Film Forum

(1961, Tony Richardson) Waifish schoolgirl Rita Tushingham battles vulgar mum Dora Bryan and mum’s menacing beau Robert Stephens, but finds escape with gay pal Murray Melvin and in an interracial romance – with unexpected results. From Shelagh Delaney’s West End smash, written when she was 18. DCP. Approx. 100 mins. 

Reviews

“Wonderfully fresh!”
– Colin MacCabe

“Bursts with vitality against the sleazy environs of a North Country city slum, its dirty flats, dank docksides and the kaleidoscopic sights and the raucous, tinny sounds of Blackpool’s fun fairs.”
– A.H. Weiler, The New York Times

“Tony Richardson’s canonical vision of Britain’s lower-class dwellings, where the slings and arrows of poverty are confronted with a humorous tone that speaks to people’s need for self-preservation…Shelagh Delaney’s adaptation of her own play finds an acid touch in Richardson’s direction, which treats Jo and Helen’s constant bickering as the anchor for their humanity…If there’s a pulse to Richardson’s kitchen-sink realism, it’s ironically the ebb and flow of the surrounding city and not the home, with bustling streets and secluded underpasses being the places where Jo can escape the confines of her mother’s imposed reality.”
– Clayton Dillard, Slant