- Actors: Richard Attenborough, Pier Angeli, Michael Craig, Bernard Lee, Alfred Burke
- Directors: Guy Green
- Writers: Michael Craig, Bryan Forbes, Richard Gregson
- Producers: Richard Attenborough, Bryan Forbes, Jack Rix
- Classification: PG
- Studio: Spearhead
- VHS Release Date: 21 Aug 1995
- Run Time: 95 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B000057REV
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 22,666 in Video (See Top 100 in Video)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
35 of 37 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Filmed in Ipswitch during the post war economy boom, Richard Attenborough is Tom Curtis, a factory worker whose solidarity with his striking co-workers is challenged and ultimately broken by his boss. His decision is met with growing resentment from his colleagues. Very fine performances by Attenborough and Pier Angeli who plays his wife Anna.
Director Guy Green has created a very real drama in which you can readily imagine how life must have been in this British post war town. The dark and gritty atmosphere adds to the realism.
I thought the script was really solid and should have been given an Oscar. A lot of thought went into this gripping drama that will hold your attention all though till the end of the movie. You'll notice Oliver Reed who plays a small part as Mick and Michael Craig as Tom's friend. A movie worth seeing.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Other people here have reviewed the social comment raison d'etre of this film, and I'll confine myself to the more cinematic aspects of it. It's worth saying, however, re the subject matter that while the particular trade union issue dealt with has now in Britain largely disappeared, and the fifties background nowadays has the air of a period piece, the wider theme of how a dissenting individual with his own point of view and belief is dealt with by a powerful majority is of course of timeless interest.
In cinematic terms the film was always likely to stand or fall on how well the wider social comment and the domestic trials of the strikebreaking Richard Attenborough integrate. In my view they do so pretty well, largely thanks to the presence of Attenborough, a fine character actor, though even he finds it tough to overcome the film's lurches into melodrama.
But there are problems. The direction lacks energy in that the picture maintains a steady pace throughout with no highlights bar the canteen scene where Attenborough flips his lid. There are a couple of visual highlights - a fine crane shot of the final union meeting, and a beautiful, seamless cutaway from Attenborough posed in his son's bedroom to his identically placed presence in the works' canteen. The script, too, struggles to avoid cliche, eg the works manager losing his temper wih the union man who telegraphs his response of: "Are you trying to threaten me?"
Acting is very mixed. Other than Attenborough, Geoffrey Keen as the works manager is as usual excellent, Alfred Burke in the small part of the infiltrated agent provocateur is suitably slimy, but the real problem is Pier Angeli (who incidentally committed suicide 10 years later aged 39) who looks and sounds as if she's walked in from a whole different type of film from Rome via Sunset Boulevard and failed to attend acting classes in either place. Just dreadful!
Well worth seeking out, but don't expect a classic.
In cinematic terms the film was always likely to stand or fall on how well the wider social comment and the domestic trials of the strikebreaking Richard Attenborough integrate. In my view they do so pretty well, largely thanks to the presence of Attenborough, a fine character actor, though even he finds it tough to overcome the film's lurches into melodrama.
But there are problems. The direction lacks energy in that the picture maintains a steady pace throughout with no highlights bar the canteen scene where Attenborough flips his lid. There are a couple of visual highlights - a fine crane shot of the final union meeting, and a beautiful, seamless cutaway from Attenborough posed in his son's bedroom to his identically placed presence in the works' canteen. The script, too, struggles to avoid cliche, eg the works manager losing his temper wih the union man who telegraphs his response of: "Are you trying to threaten me?"
Acting is very mixed. Other than Attenborough, Geoffrey Keen as the works manager is as usual excellent, Alfred Burke in the small part of the infiltrated agent provocateur is suitably slimy, but the real problem is Pier Angeli (who incidentally committed suicide 10 years later aged 39) who looks and sounds as if she's walked in from a whole different type of film from Rome via Sunset Boulevard and failed to attend acting classes in either place. Just dreadful!
Well worth seeking out, but don't expect a classic.
Format:DVD
wonderful almost forgotten British classic film,one man's choice to go against the trade union ends up nearly costing his life.Great print too
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Amazing Attenborough
This is truly a five-star film, immensely powerful story dealing with a subject matter probably not understood these days. Real old-fashioned kitchen sink stuff. Read more
Published on 17 Mar 2010 by Rm Burrell
Plato's Euthyphro for 1960
I was deeply impressed by the quality of acting - some of the dialogue may have inevitably dated but the performances are first rate. Read more
Published on 5 Feb 2007 by John P. Mccormack
Alone against mob mentality
This film can really only be appreciated by people who's society has been heavily influenced by union rule. Read more
Published on 2 Aug 2003
My hero, the scab!
This is a very one-sided film with the simplistic message "labour unions bad". From my own point of view, the politics of this film are reprehensible. Read more
Published on 8 Mar 2003 by Peter Mattsson
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