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Despite Soho’s rich cultural history, there remains an absence of work on the depiction of the popular neighbourhood in film. Soho on Screen provides one of the first studies of Soho within post-war British cinema. Drawing upon historical, cultural and urban studies of the area, this book explores twelve films and theatrically released documentaries from a filmography of over one hundred Soho set productions. While predominantly focusing on low-budget, exploitation films which are exemplars of British and international filmmaking, Young also offers new readings of star and director biographies, from Laurence Harvey to Emeric Pressburger, and in so doing enlivens discussion on filmmaking in a time and place of intense social transformation, technological innovation and growing permissiveness.
“Young’s writing is engaging and well-researched, and, as with many of these types of books, will leave the reader seeking out many of the films analysed. It’s a fascinating period in British cinema history and focusing on films connected to this one square mile of London is a great way to really dig into that history. Soho on Screen is highly recommended.” • Cinema Retro
“This impressive and imaginative study explores Soho’s representation in films from multiple angles, situating these films in the broader social and cultural context of postwar Britain. By covering an admirably wide range of films, including some lesser-known ones, Jingan Young explores Soho’s image on screen during the 1950s and early 1960s as a way of examining changing ideas surrounding British national identity, London’s immigrant communities, youth culture, sex and commercialism.” • Chris O’Rourke, University of Lincoln
Jingan Young is an award-winning playwright and journalist. She holds a PhD from King’s College London, and is a regular contributor to The Guardian. She is editor of Foreign Goods: A Selection of Writing by British East Asian Artists (Oberon Books, 2018).
List of Illustrations
Foreword
Peter Bradshaw
Author’s Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Soho, ‘The Forbidden City’
Chapter 1. Tracking Shot: Soho Square to Wardour Street, London’s ‘Film Row’
Chapter 2. Soho’s Bohemian-Cosmopolitans and Post-War British Cinema
Chapter 3. God Is Everywhere!’: Engineering the Immigrant Landscape of Miracle in Soho (1957)
Chapter 4. Soho-Hollywood: The Birth of the Soho ‘B’ Film
Chapter 5. Old Perils, New Pleasures: West End Jungle (1960) and the Birth of Commercial Vice
Chapter 6. ‘An’ I fort Jews were supposed to be lucky!’: Jewish Wide Boys, Johnny Jackson and Sammy Lee
Chapter 7. Soho Melodrama: Spaces of Sexual Blackmail, The Flesh is Weak (1957) and The Shakedown (1960)
Chapter 8. Subversive female sexualities and the Soho coffee bar: Beat Girl (1960) and Rag Doll (1961)
Chapter 9. Soho Strip Clubs (I): The Windmill Theatre and its Cinematic Legacy
Chapter 10. Soho Strip Clubs (II): The Stage and the Dressing Room
Conclusion: ‘Warm-hearted Tarts’ and the year ‘old Soho’ died: Campaigns, rebirth and The World Ten Times Over (1963)
Filmography
Bibliography
Index