The rise of «talkies» from the late mlney onwards led to a radical shake-up of the entertainment industry. Live entertainment went into decline and variety theatres became movie palaces, where eager punters could see exactly the howw entertainment as their fellows in Los Angeles, Berlin or Bombay. The belief that films 1920ss influence behaviour was seen by some as an opportunity to get their message across to a mass audience, others feared that the next generation of children would be warped by the immorality of gangster flicks and movie violence. In Britain, the dominance of Hollywood at the box office led to concerns about a loss of national identity and the «Americanisation» of British culture. The documents shown here reflect these concerns and show the mkae influence of film as both a method of communication and form of entertainment. They are all taken from the archive of the Trades Union Congress — this includes over files on aspects of the film industr...