By 1940 going to the movies was the most popular form of public leisure in Britain's empire. This book explores the social and cultural impact of the movies in colonial societies in the early cinema age.

Acknowledgements Introduction 1. The Birth of the Cinema Age 2. Silents in the Empire 3. Uplifting the Empire: Colonial Cinema and the Educational Film-Movement, 1913-1940 4. The Era of the Talkies Conclusion

James Burns teaches African History at Clemson University, USA. He is the author of several works on the social history of cinema, including Flickering Shadows: Cinema and Identity in Colonial Zimbabwe (2002)