The Gainsborough melodramas were a sequence of films produced by the British film studio Gainsborough Pictures between 1943 and 1947 which conformed to a melodramatic style. The melodramas were not a film series but an unrelated sequence of films which had similar themes and frequently recurring actors who played similar characters in each. The popularity of the films with audiences peaked mid-1940s when most of the cinema audiences consisted of mainly women.
History
During the mid-1940s, with many of the men fighting in World War II and many of the children evacuated to rural areas, women attained more financial responsibility and independence by having to work and Gainsborough Pictures took advantage of this by providing films with powerful images of female independence and rebellion that resonated deeply with audiences. The success of the films led to other British producers releasing similarly-themed works such as The Seventh Veil, Idol of Paris and Pink String and Sealing Wax. The first film in the sequence was The Man in Grey which proved to be a major success on its release in 1943. This led to a number of similar pictures being made often based on melodramatic period novels. The films dominated the British box office, out-grossing top Hollywood productions and breaking a number of records. A 2004 British Film Institute study of box office success lists The Wicked Lady in ninth place ahead of more modern films such Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone which was listed at eleventh. A large element of their appeal was their overt escapism at a time when the Second World War was still being fought. Previously the studio had been particularly known for its comedy films, but rapidly became closely associated with melodrama. The films have become synonymous with the studios, in a manner that resembles the Ealing Comedies. This was despite the fact that Gainsborough made films in a variety of genres during its twenty-five year existence. The films were initially received with critical hostility, but in subsequent years they have become the subject of more favourable study.
Style
Many of the films make use of chiaroscuro lighting and mildly expressionist imagery, influenced by the earlier style of German cinema. The producerEdward Black played a major role in overseeing a number of the earlier films. Later, Sydney Box became head of production at Gainsborough. The films were made either at Gainsborough's Islington Studios or the larger Lime Grove Studios in Shepherd's Bush. Following the end of the war, the films began to make losses at the box office as they fell out of fashion. To try and re-kindle interest, Jassy, the only Gainsborough melodrama made in Technicolor was released in 1947, however, it was not successful and this marked the official end of the Gainsborough melodrama period. Sydney Box who had taking over at Gainsborough Pictures in 1946 hoped to move away from melodramas to social realism, however subsequent films that followed Jassy, such as Good-Time Girl, When the Bough Breaks, & Boys in Brown bore a resemblance of the old Gainsborough melodrama formula.
