The look of it is about right- the characters are the right distance from the camera to deliver their lines for maximum impact in other words, the shots aren't cramped with close-ups in an already cramped apartment. We could learn a lot from this movie today. Cliff begins to feel out of place, having been close to Alison but not Helena. Mary Ure reprises the role of Allyson as she played it in the original stage production of the play. Good support from Claire Bloom, Mary Ure and Gary Raymond. Jimmy is visited by his childhood nanny, Mrs.
The screen is already larger than life, he doesn't need to expand the performance the way he does. Its very much the original kitchen sink drama and was as alarming a film of its day as Kathy Come Home and Saturday Night, Sunday Morning. There are also bits of business that should have been excised, like Burton and Gary Raymond's occasional breaks into Music Hall skits. The acting and character development is superb. This is one of Burtons best films and showed his talent off best and what was to come sadley b4 Miss Taylor and Hollywood and the lure of money got in his way of a great film career.
Richard Burton, the worst actor of all time, overacts like never before in this dated crapfest. Cliff lives with Jimmy and Alison and is close friends with both. There is no denying it is extremely well played. Alison comes from an upper class family that Jimmy abhors and he berates Alison for being too reserved and unfeeling. Jimmy is visited by his childhood nanny, Mrs. Richard Burton can deliver lines on-screen like no other actor. Jimmy is college educated but works with a partner, Cliff Lewis, as a street vendor operating a candy stall.
Burton, a wooden film actor who just copied Laurence Olivier, shouts his way through the entire film as he always did. She is frightened of Jimmy's reaction to this news, and has not told him. His powerful performance will never be matched. Alison tells Jimmy that her actress friend, Helena Charles, is coming to stay at the flat. Jimmy then gets word that his nanny has had a stroke. When Jimmy pushes Alison while she is at the ironing board she is burned.
Claire Bloom sizzles with Burton, you can feel the passion and desire on the screen. Surely nobody is that grumpy, cynical and malicious all the time? Jimmy is college educated but works with a partner, Cliff Lewis, as a street vendor operating a candy stall. Oh, what a depressing movie! After 40 minutes or so of being subjected to one narcissistically histrionic rage after another, one just wishes he'd shut up and realize that he isn't the only one suffering? He's college-educated but works as a street vendor. Surrounded by characters that either incomprehensibly find him a lovable lad Gary Raymond, Edith Evans or serve as doormats Mary Ure, Claire Bloom , Burton's character is given free rein to act like a colicky brat for most of the film without ever giving us much of a clue as to the root of his dissatisfaction. Jimmy visits his nanny in the hospital and is convinced she is dying.
Plot is quite basic: young married man is angry and everything and everyone. When Jimmy leaves for work, Alison confides to Cliff that she is pregnant. Jimmy says he does not care. The whole story is uninteresting, dated and irrelevant. She asks him if it is too late to do something about it but the doctor immediately tells her never to mention such an idea.
Alison comes from an upper class family that Jimmy abhors and he berates Alison for being too reserved and unfeeling. When Jimmy leaves for work, Alison confides to Cliff that she is pregnant. As Jimmy he displays talent for passionate speeches delivered quickly which he would later use in Cleopatra. This so called 'kitchen sink' drama has all the lighting effects of a film noir. When Jimmy pushes Alison while she is at the ironing board she is burned. As if that were not bad enough, at 33 he was far too old to play Jimmy Porter. She asks him if it is too late to do something about it but the doctor immediately tells her never to mention such an idea.
Jimmy leaves and Alison tells Helena she lost her child in pregnancy. But when the clouds do part, their mutual devotion is beautiful to behold. Alison visits her doctor where it is revealed that she is pregnant. The delicate, dark-eyed beauty of Claire Bloom, as Allison's brittle best friend, provides a striking counterpoint to Ure's fragile blonde looks. But it is Richard Burton who again steals the show. Gary Raymond, as the couple's stalwart and sweet-natured friend Cliff, and Dame Edith Evans, as the one person Jimmy loves and respects unconditionally, contribute wonderful supporting performances. It would be an understatement to say that Burton is bombastic; he chews the scenery to bits.
When Jimmy pushes Alison while she is at the ironing board she is burned. At least Haigh would only have been 27 at the time of filming, easily able to pass for 25. Burton is loudly splendiferous as Jimmy yet he seems strangely miscast at the same time. Though like Marlon Brando, Richard Burton should have been way too old to portray a rebellious youth, he certainly overcomes it with a bravura performance. Helena returns to the flat and tells Jimmy she is leaving him because she cannot stand the torment of their lives.