THE PRIZE WINNING COMEDY-DRAMA OF A YOUNG GIRL’S PASSIONATE LOVE FOR LIFE!

In Manchester, 17-year-old Jo (Rita Tushingham) becomes involved with a black sailor (Paul Danquah) while her mother (Dora Bryan) starts dating an unpleasant younger man (Robert Stephens). One of the classic kitchen-sink dramas follows in the same style as the director’s Look Back in Anger (1959); apart from the play’s drama, this film offers rainy, run-down Manchester locations. An unusual movie for its time, depicting love between a white girl and a black boy, as well as a gay character, without making a big fuss out of it. At the center of the story is a troubled mother-daughter relationship, compellingly brought to life by the two leads. 

1961-Britain. 100 min. B/W. Produced and directed by Tony Richardson. Screenplay: Shelagh Delaney, Tony Richardson. Play: Shelagh Delaney. Cast: Rita Tushingham (Jo), Dora Bryan (Helen), Robert Stephens (Peter Smith), Murray Melvin, Paul Danquah.

Trivia: Hazel Blears appears as a street urchin; decades later, she became a Member of Parliament and a minister in Tony Blair’s government.

BAFTA: Best British Film, Actress (Bryan), Screenplay. Cannes: Best Actor (Melvin), Actress (Tushingham).

Last word: “We shocked audiences without intending to. I only learned later that Paul and I did the first interracial kiss on screen. A lot of the reaction was, ‘People like that don’t exist’ – by which they meant homosexuals, single mothers and people in mixed-race relationships. But they did.” (Tushingham, The Guardian)

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