The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)

THE LONELINESS OF THE LONG DISTANCE RUNNER

CAST Michael Redgrave Tom Courtenay Avis Bunnage Alec McCowen James Bolam Joe Robinson Dervis Ward Topsy Jane Julia Foster James Cairncross Philip Martin Peter Madden Peter Duguid John Bull James Fox Raymond Dyer Peter Kriss Anthony Sagar John Thaw Dallas Cavell Anita Oliver Brian Hammond John Brooking Christopher Parker Frank Finlay Robert Perceval Ray Austin Arthur Mullard CREDITS Tony Richardson Tony Richardson Michael Holden Alan Kaplan Leigh Aman Robert Sterne Basil Rayburn Rita Davison Alan Sillitoe

Governor Colin Smith Mrs Smith Brown Mike Roach detective Audrey Gladys Jones Stacey Mr Smith doctor Ronalds Gunthorpe Gordon Scott Fenton Bosworth Lord Jaspers Alice Johnny Green Bill booking office clerk Tory politician Craig chief Borstal officer

Colin Smith is sent to Ruxton Towers, a stately home which has been turned into a Borstal institution. The son of a 9-a-week factory worker who died of cancer, Colin is by nature a rebel, an anarchist. His mother splashes the 500 employers compensation for his fathers death on a new carpet and a telly, then takes up with a fancy man whom Colin loathes. A weekend spent with his friend Mike and a couple of girls at Skegness ends in frayed tempers and a dispiriting return; the exhilaration of the robbery, carried out with Mikes help, ends in bullying police enquiries and arrest. Colin feels no guilt at finding himself in Borstal, only contempt for society an inimical image most strongly embodied for him in the bland well-meaning presence of the Borstal governor. The one thing Colin does well is run, and the governor trains him to win the first long-distance cross-country race ever arranged between the institution and a team of amiable young men from a neighbouring public school. But the governors obsessive faith in Colin urges the boy to set up a record not in running but in sheer, basic bloody-mindedness. He runs his rival into the ground then, within striking distance of the tape, stops dead. His victory solitary but sweet, he is sent back to his old, useless job in the workshops, stripping down gasmasks.
British Cinema in the 1960s 1

Directed by Produced by Associate Producer Production Executive Production Supervisor Production Manager Assistant Director Continuity Screenplay adapted from his short story Walter Lassally Director of Photography Desmond Davis Camera Operator Antony Gibbs Film Editor Brian Smedley-Aston Assistant Editor Ralph Brinton Production Designer Ted Marshall Art Director Motley Costumes by Brenda Dabbs Wardrobe Jimmy Evans Make-up Bobby Smith Hairdresser John Addison Music composed arranged and conducted by Stephen Dalby Director of Sound Norman Bolland Sound Recordist Dan Challis Sound Editor
bfi Education / Synopsis

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960)

Spending his days at a factory bench, his Saturday evenings at the local pubs and his Saturday nights with Brenda, wife of another factory worker, Arthur Seaton is determined to make the most of the money he earns and to accept no ones right to tell him how to spend it. He is not going to become a unit on the factory books, or to follow his father in letting television rule his evenings; circumstances are not going to tame his truculent individuality. But responsibility touches Arthur when Brenda becomes pregnant. He takes her to see his Aunt Ada, hoping for helpful advice about an abortion, but without success. Meanwhile, he is simultaneously involved with Doreen, younger and more nave than Brenda but with a hard-headed attitude towards marriage. Jack, Brendas husband, learns of the affair; and his soldier brother and a friend waylay Arthur after an evening at a fair and give him a severe beating. In a sense, Arthur recognises that he has earned his punishment. Responsibility is catching up with him: he will marry Doreen and settle on the new housing estate, but he will remain the obstinate Arthur Seaton. CAST Albert Finney Shirley Ann Field Rachel Roberts Hylda Baker Norman Rossington Bryan Pringle Robert Cawdron Edna Morris Elsie Wagstaffe Frank Pettitt Irene Richmond CREDITS Karel Reisz Harry Saltzman Tony Richardson Alan Sillitoe Alan Sillitoe Freddie Francis Seth Holt Edward Marshall John Dankworth Peter Handford Bob Jones Twickenham Film Studios Michael Holden
British Cinema in the 1960s 2 bfi Education / Synopsis
SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING

Arthur Seaton Doreen Brenda Aunt Ada Bert Jack Robboe Mrs Bull Mrs Seaton Mr Seaton Doreens mother

Director Producer Producer Screenplay Based on the novel by Director of Photography Editor Art Director Music Sound Sound Studio Activity not known

A Taste of Honey (1961)

Jo is the teenage daughter of a promiscuous, alcoholic mother, Helen. Together they spend their time drifting from bedsit to bedsit. When Helen and her latest boyfriend Peter take a brief holiday at the seaside town of Blackpool, Jo finds herself unwanted and wanders around the docks where she meets Jimmy. Jimmy is a black sailor on brief shore leave, Jo spends the night with him before he sets sail the following morning. Jo arrives home later and discovers that her mother and Peter have impetuously married, and that she must find a room of her own. Jo gets a job working in a shoe store and meets shop assistant Geoffrey (Murray Melvin), a sensitive homosexual who needs a place to stay. The price of a flat proves too much for Jo alone, so she allows him to be her roommate. Geoff and Jo are both lost souls and find perfect company with each other. Jo soon realises that she is pregnant due to her casual affair with Jimmy. Geoffrey is elated at the thought of the baby and plunges himself into the role of surrogate father to the child. He knits baby clothes, tidies up the flat for the birth of the child and even offers to marry Jo so the unborn child will have a name. Jo declines and becomes increasingly depressed. Geoffrey is worried about her condition and tells her mother whats happening, but Helen couldnt care less until her new husband abandons her. With no place else to go, Helen moves in with Geoffrey and Jo. It isnt long before Jos hateful mother asserts herself and, over her daughters protests, tosses Geoffrey back out on the street. CAST Rita Tushingham Dora Bryan Murray Melvin Robert Stephens Paul Danquah David Boliver Moira Kaye CREDITS Tony Richardson Shelagh Delaney/Tony Richardson Shelagh Delaney Walter Lassally Desmond Davis Ralph Brinton Antony Gibbs John Addison Woodfall Film Productions
British Cinema in the 1960s 3 bfi Education / Synopsis
A TASTE OF HONEY

Jo Helen Geoffrey Peter Jimmy Bert Doris

Director/Producer Screenplay Original Play Cinematography Cameraman Art Director Editor Music Production Company