For my money, "A Kind Of Loving" is the very best movie of the so-called British "new wave" cinema which, during the late 1950's & early 1960's, focused on the lives & problems of working class people. Alan Bates stars as draughtsman Vic Brown who begins an affair with an office girl who works for the same company as himself. Her name is Ingrid Rothwell played by June Ritchie & after Vic makes her pregnant he feels obliged to marry her. They are unable to afford a place of their own so Vic moves in with Ingrid & her mother played by Thora Hird. Mrs. Rothwell is the kind of mother-in law that Les Dawson used to joke about, one straight out of hell!. Living with his mother-in-law almost inevitably puts a strain on his marriage & Vic starts drinking more heavily which leads to a confrontation. Vic tells the mother-in-law that at least he had the decency to marry her daughter & that if he hadn't made her pregnant somebody else probably would. She replies, "How dare you? How dare you say such filthy, disgusting things? You come into this house drunk, filthy drunk. Your filthy. You talk filth. You are filth. Your filth. You filthy pig. You filthy, disgusting pig. Filth. FILTH!" Thora Hird plays her really brilliantly & this movie is worth watching for her performance alone. One of Vic's friends is played by a very young James Bolam just before he gained television fame as one of "The Likely Lads". He is great as are both Alan Bates & June Ritchie In the leading roles. The movie overall is a moving, honest, gritty & entirely believable depiction of life amongst the working class in the north of England. Highly recommended.
Review of A Kind of Loving
