Movie adaptations of classic texts can be disappointing. Transitioning from one form to the next is dangerous, particularly when nothing original arises from the outgoing medium. Sometimes it’s as if the filmmakers have left the camera pointed at a stage-play or between the pages of a book. But the 1958 film adaptation of Look Back in Anger is a masterful translation of John Osborne’s (now-)classic play – incorporating the essence of the newly-emerging British New Wave and continuing the legacy of the “angry young men” literary movement.
Set in the grey and wet city of Derby, sweet-seller Jimmy Porter (Richard Burton) lives with his wife Alison (Mary Ure) and best friend Cliff (Gary Raymond). He is a stern, explosive individual – consistently aggressive and searingly misogynistic, even by the standards of 1958. Alison feels tired and trapped by him, never finding the right opportunity to say she’s carrying his child.
Set in the grey and wet city of Derby, sweet-seller Jimmy Porter (Richard Burton) lives with his wife Alison (Mary Ure) and best friend Cliff (Gary Raymond). He is a stern, explosive individual – consistently aggressive and searingly misogynistic, even by the standards of 1958. Alison feels tired and trapped by him, never finding the right opportunity to say she’s carrying his child.
- 4/17/2018
- by Euan Franklin
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
I. The Landmine
In August 1955, George Devine, director of London’s Royal Court Theatre, ventured to meet a promising writer, living on a Thames houseboat. “I had to borrow a dinghy… wade out to it and row myself to my new playwright,” he recalled. Thus began a partnership between Devine, who sought to rescue the English stage from stale commercialism, and the 26 year old tyro, John Osborne. Together, they’d revolutionize modern theater.
Born in London but raised in Stoneleigh, Surrey, Osborne lost his father at age 12, resented his low-born mother and was expelled from school for striking a headmaster. While acting for Anthony Creighton’s repertory company, his mercurial temper and violent language appeared. In 1951 he wed actress Pamela Lane, only to divorce six years later. Osborne soon immortalized their marriage: their cramped apartment, with invasive friends and intruding in-laws, John and Pamela’s pet names and verbal abuse,...
In August 1955, George Devine, director of London’s Royal Court Theatre, ventured to meet a promising writer, living on a Thames houseboat. “I had to borrow a dinghy… wade out to it and row myself to my new playwright,” he recalled. Thus began a partnership between Devine, who sought to rescue the English stage from stale commercialism, and the 26 year old tyro, John Osborne. Together, they’d revolutionize modern theater.
Born in London but raised in Stoneleigh, Surrey, Osborne lost his father at age 12, resented his low-born mother and was expelled from school for striking a headmaster. While acting for Anthony Creighton’s repertory company, his mercurial temper and violent language appeared. In 1951 he wed actress Pamela Lane, only to divorce six years later. Osborne soon immortalized their marriage: their cramped apartment, with invasive friends and intruding in-laws, John and Pamela’s pet names and verbal abuse,...
- 3/7/2015
- by Christopher Saunders
- SoundOnSight
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