Abstract
The First World War was a watershed in the history of the empire. The contributions of the dominions, colonies, and protectorates demonstrated the remarkable resources of the empire to many in Britain. Victory also encouraged the ambitions of elites in the colonies and dominions, who hoped to leverage their contribution into greater participation in their governance. Throughout the empire the war encouraged political ambitions which boiled over into violence in some places at its conclusion. In Asia, the Caribbean, and throughout Africa the war inspired the ambitions of nationalists. Thus the post-war years were ones of ferment, which the peoples of the empire greeted with a mixture of hope and trepidation.
When I go by the cinema I always pause to see
The highly coloured pictures there exhibited for me
While in my best American ejaculating ‘Gee’1
‘The Movie Star’ (anonymous) The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser, 7 May 1927, p. 6
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Notes
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© 2013 James Burns
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Burns, J. (2013). Silents in the Empire. In: Cinema and Society in the British Empire, 1895–1940. Britain and the World. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137308023_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137308023_3
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