Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (film)

Infobox_Film
name = Saturday Night and Sunday Morning


imdb_id = 0054269
writer = Alan Sillitoe
starring = Albert Finney
Shirley Anne Field
Rachel Roberts
Hylda Baker
Norman Rossington
director = Karel Reisz
music = John Dankworth
cinematography = Freddie Francis
editing = Seth Holt
producer = Tony Richardson
distributor = Bryanston Films (UK)
Continental Films (US)
released = flagicon|UK November 1960
flagicon|USA 3 April 1961
runtime = 89 min
language = English
budget =

"Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" is a 1960 film adaptation of the novel of the same name by Alan Sillitoe. Sillitoe adapted the screenplay himself and the film was directed by Karel Reisz.

ynopsis

The film, based on the novel of the same name, tells the story of Arthur Seaton, a young machinist at a Nottingham factory, who is having an affair with Brenda, the wife of an older co-worker. He also has a relationship with Doreen, a woman closer to his own age. When Brenda gets pregnant, Arthur asks his aunt for advice on aborting the child. Brenda's husband discovers the affair, and his brother (a burly soldier) and a fellow soldier give Arthur a serious beating. After recovering, Arthur returns to work, and the film ends on an ambiguous note, with Arthur and Doreen discussing marriage and the prospect of a new home.

tyle

The film is considered to be the first of the social-realist or "kitchen sink dramas" of the 1960's. Others include Tony Richardson's (a producer on this film) "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner" (from Alan Sillitoe's 1959 collection of short stories of the same name) and "A Taste of Honey"; and John Schlesinger's "A Kind of Loving" and "Billy Liar". It was at the forefront of the "British New Wave", films dealing with working class issues in a serious manner for the first time, and portraying the more realistic side of everyday issues such as sex, unwanted pregnancy and abortion.

Filming locations

Much of the exterior filming was done on location in Nottingham, but some scenes were not. The night scene with a pub named "The British Flag" in the background was filmed along Culvert Road in Battersea, London, the pub being at the junction of Culvert Road and Sheepcote Lane (now Rowditch Lane).

The closing scenes show the lead characters on a grassy slope overlooking a housing estate with new construction going on. According to an article in the "Nottingham Evening News" on 30 March 1960, this was filmed in Wembley with the assistance of Nottingham builders Simms Sons & Cooke who set up a staged "building site" on location.

Cast

* Albert Finney as Arthur Seaton
* Shirley Anne Field as Doreen
* Rachel Roberts as Brenda
* Hylda Baker as Aunt Ada
* Norman Rossington as Bert
* Bryan Pringle as Jack
* Robert Cawdron as Robboe
* Edna Morris as Mrs. Bull
* Elsie Wagstaff as Mrs. Seaton
* Frank Pettitt as Mr. Seaton
* Avis Bunnage as Mousy Woman
* Colin Blakely as Loudmouth
* Irene Richmond as Doreen's Mother
* Louise Dunn as Betty
* Anne Blake as Civil Defence Officer
* Peter Madden as Drunken Man
* Cameron Hall (Actor) as Mr. Bull
* Alister Williamson as Police Constable
* Peter Sallis as Man in Suit (uncredited)

Awards

The film won the BAFTA Award for Best British Film in 1961.

Popular culture references

The film is also the origin for the title of the debut album, "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" of Sheffield rock band Arctic Monkeys.The film is also the origin for the title of the live album "Saturday Night, Sunday Morning" by The Stranglers.

External links

*imdb title|id=0054269|title=Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
*British Film Institute [http://www.bfi.org.uk/collections/release/saturdaynight/ article]
* [http://www.webcitation.org/5XeYA4hAO British New Wave Essay on Saturday Night and Sunday Morning] , at BrokenProjector.com. Archived at Webcite from [http://www.brokenprojector.com/wordpress/?p=34 this original URL] 2008-05-08.