{"product_id":"9781844574537","title":"A Mirror for England: British Movies from Austerity to Affluence","description":"Raymond Durgnat's classic study of British films from the 1940s to the 1960s, first published in 1970, remains one of the most important books ever written on British cinema. In his introduction, Kevin Gough-Yates writes: 'Even now, it astounds by its courage and its audacity; if you think you have an 'original' approach to a filmor a director's work and check it against \u003cem\u003eA Mirror for England\u003c\/em\u003e, you generally discover that Raymond Durgnat had said it already.' Durgnat himself said about the book that 'the main point was arranging a kind of rendezvous between thinking about movies and thinking, not so much about sociology, as about the experiences that people are having all the time.'\u003cp\u003eDurgnat used \u003cem\u003eMirror \u003c\/em\u003eto assert the validity of British cinema against its dismissal by the critics of \u003cem\u003eCahiers du cinéma\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eSight and Sound\u003c\/em\u003e. His analysis takes in classics such as \u003cem\u003eIn Which We Serve\u003c\/em\u003e (1942), \u003cem\u003eA Matter of Life and Death\u003c\/em\u003e (1946) and \u003cem\u003eThe Blue Lamp\u003c\/em\u003e (1949), alongside 'B' films and popular genres such as Hammer horror. Durgnat makes a cogent and compelling case for the success of British films in reflecting British predicaments, moods and myths, at the same time as providing some disturbing new insights into a national character by whose enigmas and contradictions we continue to be perplexed and fascinated.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"BFI Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47057677910256,"sku":"9781844574537","price":34.46,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781844574537_p0.jpg?v=1763746445","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781844574537","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}