The Angry Silence

Last updated

The Angry Silence
The Angry Silence FilmPoster.jpeg
Directed by Guy Green
Written by Bryan Forbes
Michael Craig
Richard Gregson
Produced by Richard Attenborough
Bryan Forbes
Jack Rix
StarringRichard Attenborough
Pier Angeli
Michael Craig
Bernard Lee
Cinematography Arthur Ibbetson
Edited by Anthony Harvey
Music by Malcolm Arnold
Production
company
Beaver Films
Distributed by British Lion Film Corporation
Release date
  • 15 March 1960 (1960-03-15)
Running time
95 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£97,000 [1] [2]

The Angry Silence is a 1960 black-and-white British drama film directed by Guy Green and starring Richard Attenborough, Pier Angeli, Michael Craig and Bernard Lee. [3]

Contents

The film marked the first release through screenwriter Bryan Forbes's production venture, Beaver Films, and Forbes won a BAFTA Award and an Oscar nomination for his contribution (shared with original story writers Michael Craig and Richard Gregson). [4] Green called it a "landmark" in his career. [5]

Synopsis

Factory worker Tom Curtis has two children and his wife, Anna, is pregnant, putting him under financial pressure. Consequently, he refuses to take part in an unofficial strike, meaning a loss of wages, which he is entitled to do. The strike is planned by outside activist Travers and orchestrated by shop steward Bert Connolly, who concocts spurious demands as part of his campaign to pressure the management into agreeing to a closed shop, giving the union greater influence.

Those who continue to work find that their properties are subject to repeated attacks, including bricks through windows and arson, and join the strike out of fear. Curtis alone continues to work in a show of defiance against threats and intimidation.

When the strike ends, Curtis is accused of being a scab and sent to Coventry. [6] Then, when anti-union newspapers interview him and report on his plight, Connolly demands his dismissal, backing his demand with a work to rule and overtime ban. Management fears that continued publicity will mean the loss of a major contract, while some workers take matters into their own hands.

Cast

Production

Kenneth More was initially considered for the role of Tom Curtis but turned it down when offered the lead in Sink the Bismarck!. [7] [8]

Guy Green said "we all felt very noble" not accepting full pay but says the film was excellent for his career. [5]

Reception

The film received positive reviews in the UK and US. Variety wrote that Guy Green had directed with 'quiet skill, leaving the film to speak for itself'. The film was entered into the 10th Berlin International Film Festival. [9]

By 1971 the film made an estimated profit of £58,000. [1] In 1997 Bryan Forbes estimated the profit at £200,000. [2]

After the film's release Richard Attenborough visited a working men's club in Aberdare, South Wales, that was refusing to show the film. Many such clubs had banned the film because of its anti-strike plot. However, after Attenborough explained his position on the film, the miners allowed it to be screened. This was important because, during the 1960s, films required such showings to drive ticket sales. [4]

Some critics have raised doubts about the politics of the film, particularly with regard to trivialisation of the needs and demands of the workers. [10] Others suggest that the film is also a reflection of British working-class values at the time, such as 'an Englishman's home is his castle'. [11]

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a rating of 80%, based on reviews from five critics. [12]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boulting brothers</span> Twin brothers and filmmakers

John Edward Boulting and Roy Alfred Clarence Boulting, known collectively as the Boulting brothers, were English filmmakers and identical twins who became known for their series of satirical comedies in the 1950s and 1960s. They produced many of their films through their own production company, Charter Film Productions, which they founded in 1937.

<i>The League of Gentlemen</i> (film) 1960 British film by Basil Dearden

The League of Gentlemen is a 1960 British heist action comedy film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Jack Hawkins, Nigel Patrick, Roger Livesey and Richard Attenborough. It is based on John Boland's 1958 novel of the same name, and features a screenplay written by Bryan Forbes, who also co-starred in the film.

<i>The L-Shaped Room</i> 1962 British film

The L-Shaped Room is a 1962 British drama romance film directed by Bryan Forbes, based on the 1960 novel of the same name by Lynne Reid Banks. It tells the story of Jane Fosset, a young French woman, unmarried and pregnant, who moves into a cheap London boarding house, befriending a young man, Toby, in the building. The work is considered part of the kitchen sink realism school of British drama. The film reflected a trend in British films of greater frankness about sex and displays a sympathetic treatment of outsiders "unmarried mothers, lesbian or black" as well as a "largely natural and non-judgmental handling of their problems". As director, Forbes represents "a more romantic, wistful type of realism" than that of Tony Richardson or Lindsay Anderson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pier Angeli</span> Italian actress (1932–1971)

Anna Maria Pierangeli, known internationally by the stage name Pier Angeli, was an Italian actress, model and singer. She won the Nastro d'Argento for Best Actress for her debut role in the 1950 film Tomorrow Is Too Late, and subsequently won a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress for her performance in the American film Teresa (1951).

<i>Im All Right Jack</i> 1959 British comedy film by John Boulting

I'm All Right Jack is a 1959 British comedy film directed and produced by John and Roy Boulting from a script by Frank Harvey, John Boulting and Alan Hackney based on the 1958 novel Private Life by Alan Hackney.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bryan Forbes</span> English film director, screenwriter and actor (1926–2013)

Bryan Forbes CBE was an English film director, screenwriter, film producer, actor and novelist described as a "Renaissance man" and "one of the most important figures in the British film industry".

Michael Francis Gregson, known professionally as Michael Craig, is a British actor and screenwriter, known for his work in theatre, film and television both in the United Kingdom and in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montgomery Tully</span> Irish film director and writer

Montgomery Tully was an Irish film director and writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wylie Watson</span> Scottish actor (1889–1966)

Wylie Watson was a Scottish actor. Among his best-known roles were those of "Mr Memory", an amazing man who commits "50 new facts to his memory every day" in Alfred Hitchcock's film The 39 Steps (1935), and wily storekeeper Joseph Macroon in the Ealing comedy Whisky Galore! (1949). He emigrated to Australia in 1952, and made his final film appearance there in The Sundowners (1960).

Harry Waxman, B.S.C. was an English cinematographer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilkie Cooper</span> British cinematographer

Wilkie Cooper BSC was a British cinematographer.

<i>Whistle Down the Wind</i> (film) 1961 British film

Whistle Down the Wind is a 1961 British crime drama film directed by Bryan Forbes, adapted by Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall from the 1958 novel of the same name by Mary Hayley Bell. The film stars her daughter Hayley Mills, who was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best British Actress for this film.

The 14th British Academy Film Awards, given by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in 1961, honoured the best films of 1960.

<i>Boys in Brown</i> 1949 British film

Boys in Brown is a 1949 black and white British drama film directed by Montgomery Tully, which depicts life in a borstal for young offenders. It stars Jack Warner, Richard Attenborough, Dirk Bogarde and Jimmy Hanley. It is based on a 1940 play by the actor Reginald Beckwith.

<i>SOS Pacific</i> 1959 British film

SOS Pacific is a 1959 British adventure drama film directed by Guy Green and starring Richard Attenborough, Pier Angeli, John Gregson, Eva Bartok and Eddie Constantine. The film was shot in black and white, but later underwent colourisation.

Sidney Henry Cole was a British film and television producer. Earlier in his career he worked as a film editor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jane Hylton</span> British actress (1927–1979)

Jane Hylton was an English actress who accumulated 30 film credits, mostly in the 1940s and 1950s, before moving into television work in the latter half of her career in the 1960s and 1970s.

<i>Brothers in Law</i> (film) 1957 British film by Roy Boulting

Brothers in Law is a 1957 British comedy film directed by Roy Boulting and starring Richard Attenborough, Ian Carmichael, Terry-Thomas and Jill Adams. The film is one of the Boulting brothers successful series of institutional satires that begun with Private's Progress in 1956. It is an adaptation of the 1955 novel Brothers in Law by Henry Cecil, a comedy set in the legal profession.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Danzigers</span>

Edward J. Danziger (1909–1999) and Harry Lee Danziger (1913–2005) were American-born brothers who produced many British films and TV shows in the 1950s and 1960s.

Richard John Gregson was a British talent agent, film producer and screenwriter.

References

  1. 1 2 Alexander Walker, Hollywood, England, Stein and Day, 1974 pp 98-101
  2. 1 2 Brian McFarlane, An Autobiography of British Cinema, Metheun 1997 p193
  3. "The Angry Silence". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  4. 1 2 "The Angry Silence: the film they tried to ban". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  5. 1 2 Schwartzman, Arnold (19 November 1991). "Interview with Guy Green side 3". British Entertainment History Project.
  6. "The Angry Silence (1960)". BFI . Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  7. Brian McFarlane, An Autobiography of British Cinema, Metheun 1997 p36
  8. Vagg, Stephen (16 April 2023). "Surviving Cold Streaks: Kenneth More". Filmink.
  9. Myers, Harold (29 June 1960). "Berlin Film Fest Unreeling". Variety . p. 5. Retrieved 13 February 2021 via Archive.org.
  10. Angry Silence, The (1960) at BFI Screenonline
  11. Crowther, Bosley. 'Movie Review: The Angry Silence (1960)'. New York Times , 13 December 1960
  12. "The Angry Silence (1960)". Rotten Tomatoes .