My English Literature exams seemed to be all about what became known as 'Kitchen sink dramas.'
Books by the likes of John Naughton or Keith Waterhouse either set in Lancashire or Yorkshire. There would be a domestic incident that would be the catalyst to some urgent drama. It usually leads to the head of the household left all at sea.
The film version of Spring and Port Wine, originally a radio play is a time capsule of the cotton town of Bolton.
Rafe Crompton (James Mason) works in the cotton mills and runs his household like a tight ship. He expects his wife Daisy to do the weekly accounts. All the children who are working have to contribute to the household pot.
Rafe has two pretty daughters. The flirty Hilda (Susan George) and Florence (Hannah Gordon) who has a steady boyfriend. However Rafe is a stern, God fearing man. When Hilda refuses to eat her herrings, he gets very uptight about it.
The grown up children are tired of his bullying attitude and looking to leave home. Rafe is someone who knew how harsh life can be. He grew up in the poverty of the 1920s and 30s.
Spring and Port Wine captures the working class life of the late 1960s and early 1970s in a northern town. There is camaraderie between the neighbours but there is also a reference of that tight knit community disappearing. There is an opening scene where a neighbour is having her television set repossessed and she comes to Daisy to borrow some money.
There are scenes of workers leaving the cotton mills after work, there were a lot more chimneys in Bolton in them days. A lot of them were dismantled courtesy of Fred Dibnah. The cotton mills disappeared courtesy of Margaret Thatcher.
It is a slice of life drama driven forward by the two daughters. There is a good reason why Hilda has gone off her herrings.
However the ending does not work for me with Rafe showing his soft centre. I found Rafe's about turn hard to believe, given he seemed to be so unforgiving for any slight misdemeanours and the loosening of morals in the permissive society. It was all a little bit too neat and tidy that might had worked on the stage better than it did on film.
For a movie set in Lancashire, most of the cast were from Yorkshire.
Books by the likes of John Naughton or Keith Waterhouse either set in Lancashire or Yorkshire. There would be a domestic incident that would be the catalyst to some urgent drama. It usually leads to the head of the household left all at sea.
The film version of Spring and Port Wine, originally a radio play is a time capsule of the cotton town of Bolton.
Rafe Crompton (James Mason) works in the cotton mills and runs his household like a tight ship. He expects his wife Daisy to do the weekly accounts. All the children who are working have to contribute to the household pot.
Rafe has two pretty daughters. The flirty Hilda (Susan George) and Florence (Hannah Gordon) who has a steady boyfriend. However Rafe is a stern, God fearing man. When Hilda refuses to eat her herrings, he gets very uptight about it.
The grown up children are tired of his bullying attitude and looking to leave home. Rafe is someone who knew how harsh life can be. He grew up in the poverty of the 1920s and 30s.
Spring and Port Wine captures the working class life of the late 1960s and early 1970s in a northern town. There is camaraderie between the neighbours but there is also a reference of that tight knit community disappearing. There is an opening scene where a neighbour is having her television set repossessed and she comes to Daisy to borrow some money.
There are scenes of workers leaving the cotton mills after work, there were a lot more chimneys in Bolton in them days. A lot of them were dismantled courtesy of Fred Dibnah. The cotton mills disappeared courtesy of Margaret Thatcher.
It is a slice of life drama driven forward by the two daughters. There is a good reason why Hilda has gone off her herrings.
However the ending does not work for me with Rafe showing his soft centre. I found Rafe's about turn hard to believe, given he seemed to be so unforgiving for any slight misdemeanours and the loosening of morals in the permissive society. It was all a little bit too neat and tidy that might had worked on the stage better than it did on film.
For a movie set in Lancashire, most of the cast were from Yorkshire.