ALFIE

Sex, spies and social realism: 1961 – 1969

The 1960s witnessed another boom for British cinema, as the image of ‘swinging
London’ inspired releases such as DARLING (John Schlesinger, 1965) and ALFIE (Lewis
Gilbert, 1966). The bounds of censorship were tested by controversial films depicting an
unprecedented sexual explicitness; most notably WOMEN IN LOVE (Ken Russell, 1969).

Preoccupation with depictions of sexuality and glamour influenced the popularity of the
‘spy’ genre and particularly of those films depicting the adventures of James Bond. In
1964, GOLDFINGER (Guy Hamilton) achieved phenomenal success, generating a wave of
successors such as THE IPCRESS FILE (Sidney J. Furie, 1965) and MODESTY BLAISE (Joseph Losey, 1966).

During this era, the international popularity of British cinema encouraged the temporary or permanent immigration of several directors, including Richard Lester (A HARD DAY’S NIGHT, 1964), Roman Polanski (REPULSION, 1965), Michelangelo Antonioni (BLOWUP, 1966), and Stanley Kubrick (2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, 1968); simultaneously, American studios began to invest significant finances in British production.

During this same decade, a contrapuntal tendency was also developing in British cinema; contemporaneous to the release of lavish epics such as David Lean’s LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962) and ZULU (Cy Endfield, 1964), the ‘Free Cinema’ movement was encouraging a new wave of British realism. Influenced by playwrights such as Kingsley Amis and John Osborne, collectively termed the ‘Angry Young Men’, the ‘Free Cinema’ movement determined to examine the frustrations of working-class life and to expose the spiritual and economic poverty endured by many British citizens.

Notable films of this new wave included SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY MORNING (Karel Reisz, 1960), A TASTE OF HONEY (Tony Richardson, 1961) and the works of Ken Loach, particularly CATHY COME HOME (1966) and KES (1970).

a film by Sidney J. Furie

Taboos were also broken by examinations of objects of contemporary debate, such as racial diversity (A RAISIN IN THE SUN (Daniel Petrie, 1961)) and homosexuality (THE LEATHER BOYS (Sidney J. Furie, 1964)). The controversy generated by such releases would be compounded by a further decline in censorship, which resulted in a proliferation of newly-explicit depictions during the subsequent decade.

Northern Irish film production dwindled during these years, as energies were diverted by the outbreak of sectarian violence during the Troubles. During this era, Irish cinema continued to be dominated by documentary; Peter Lennon’s ROCKY ROAD TO DUBLIN (1968) attacked the reactionary nature of the Catholic Church, but its exhibition would subsequently be suppressed for several decades.

Next week: Recession and the Impact of Television: 1970 – 1979