Sixties British working-class films.

His short documentaries are very powerful.

A Diary of an Unknown Soldier“(1958).
I’m sure Peter Jackson has seen it.

 

Watched this on YouTube last night, and after 55 years since I’ve seen it, it’s still excellent.

Like a British Law & Order, with some surprising differences in our 2 systems seen in the finale.

And several familiar faces from other British films.

 

I just re-watched RATTLE OF A SIMPLE MAN(1964), the story of a naive 39 year-old Virgin from the North who asks a prostitute(?)out on a dare by his mates on a Football trip to London. It stars Harry H. Corbett, either right before or during the time he started on STEPTOE AND SON, and Diane Cilento. The film charts the ins and outs of their one-night relationship(which going by the films ending may go on longer)and the longings of both characters. It's interesting hearing Corbett do a Northern accent after being used to his Cockney on STEPTOE.

 

I like Harry H in The Bargee, and Cover Girl Killer.

 

If you see him being interviewed, he's very posh.

 

Indeed. He owns a string of poloponies.

 

I remember watching a documentary about him that tried to make out he was going to be the British Brando... Well... Not a chance. I know he was worried about typecasting but Harold was a great role. I think Steptoe is one of the finest TV programmes to come out of the UK; when they're really good, they come off as beautifully anguished short plays about a father and a son who irritate the hell out of each other but need each other desperately. As much as I love Hancock, I think this is Galton and Simpson's finest hour. Give me this over Pinter or Osborne any day.

 

Find Steptoe & Son depressing. Fine as a weekly tv show back in the day. Got the Steptoe & Son complete dvd box .. and after watching episode after episode it started to depress me. Much prefer Hancock.

 

Saturday Night ../ A Taste of Honey rate highly.

 

Days when you could get a pint in a pub.

 

I remember Rita Tushingham from Dr. Zhivago when I was in elementary school.

She has really lovely eyes.

The movie, Girl With the Green Eyes, is an aptly named movie, except for it being filmed in B&W.

 

So did the Seekers doing the title song, sung by Judith Durham.

 

Lovely voice .. better than the New Seekers.

 

One thing that I find unsettling is the feature of or reference to abortions in a lot of these films. I understand that it was quite a hot topic in 1960s Britain, culminating in the Abortion Law reform debates in Parliament and the eventual passing of the Abortion Act of 1967. The contraceptive pill and the availability of legal abortions must have caused huge social changes in the UK in the 'sixties. The laws here in Ireland went unchanged for decades more. A lot of these changes are reflected in these working-class films.

 

Just watched this recently, good escapist fun. Sure it was sponsored by the Australian government to attract people to immigrate to oz.

 

Much more depressing than it looks

 

Glad this doesn't have to be reopened (Don't know most of these films, but I see I posted here a few years ago.)

Just now watching ROOM AT THE TOP, and finding Laurence Harvey really unappealing . And looking so much like The Manchurian Candidate character role. But I am smitten with Simone Signoret.

Am currently watching a GRANTCHESTER series featuring the trials of Leonard, the homosexual curate. Do many of these gritty "Working Class" hero movies focus on that theme?

One of the characters in ROOM gets to say there aren't many men about now, just ponces.