‘Local Film Subjects’: Suburban Cinema, 1895–1910

Abstract

London cinema was from the outset rooted in the city’s suburbs. Early English film production was cosmopolitan and internationalist but also local. Birt Acres in Barnet, Robert Paul in Muswell Hill and Cecil Hepworth in Walton-on-Thames were embedded in those districts, not only as residents and employers but also as producers of images of their environs. They were, in all respects, local filmmakers. This chapter examines three aspects of this situation. Firstly, it is a paradox that building a film studio for the creation of imaginary spaces led also to the filming of real places in the studio’s vicinity, for example, when shooting in a real street was simpler than representing one in a studio. Secondly, a film studio interacts with and has an impact on the local community; as employer, obviously, but also simply as a point of local interest. Thirdly, for these districts, early filmmaking has become a part of local history, leaving its mark through blue plaques and street names, contributing to a sense of local identity, and also serving as a source of visual material for the local historian. This, again, is true of most studio-based filmmaking in London, pointing to a further respect in which the study of early filmmaking in suburban London provides a basis for the general study of London and cinema.