<P> In 1980 only 31 British films were made, a 50% decline from the previous year and the lowest number since 1914, and production fell again in 1981 to 24 films . The industry suffered further blows from falling cinema attendances, which reached a record low in 1984, and the elimination of the 1957 Eady Levy, a tax concession, in the same year . The concession had made it possible for an overseas based film company to write off a large amount of its production costs by filming in the UK--this was what attracted a succession of big - budget American productions to British studios in the 1970s . These factors led to significant changes in the industry, with the profitability of British films now "increasingly reliant on secondary markets such as video and television, and Channel 4...(became) a crucial part of the funding equation ." The 1980s soon saw a renewed optimism, led by smaller independent production companies such as Goldcrest, HandMade Films and Merchant Ivory Productions . </P> <P> Handmade Films, which was partly owned by George Harrison, was originally formed to take over the production of Monty Python's Life of Brian, after EMI's Bernard Delfont (Lew Grade's brother) had pulled out . Handmade also bought and released the gangster drama The Long Good Friday (1980), produced by a Lew Grade subsidiary, after its original backers became cautious . Members of the Python team were involved in other comedies during the decade, including Terry Gilliam's fantasy films Time Bandits (1981) and Brazil (1985), and John Cleese's hit A Fish Called Wanda (1988), while Michael Palin starred in A Private Function (1984), from Alan Bennett's first screenplay for the cinema screen . </P> <P> Goldcrest producer David Puttnam has been described as "the nearest thing to a mogul that British cinema has had in the last quarter of the 20th century ." Under Puttnam, a generation of British directors emerged making popular films with international distribution . Some of the talent backed by Puttnam--Hugh Hudson, Ridley Scott, Alan Parker, and Adrian Lyne--had shot commercials; Puttnam himself had begun his career in the advertising industry . When Hudson's Chariots of Fire (1981) won 4 Academy Awards in 1982, including Best Picture, its writer Colin Welland declared "the British are coming!". When Gandhi (1982), another Goldcrest film, picked up a Best Picture Oscar, it looked as if he was right . </P> <P> It prompted a cycle of period films--some with a large budget for a British film, such as David Lean's final film A Passage to India (1984), alongside the lower - budget Merchant Ivory adaptations of the works of E.M. Forster, such as A Room with a View (1986). But further attempts to make' big' productions for the US market ended in failure, with Goldcrest losing its independence after Revolution (1985) and Absolute Beginners (1986) were commercial and critical flops . Another Goldcrest film, Roland Joffé's The Mission (also 1986), won the 1986 Palme d'Or, but did not go into profit either . Joffé's earlier The Killing Fields (1984) had been both a critical and financial success . These were Joffé's first two feature films and were amongst those produced by Puttnam . </P>

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