In Racket Town: Gangster Chic in Austerity Britain, 1939–1953.

The article presents a historical overview of the rise in popularity of films that focused on spivs, or black market criminals, in Great Britain during World War II and examines how this theme in filmmaking was influenced by American crime and gangster films. It explores ways in which black market crimes were covered by the British press and in British literature during wartime, describes how the language, behavior, and dress of young British men showed evidence of the influence of gangster films on their lives, and discusses the black market for food in Sheffield, England amidst wartime rationing. Other topics include a description of the image of the spiv in motion pictures, the clothing entrepreneur Cecil Gee, and the British Board of Film Censors (BBFC).