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since the Second World War.

American influence in British cinema became apparent in the late 1940s after the then Labour government placed a 75% tax on all foreign film earnings resulting in a boycott of the British market by American film companies. This was seen as proactive to help indigenous film production but it proved disastrous because it was the catalyst to the very problems the Film Council faces today. Davies writes that the British government faced public hostility following [the] prolonged boycott of the British market by American distributors' largely because American cinema provided the glamour absent from everyday-life.' (Davies, 2000. pg 111) As such, the government changed its mind which caused many British production companies to go bankrupt when U.S films flooded the market, because they had tried to fill the gap left by the Americans. By 1949 only seven of the twenty-six British studios were in operation and only seven films were actually being made.' (Lant, 1996. pg 370) This was compounded by the government's Eady Plan which was supposed to help British film production through tax relief but the Americans found a loophole and exploited it. As Parish says about the film Cleopatra' - accountants convinced the studio that England was the best choice. By taking advantage of the country's Eady Plan, which required using several British actors/technicians in the project, Fox would receive tax breaks and subsidies.' (Parish, 2006. pg 25) Furthermore, The Day Of The Triffids' only kept the British editor on the production to satisfy the demands of the Eady Plan' (Gordon, 1999. pg 238) The government had therefore solidified an economic base for the industry but inadvertently allowed American companies to take advantage of what was supposed to be an incentive for British films. What was now occurring were very' American movies being produced with American money and American companies, in Britain.

However, in 2001 the Film Councils promotional pamphlet said a problem they must overcome is a well-developed appetite among audiences for US films', yet they also mention a failure to draw upon and reflect the full social and cultural diversity of the UK.' (Beckett, 2001) There's two issues here one concerning the audience and one that concerns the films on an aesthetic level. The fact is, British film prospered in the 1960s because they were very Americanised, supported by massive U.S funding which resulted in many box office hits' . Via the government's

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