Cartman
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Post by Cartman on Jun 23, 2018 9:10:19 GMT
I am a big fan of these films, also referred to as the Kitchen sink dramas. They were all in black and white and filmed on location; in the north, mostly directed by Tony Richardson, some were adaptations of then current novels.
The series only lasted about four years, from 1959 to 63, and I think they were fantastically atmospheric and realistic in the portrayal of life in the north of England at the time.
Off the top of my head the films were:
Room at the Top The Entertainer This Sporting Life A kind of Loving A Taste of Honey The loneliness of the long distance runner Look Back in Anger Saturday Night and Sunday Morning Billy Liar
Some very good actors and performances in them, and the fantastic location filming makes them always worth watching.
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Post by Arthur Pringle on Jun 23, 2018 13:07:46 GMT
All great films, This Sporting Life & Saturday Night And Sunday Morning I particularly like. They were at the time markedly different from most British films that came before with their received pronunciation & middle class attitudes, being working class sagas mainly set oop North, regional accents, etc. & the writers & directors were of a different breed & I think that's now what dates them somewhat, whereas I don't think a film like The Third Man has dated at all.
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Post by Steve Austin on Jun 23, 2018 13:11:52 GMT
I've seen a few of these too and agree they are atmospheric and realistic and re-defined British Cinema. I'm currently watching some Mike Leigh productions and there is a great similarity I think between these and his productions.
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Cartman
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Post by Cartman on Jun 23, 2018 14:26:13 GMT
I've seen a few of these too and agree they are atmospheric and realistic and re-defined British Cinema. I'm currently watching some Mike Leigh productions and there is a great similarity I think between these and his productions. My favourite Mike Leigh production is Nuts in May. That's brilliant!
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Bojan Scores
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Terry you’re very devious when a bird’s involved...
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Post by Bojan Scores on Jun 25, 2018 11:07:52 GMT
Saturday night and Sunday morning is wonderful, I was told it was X rated at the time. My particular favourite is The Leather Boys, it was the only film about a youth culture filmed as it occurred. It has an interesting commentary on relationships and sex, with what at the time was a sympathetic portrayal of homosexuality. Anyone into old Brit bikes and the Rocker scene will love this. Incidentally two of the films leads, Dudley Sutton and Colin Campbell turn up in the same Sweeney episode ‘Golden Boy’. Don’t buy the DVD as it’s horribly pixilated. My other fave is ‘The Family Way’. Though it’s in colour (not stark black and white), a bit ‘soapy’, and a few laughs thrown in, to me it’s a realistic portrayal of working class life. The subject matter may well be portrayed in a coy fashion to modern eyes, but it was the way it would have been back in the day.
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Post by Sam Tyler on Jun 25, 2018 17:47:40 GMT
I've not seen "The Leather Boys" but I was aware of the film as it includes scenes with The Ace Café, the famous meeting point for so many different car and bike gatherings along the North Circular road. I posted up a Then and Now of the Ace Café >>> HERE <<<Sam.
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Post by Arthur Pringle on Jun 25, 2018 18:28:02 GMT
The Leather Boys is a really good film, I think Colin Campbell is particularly good.
I read the novel by Gillian Freeman on which it was based recently, it's made explicit in the book that the two young males have feelings for one another & they do kiss which never happens in the film, though I don't think the word 'homosexual' or 'gay' is used & there is no mention of it on the blurb of the paperback I have- 'Spotlights the problem of today's motorised delinquents' is the tagline.
It's never made 100% clear in the film whether they are gay or not, only hinted at & I think a more innocent viewer might not pick up on the 'gay angle' at all, certainly not in the 60s when people were naive about these things. It's only at the very end of the film that you see openly gay sailors.
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Lord Emsworth
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Drive safely, we're walking or cycling...
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Post by Lord Emsworth on Jan 30, 2021 20:26:27 GMT
I've never seen This Sporting Life but know of its reputation as a kitchen sink classic It was directed by Lindsay Anderson and is based on the 1960 novel of the same name by David Storey, which won the 1960 Macmillan Fiction Award The film recounts the story of a rugby league footballer, Frank Machin, in Wakefield, a mining town in Yorkshire, whose romantic life is not as successful as his sporting life. Storey, a former professional rugby league footballer, also wrote the screenplay. Richard Harris plays Frank Machin Looking forward to it. I shall set the VHS this very day. I imagine the viewer can almost smell the tang of liniment, sweat, mud and fags. Lovely. This Sporting Life (Richard Harris, Rachel Roberts, Alan Badel) is on Talking Pictures TV on Wednesday 3 February 23.25Anyone read the book? Is it worth a read?
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Post by Charles Bronson on Jan 30, 2021 23:33:44 GMT
This Sporting Life (Richard Harris, Rachel Roberts, Alan Badel) is on Talking Pictures TV on Wednesday 3 February 23.25Anyone read the book? Is it worth a read? I've not read that one, but I read S. N. A. S. M. Years ago, and it a was very good read.
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Post by Charles Bronson on Jan 30, 2021 23:44:30 GMT
The "kitchen sink" films seemed to come to an end around about the year1963. I wonder if it was the advent of The Beatles and the happier times then that made them seem a bit out of place, or was it just poor box office returns?
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