Film Studios in Britain, France, Germany and Italy: Architecture, Innovation, Labour, Politics, 1930-60

This open access book investigates film studios in Britain, France, Germany and Italy between the 1930s and 1960s.During this time, studios faces unprecedented challenges including wartime disruptions, post-war fragmentation, movement of labour and the introduction of new technologies.While the study of film studios has been dominated by the centralized Hollywood ‘studio system’, the authors present new research about the often very different histories of Europe’s film studios, comparing their geographic locations, architectures and infrastructural development.They explore a number of well-known studios including Pinewood, Joinville, Babelsberg and Cinecittà, as well as lesser-known production sites such as Manchester, Victorine, post-war West German studios and Tirrenia as diverse creative and economic infrastructures.Drawing on a wealth of archival sources, photographs, films, aerial maps and visualizations, the book charts how artistic practices responded to transnational flows in f