The Two Screens: FIDO, RFDA and Film vs. Television in Post-Second World War Britain

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This article will consider some of the key factors at play in the medium-term post-Second World War relationship between the burgeoning format of television and the steadily declining commerciality of cinema. This work charts, in detail via archival materials, the impact of the 1953 coronation on television ownership and Ealing Studios supremo Sir Michael Balcon's understanding of, and openness to, the potentialities offered by the rival media. The work also considers the establishment of the Film Industry Defence Organisation (FIDO) and Rank Organisation Chief Executive John Davis's formation of Rank Film Distributors of America (RFDA) in the late 1950s as a means of developing not only projects with international appeal (targeting particularly the North American marketplace), but also combating on the domestic front the relentlessly growing popularity and charms of the small screen.