Rachael Low

Rachael Low (6 July 1923 – 14 December 2014)^[1] was a British film historian, best known as the author of the seven-volume The History of the British Film.^[2][3]

The daughter of the cartoonist Sir David Low,^[4] she gained her BSc in sociology and economics in 1944 from the London School of Economics,^[4] and her doctorate from the University of London in 1949. She published, in seven volumes between 1948 and 1985, The History of the British Film; this examines, in exacting detail, film production in Britain from its origins in 1896 until 1939. She was awarded a Research Fellowship by Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge, to facilitate her work on the later volumes of the series.^[5]

Film critic Matthew Sweet has criticised Low's "tyrannous influence" on the writings of subsequent film historians.^[6]

Legacy

The annual Rachael Low Lecture was established in 2007 in her honour, as part of the British Silent Film Festival.^[7] In December 2018, an event was held at the British Film Institute Library to assess her legacy and mark her contribution to the history of early British film.^[1]

Principal works

Originally published by George Allen & Unwin, Low's history is now published by Routledge.

• The History of the British Film 1896–1906 (with Roger Manvell), Allen & Unwin, 1948
• The History of the British Film 1906–1914, Allen & Unwin, 1948
• The History of the British Film 1914–1918, Allen & Unwin, 1948
• The History of the British Film 1918–1929, Allen & Unwin, 1950
• The History of the British Film 1929–1939: Films of Comment and Persuasion of the 1930s, Allen & Unwin, 1979
• The History of the British Film 1929–1939: Documentary and Educational films of the 1930s, Allen & Unwin, 1979
• The History of the British Film: Film Making in 1930s Britain, Allen & Unwin, 1985