GB
1960
1hr 29mins
Dir: Karel Reisz
Starring: Albert Finney and Shirley Anne Field
A rebellious and hard-living factory worker, juggles relationships with two women, one of whom is married but pregnant with his child
This drama is an adaptation of the 1958 novel of the same name by Alan Sillitoe and is among the first of the social-realist, or ‘kitchen sink dramas’. It is set largely on location in Nottingham, though some scenes were filmed elsewhere. The night scene near The British Flag pub for instance was in fact filmed in Culvert Road, Battersea, and a van train passes over a bridge in the background behind an unidentified tender loco. Later in the film there is a scene that is shot from the top of Nottingham Castle. The view overlooks the railway line and sidings to the west of Nottingham (Midland) station and distant freight stock is visible. There is also a scene at a children’s playground, possibly in the Beeston area, where there is a brief glimpse of a small tank loco on some coaching stock standing on the embankment behind, and a final view from the castle, with a distant freight moving around in the extremely well-filled sidings.
