A key film of the British New Wave, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
was a great box-office success - audiences were thrilled by its
anti-establishment energy, the gritty realism of its setting, and most of all by
a working-class hero of a fresh and outspoken kind. Based on Alan Sillitoe's
largely autobiographical novel, the film is set in the grim industrial streets
and factories of Nottingham, where Arthur Seaton spends his days at a factory
bench, his Saturday evenings in the local pubs, and his Saturday nights with
Brenda (Rachel Roberts), wife of a fellow factory worker.
Played by Albert Finney with an irresistable animal vitality, Arthur is
anti-authority ('Don't let the bastards grind you down') and
unashamedly amoral ('What I'm out for is a good time. All the rest is
propoganda'). With powerful central performances, cracking dialogue by
Sillitoe and a superb jazz score by Johnny Dankworth, Saturday Night and
Sunday Morning still stands as a vibrant modern classic.
- Import DVD
- PAL Region 2
- 1:66 Screen Ratio
- Commentary by film historian Robert Murphy, Alan Sillitoe and
cinematographer Freddie Francis.
- Excerpt from interview with Albert Finney at the National Film Theatre on
6 June 1982
- Stills gallery
- Biographies of Karel Reisz and Alan Sillitoe.
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