Saturday Night & Sunday Morning Director: Karel Reisz. UK, 1960. 89 min. Albert Finney, Shirley Anne Field, Rachel Roberts, Hylda Baker

Nottingham writer Alan Sillitoe’s adaptation of his own novel is widely considered to be the most convincing of the British ‘angry young men’ dramas of the late Fifties/early Sixties. Middle-class Czech émigré and former documentary-maker Karel Reisz, directing his debut feature film on location in Nottingham and at Twickenham Studios, created an authentic atmosphere for his era-defining story of a restless British working-class youth.

Salford-born bookie’s son Albert Finney – who won a scholarship to RADA where he was in the same class as Alan Bates, Tom Courtenay, Frank Finlay and Peter O’Toole - electrified audiences and critics alike with his charismatic lead role, his first after an apprenticeship in classical theatre and a small screen part in The Entertainer. Finney became a major star overnight, going on to earn the first of five unsuccessful Oscar nominations for 1963’s Tom Jones, having turned down the lead role in Lawrence of Arabia.

Finney worked intensely in two periods at the National Theatre but rejected Laurence Olivier’s offer to succeed him as its head; he later also refused a knighthood, calling the honours system a way of “perpetuating snobbery.” He used his influence and money to back rising stars in the British film industry: co-producing Lindsay Anderson’s If…. (also shown by WFC), funding Mike Leigh’s first feature film, and giving Stephen Frears his movie-directing debut on Gumshoe, in which he starred. He continued working as an actor on stage, film and TV for six decades, his career ending with a small part in Skyfall in 2012, before his death in 2019.

“Put working-class life on screen, bluntly and without condescension.” Rob Mackie, Guardian

Winner BAFTA Awards for Best British Film, Most Promising Newcomer (Finney), Best British Actress (Roberts)

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