e. Jules Dassin.
c. John Frankenheimer. f. none of the above
21. Richard Lester’s visual style is characterized by
a. somber realism, shot on location with a stationary camera.
b. highly literate dialogue and theatrical settings.
c. a comic use of zooms, jump cuts, and flashbacks.
d. widescreen, color action spectacle.
e. elaborate tracking shots and composition in depth.
f. none of the above
22. British cinema in the late 1960s saw
a. a decrease in American financial investment in the British industry.
b. fewer foreign directors coming to England to shoot films than earlier in the decade.
c. fewer British directors going to work in the American film industry than in the 1950s.
d. a new, more visually aware generation of directors emerge.
e. a pronounced resurgence in social realism.
f. all of the above
23. The films of Ken Loach
a. reveal a comic use for French New Wave techniques such as the jump cut and hand-held camera.
b. are big-budget political thrillers primarily made in the United States.
c. are characterized by bizarre, nearly hallucinogenic surrealism.
d. are beautifully photographed and enigmatic in meaning with very little dialogue.
e. are politically committed, though often comic, updates of social realism.
f. none of the above
24. Which of the following films were directed by John Boorman?
a. Point Blank, Deliverance, and The Emerald Forest
b. Women in Love, The Lair of the White Worm, and The Rainbow
c. Performance, Walkabout, and Don’t Look Now
d. Hidden Agenda, Riff-Raff, and Raining Stones
e. The Servant, Accident, and The Go-Between
f. none of the above
25. The British director known for his bizarre, surrealistic biographies of composers, poets, and other
artists is
a. Ken Russell. d. Ken Loach.
b. Nicolas Roeg. e. Ridley Scott.
c. John Boorman. f. none of the above
26. All of the following films were directed by Ridley Scott, EXCEPT
a. Blade Runner.
b. Midnight Express.
c. Alien.
d. Gladiator.
e. Thelma and Louise.
f. All of the above were directed by Ridley Scott.
27. Which of the following directors did NOT begin his career making television commercials?
a. Ridley Scott
b. Alan Parker
c. Peter Greenaway
d. Adrian Lyne
e. Tony Scott
f. All of the above began their careers making television commercials.
28. Handmade Films
a. was started by ex-Beatle Ringo Starr.
b. only produced the films of Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
c. produced the first feature films of Ridley Scott, Adrian Lyne, and Michael Apted.
d. made Monty Python’s Life of Brian as its debut production.
e. concentrated exclusively on comedies.
f. None of the above is true.
29. The narrative avant-garde filmmaker Peter Greenaway
a. has always worked without the support of organizations such as the BFI and Channel 4.
b. did his first filmmaking work for television commercials.
c. makes films that are formally conventional but narratively experimental.
d. has never made documentary films.
e. has begun using digital technology to create layered imagery.
f. none of the above
30. David Puttnam
a. came to the United States from England to serve as chairman of Columbia Pictures.
b. produced the first films of Ridley Scott, Adrian Lyne, and Alan Parker.
c. won an Academy Award for producing Chariots of Fire.
d. produced films in both Ireland and Scotland.
e. made The Killing Fields and The Mission for his own Enigma Company.
f. all of the above
31. Britain’s Channel 4
a. was the single largest producer of independent films in England by the late 1980s.
b. financed films that showed only on television and never theatrically.
c. produced only British films.
d. operated exactly like the two BBC television services.
e. was based on the model of the advertiser-supported ITV.
f. all of the above
32. All of the following are true of the British social realist cinema EXCEPT
a. it brought the conventions of the French New Wave to British cinema.
b. it never disappeared.
c. it produced several important actors and directors.
d. it left a legacy of the more honest and direct portrayal of sex, class, and power in the British
cinema.
e. it opened up the British cinema to a wider range of themes.
f. all of the above
33. The vast majority of commercially successful British films in the contemporary era come from the
genre of
a. social realism. d. narrative avant-garde.
b. comedy. e. crime film.
c. heritage cinema. f. none of the above
34. Mike Figgis
a. is often compared to Ken Loach because of his social realist style.
b. is particularly associated with romantic comedy.
c. continues to work primarily for British television.
d. has had commercial success though he remains committed to more experimental work.
e. worked as a documentary filmmaker before moving into features.
f. all of the above
35. Mike Leigh
a. most often works without a screenplay of any kind.
b. alternates between making commercial films and more experimental ones like Time Code.
c. is particularly known for his romantic comedies.
d. is a significant proponent of the “museum aesthetic.”
e. works in the social realist spirit of the New Cinema.
f. none of the above
36. Mike Newell
a. is known for his bold experimental work combining film and video.
b. is known for having brought back the realist aesthetic of the New Cinema.
c. only works in Great Britain, having resisted the lure of Hollywood that has attracted so many other
British filmmakers.
d. is one of the few major British directors to have never worked in television.
e. has never made films that have been box-office successes.
f. none of the above
37. The British director who went from tough gangster films like Get Carter to campy science fiction with
Flash Gordon was
a. Mike Hodges. d. Mike Figgis.
b. Mike Newell. e. Michael Radford.
c. Mike Leigh. f. none of the above
38. All of the following films were directed by Stephen Frears EXCEPT
a. My Beautiful Laundrette.
b. 1984.
c. Sammy and Rosie Get Laid.
d. Prick Up Your Ears.
e. Dangerous Liaisons.
f. All of the above are Stephen Frears films.
39. The BFI-supported filmmaker whose personal and poetic films have gradually expanded in budget and
scope from his early black-and-white shorts to the recent House of Mirth is
a. Stephen Frears. d. Mike Hodges.
b. Michael Radcliffe. e. Jim Sheridan.
c. Terrence Davies. f. none of the above
40. The Irish director who often writes his own scripts, winning an Academy Award for Original
Screenplay for The Crying Game is
a. Jim Sheridan. d. Neil Jordan.
b. Stephen Frears. e. Peter Weir.
c. Terrence Davies. f. none of the above
41. In the 1990s, the British film industry
a. hit one of its lowest periods of productivity of all time.
b. saw the government take away tax incentives that once helped fund British cinema.
c. limited the importing of Hollywood blockbusters by the major distributors.
d. was not in the top ten internationally in terms of production (as measured by total production
costs).
e. saw an explosion in production of what became known as “new age quickies.”
f. all of the above
42. The Film Council
a. was an umbrella organization that included the British Film Institute and the British Film
Commission.
b. was publicly funded, including income from the national lottery.
c. had a mission to promote and finance coproduction with private corporations.
d. had a mission to address the longstanding problem of distribution in the British industry.
e. was part of a broad-based movement in Britain to stimulate independent film production.
f. all of the above
43. Between 2007 and today the British government
a. increased economic support for The Film Council.
b. closed tax relief loopholes and set new rate caps that discouraged production in the U.K.
c. abolished the BFI.
d. declared that the film industry no longer required public support since it was so profitable.
e. bought both Pinewood and Shepperton studios, turning them into public assets.
f. none of the above
44. Cinesound was
a. the only major production facility in Australia for almost twenty-five years.
b. a British sound system that was developed to compete with Hollywood multitrack sound.
c. a division of the BFI dedicated to the preservation of sound cinema.
d. the studio funded by the Australian government in the 1970s.
e. the production facility built by the Scottish Film Fund.
f. none of the above
45. All of the following were Australian government policies in the 1970s EXCEPT
a. starting the Australian Film Development Corporation to subsidize the industry.
b. financing films shot in Australia by foreign companies with international casts and crews.
c. starting the Australian Film and Television School.
d. tax incentives to help fund production.
e. attracting foreign capital to help finance Australian production.
f. all of the above
46. AFC genre films
a. were the only Australian films produced during the 1950s.
b. were few in number as the program developed to produce them failed quickly.
c. were the first Australian films to operate completely outside the realm of government subsidies.
d. featured original screenplays about contemporary life in Australia.
e. were intended to be cultural flagships of Australia.
f. all of the above
47. Which of the following was one of the two earliest movies to appear from the Australian film
explosion of the 1970s?
a. My Brilliant Career
b. Mad Max
c. The Adventures of Barry Mackenzie
d. The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith
e. The Last Wave
f. none of the above
48. The Australian Cinema of the 1970s
a. was largely overlooked in Europe, both in terms of major film festivals and box office.
b. rarely focused on indigenous themes or concerns.
c. was known for its innovative production design.
d. was characterized by location shooting and use of natural light.
e. flourished because of the country’s many well-equipped studios.
f. all of the above
49. The first two Australian films to penetrate the American market in the early 1980s were both about
a. “Crocodile” Dundee.
b. women struggling to survive alone in the Australian Outback.
c. the struggles of contemporary Australian people to live in urban environments.
d. the plight of the aboriginal people.
e. British treachery and deceit during war.
f. none of the above
50. Which of the following Australian directors did NOT make the move to Hollywood production in the
1980s?
a. Gillian Armstrong
b. Bruce Beresford
c. George Miller
d. Phillip Noyce
e. Fred Schepisi
f. All of the above worked in Hollywood in the 1980s.
51. Picnic at Hanging Rock
a. is about the clash of alien cultures and environments in the Australian bush.
b. is about the competition between rival Australian and American newsreel producers.
c. is about the court martial of three Australian soldiers by the British army in the Boer War.
d. features a man who destroys his family while attempting to live in harmony with nature.
e. was the last film Peter Weir made in Australia.
f. none of the above
52. The Peter Weir film that documents the experiences of an Australian journalist in Indonesia during the
fall of the Sukarno government is
a. The Mosquito Coast. d. Witness.
b. The Year of Living Dangerously. e. Fearless.
c. Gallipoli. f. none of the above
53. Paul Cox
a. has directed several successful American films, including two with Paul Hogan.
b. has mostly directed for television since his breakthrough film Caddie.
c. is the most important filmmaker to emerge from New Zealand.
d. has worked exclusively in Australia throughout his career.
e. has never used government financing.
f. none of the above
54. The New Zealand-born filmmaker who enjoyed unusual success in Australia with several short films
made at the AFTS before going on to direct Sweetie and The Piano is
a. Roger Donaldson. d. Gillian Armstrong.
b. Geoff Murphy. e. Jane Campion.
c. Peter Jackson. f. none of the above
55. The Australian film industry
a. was created through government subsidies.
b. continues to be supported by government funding.
c. has separate government agencies for subsidizing commercial and noncommercial films.
d. continues to be the least expensive location for English language film production.
e. only b and c
f. all of the above
56. The central problem faced by the contemporary Australian film industry is
a. the conflict between being a Hollywood outpost and developing a truly indigenous industry.
b. a lack of government support for film production.
c. little outside investment in the Australian industry.
d. little distribution of films shot in Australia abroad.
e. the conflict between making films for the domestic and international markets.
f. all of the above
57. In the forty years between 1930 and 1970, New Zealand’s film industry
a. flourished, although on a modest scale.
b. produced less than twenty feature films.
c. initially produced around ten feature films a year before going into decline in the 1950s.
d. experienced a consistent rise in the number of films produced.
e. regularly produced only two or three feature films a year.
f. none of the above
58. The first New Zealand filmmaker to receive international distribution and achieve worldwide
prominence was
a. Geoff Murphy. d. Vincent Ward.
b. Peter Jackson. e. Paul Cox.
c. Roger Donaldson. f. none of the above
59. The exponential expansion of feature film production in New Zealand from two in 1980 to fourteen in
1984 was due to
a. foreign investment in the New Zealand industry.
b. coproduction with Australia and Great Britain.
c. the construction of the first major film studio in New Zealand.
d. loopholes in the tax code that created investment incentives.
e. the great success of New Zealand’s films at international festivals.
f. all of the above
60. Geoff Murphy’s epic film about the Maori uprising against colonial British rule in 1870 is
a. Once Were Warriors. d. Utu.
b. Vigil. e. Ngati.
c. Good-bye Pork Pie. f. none of the above
61. 1994 was a banner year for the New Zealand industry because
a. the New Zealand Film Commission was founded.
b. foreign investment in New Zealand films reached a new pinnacle.
c. the first major film studio was constructed in New Zealand.
d. a new tax incentive was passed that created investment incentives in film.
e. of the release of Peter Jackson’s Heavenly Creatures and Lee Tamahori’s Once Were Warriors.
f. all of the above
62. Peter Jackson’s early films can best be described as
a. social realism. d. epic action films.
b. introspective personal dramas. e. comically distasteful gore films.
c. abstract art films. f. none of the above
63. All of the following are reasons for Peter Jackson’s being awarded the production of The Lord of the
Rings trilogy by New Line Cinema EXCEPT
a. his ownership of Weta Digital Ltd., a leading digital-effects house.
b. his proving with The Frighteners that New Zealand could be a site for professional film
production.
c. the international success of Heavenly Creatures.
d. the box-office performance of The Frighteners in the United States.
e. the extremely sophisticated yet cost-effective special effects of Braindead.
f. All of the above were factors in New Line’s decision.
64. By 2000, the New Zealand cinema was
a. in a dramatic state of decline with production dropping to pre-1980 levels.
b. booming because the indigenous market for films had finally grown large enough to support a
large-scale industry.
c. extremely unstable with a large number of films being produced in one year and almost no films
made the next.
d. was entirely based on the work of Peter Jackson, the only New Zealand–based filmmaker doing
commercially viable work.
e. doing well because of the number of foreign films and television shows using New Zealand as a
location.
f. none of the above
65. The organization devoted to coordinating all the Canadian government’s film-related activity is called
the
a. AFDC. d. CBC.
b. NFB. e. CFDC.
c. EMB. f. none of the above
66. From the 1940s to the 1960s, Canada was known for producing
a. avant-garde art films.
b. finely crafted dramas.
c. documentaries and animation.
d. mostly musicals and comedies.
e. nothing, since there were virtually no films made in Canada until the 1970s.
f. none of the above
67. The primary purpose of the Canadian Film Development Corporation was
a. to limit the importing of American films into Canada.
b. to produce documentary films about Canadian culture.
c. to oversee all the Canadian government’s film-related activity.
d. to provide financing for Canadian feature films.
e. to encourage the exporting of Canadian films to international markets.
f. none of the above
68. Which of the following was NOT a film-related policy of the Canadian government in the early
1980s?
a. offering a 100 percent tax write-off for private investment in films
b. providing guaranteed loans to producers as seed money for film production
c. directly funding the production of experimental films and documentaries
d. encouraging foreign production companies to make their films in Canada
e. All of the above were Canadian government policies.
f. None of the above was a policy of the Canadian government.
69. The Canadian film industry
a. is still largely funded by the CFDC.
b. controls 75 percent of the gross distribution revenues for all films in the country.
c. has never developed a skilled labor pool or significant indigenous producers.
d. finally escaped the domination of the major American studios in the 1990s.
e. is neither a significant exporter of theatrical films nor of television programs.
f. none of the above
70. David Cronenberg
a. began his career making allegorical horror films that were both intelligent and gory.
b. has always worked without the support of the CFDC.
c. stopped working in Canada after the success of his first films.
d. has only made a handful of films, but each one has been both expensive and popular.
e. has worked in a wide variety of genres.
f. all of the above
71. The filmmaker who made several low-budget independent dramas before emerging on the
international stage with The Sweet Hereafter is
a. David Cronenberg. d. Denys Arcand.
b. Atom Egoyan. e. Ted Kotcheff.
c. Guy Maddin. f. none of the above
72. The best description of the films of Guy Maddin would be
a. low-budget dramas about family dysfunction and individual alienation.
b. graphically grotesque yet intelligent horror films.
c. experimental works that recall the style of German Expressionism and Soviet-style montage.
d. stories about the French-speaking Québécois culture.
e. social realism with a distinct political perspective.
f. none of the above
73. Quebec
a. has produced only one significant filmmaker, Denys Arcand.
b. is only noted for producing documentaries and experimental films.
c. has never produced a film that became a crossover hit in English-speaking Canada.
d. has virtually no industry geared toward feature film production.
e. both b and d
f. none of the above
74. The highest grossing Québécois film of all time in the international market is
a. Exotica.
b. Les Boys.
c. Bon Cop, Bad Cop.
d. Jesus of Montreal.
e. The Decline of the American Empire.
f. none of the above
75. Le cinéma québécois.was
a. a film movement that came to prominence in the 1990s.
b. a style of filmmaking that produced several international commercial successes.
c. oriented toward the production of period dramas and explorations of Quebec’s history.
d. a movement of experimental, polemical films shot in 16mm and Hi-8 video.
e. a film directed by Denys Arcand.
f. none of the above
76. Hollywood films are shot in Canada for all of the following reasons EXCEPT
a. Hollywood is fighting for a larger share of the Canadian box office.
b. Canadian crews are highly skilled and are paid lower wages.
c. Canadian government tax breaks and subsidies make production much less expensive.
d. Canada offers a wide variety of locations and often stands in for New York or Europe.
e. there are excellent production facilities that are in the same time zones as New York and Los
Angeles.
f. all of the above