ABSTRACT
In the early 1930s British film production was either quality or quota. Approximately half the enormous number of films turned out by British studios up to 1937 were produced at minimum cost simply to exploit the protected market or, at worst, to comply with the law. Even the quality producers had to operate on a scale of production far below that of their competitors in the British market, the Hollywood companies. Only Korda was rash enough to try to compete on equal terms. Gaumont-British and British International Pictures (BIP), with their respective circuits, were the two biggest companies in the British film industry. BIP relied heavily on stage plays, usually light contemporary ones, and its biggest celebrity was the great Austrian tenor Richard Tauber. Tauber filmed Blossom Time, very loosely based on Lilac Time, for BIP in 1934.
