Medicine on film: a British case history

This article explores the historical and contemporary significance of medical film in Britain, particularly its role in education and practice for medical professionals. The key areas of inquiry are the emergence of medical filmmaking, focusing on the increasing research interest and visibility of non-theatrical film and to date the lack of British focus. While there is substantial literature on American and European medical films, British films have received less attention. Looking at the British Medical Association (BMA) Film Library, its establishment, purpose and then film competition which ran 1957-1997, two cohorts of films are analysed (fracture treatment from the 1930s and then anaesthesia from the 1940s) that were part of the collection and still available to medical professionals until the BMA ceased to manage the collection in 2005. These films form a case study of how film communicated discourses of care. Ethical and practical considerations have hindered the preservation of these films; they have been hidden, shelved or disposed of, leading to questions of what they can tell us today and whether these films had a central role in medical education in the British, in comparison to the American, context.