Saturday Night And Sunday Morning

Albert Finney plays Arthur Seaton in this classic “kitchen sink” portrayal of the dourly mundane lives of the Northern England industrial working class – endless rows of semi-detacheds, days in the factory doing rote work and a few pints on Saturday night with a bit of fishing in the canal on Sunday

Much like Michael Caine’s more spiffed-up Alfie (1966), Arthur is a low rent hedonist who rooms with his parents and is having an affair with the wife (Rachel Roberts) of one of his co-workers (Bryan Pringle). He gets her pregnant but organizes an abortion for her but eventually opts to settle down with an attractive scrubber (Shirley Ann Field) from his own neighborhood.

Produced by Tony Richardson who the following year would direct another classic of the era, A Taste Of Honey (1961), the screenplay is by Alan Sillitoe from his own novel.  Czech-born director Karel Reisz making his feature film debut does a fine job of bringing home the monotonous realities of England industrial North in what is an intentionally matter-of fact social portrait whilst Finney, in a career-making role, is only the most outstanding of a fine cast.

 

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