HALLS: Issue II

film
THE EVERYDAY TRIUMPHS
AND TROUBLES OF A WORKING-
CLASS MAN is the central focus of
this 1960’s classic. “Saturday Night
and Sunday Morning” is one of a series
of “kitchen-sink drama” films which
was a British cultural movement in
film during the late 1950’s and the
early 1960’s. Its aim was to portray a
side to British society which was not
portrayed in film or on television before,
depicting the everyday struggles
of the working class with characters
who tend to display a sense of disillusionment
towards the society in which
they live. Other noteworthy films of
this genre are “Look Back in Anger”
(1956),“ A Taste of Honey”
(1961) , “The Loneliness of the
Long Distance Runner” (1962 ) and
“Alfie” (1966). The trend extended to
television with the most famous example
being “Coronation Street” which
aired on 9th of December 1960.
“Saturday Night and Sunday Morning”
tells the story of rebellious and
hard-living factory worker Arthur
(Albert Finney). He works all week
and then spends his weekends in the
pub, smoking, drinking… and having
affairs with married women. Arthur is
determined to live life on his own
terms and not become like his parents
who are “both dead from the neck
up”. Arthur is disillusioned with the
expectations for his life - work, get
married, have children - and he states,
“What I'm out for is a good time - all
the rest is propaganda!” His “good
time” includes sleeping with a married
woman, Brenda, (Rachel Roberts)
whilst trying to win the affections of
young Doreen (Shirley Anne
Field). Arthur’s carefree lifestyle is
disrupted when Brenda tells him she is
pregnant with his child and she wants
him to give her money for an abortion.
After a failed back-street abortion,
Brenda finds out about Arthur’s relationship
with Doreen and announces
their affair is over. She decides to keep
the baby and tell her husband that it
is his. In the meantime Brenda’s husband,
Jack finds out about her affair
and orders his brother, who is in the
army to beat Arthur up to the point
where he is bed-ridden for a couple of
days. The film ends on a somewhat
expected note; Arthur decides to marry
Doreen and the pair look forward
to starting their life together.
You can take both an optimistic and
cynical view on this film. Firstly, you
can watch in awe at the way Arthur is
determined not to follow convention
and his determination to life live to
the full. But you also can’t help noticing
the feeling of pessimism at the
end. Arthur has fallen into what he
swore he would not, he has followed
convention by settling down. It can be
seen as society forcing its norms on a
strong-willed character and using him
as an example to deter from immoral
behaviour. One other point I would