A Kind of Loving (film)

A Kind of Loving is a 1962 British kitchen sink drama film directed by John Schlesinger, based on the 1960 novel of the same name by Stan Barstow. It stars Alan Bates and June Ritchie as two lovers in early 1960s Lancashire. The photography was by Denys Coop, and the music by Ron Grainer. Filming locations included the towns of Preston, Blackburn, Bolton, Salford, Manchester, Radcliffe and St Anne's-on-Sea in the northwest of England.

A Kind of Loving
Directed byJohn Schlesinger
Written byKeith Waterhouse
Willis Hall
Based onA Kind of Loving by Stan Barstow
Produced byJoseph Janni
StarringAlan Bates
June Ritchie
Thora Hird
CinematographyDenys Coop
Edited byRoger Cherrill
Music byRon Grainer
Production
companies
Vic Films Productions
Waterhall Productions
Distributed byAnglo-Amalgamated
Release dates
12 April 1962 (UK)
1 October 1962 (U.S.)
Running time
112 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget£155,590[1][2][3] or $750,000[4]
Box office£450,000 (UK)[2]

The film belongs to the British New Wave movement in film, and the related genre commonly known as "kitchen sink drama". The novel was later adapted into the 1982 television series A Kind of Loving.

Plot summary

Victor 'Vic' Brown (Bates) is a draughtsman in a Manchester factory who sleeps with a typist called Ingrid Rothwell (Ritchie) who also works there. She falls for him but he is less enamoured of her. When he learns he has made her pregnant Vic proposes marriage and the couple move in with Ingrid's protective, domineering mother, Mrs Rothwell (Thora Hird), who disapproves of the match. Ingrid has a miscarriage, Vic has regrets and comes home drunk. The couple then consider the possibility of making do with 'a kind of loving'.

Cast

Reception

It was the sixth most popular film at the British box office in 1962.[5] According to Kinematograph Weekly the film was considered a "money maker" at the British box office in 1962.[6]

Leslie Halliwell opined: "Blunt melodrama with strong kinship to Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, strikingly directed and photographed amid urban grime and suburban conformity."[7]

Awards

The film won the Golden Bear award at the 12th Berlin International Film Festival in 1962.[8]

References

  1. Sarah Street (2014) Film Finances and the British New Wave, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, 34:1, 23-42 p26, DOI: 10.1080/01439685.2014.879000
  2. Alexander Walker, Hollywood, England, Stein and Day, 1974 p120
  3. Chapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985. Edinburgh University Press p 360 gives the amount as £145,820
  4. "Nat Cohen's Many Deal with Yanks". Variety. 31 January 1962. p. 4.
  5. "Money-Making Films Of 1962." Times [London, England] 4 Jan. 1963: 4. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 11 July 2012.
  6. Billings, Josh (13 December 1962). "Three British Films Head the General Releases". Kinematograph Weekly. p. 7. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
  7. Halliwell, Leslie (1989). Halliwell's Film Guide (7th ed.). London: Paladin. p. 558. ISBN 0-586-08894-6.
  8. "Berlinale: Prize Winners". berlinale.de. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
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