Product description

A Kind Of Loving [1962]

Price: £14.00
RRP: £9.99
Average customer rating: 5.0

Binding : DVD
EAN : 5060021171511
Label : Momentum Pictures
Manufacturer : Momentum Pictures
Publisher : Momentum Pictures
Release date : 2001-06-25
Title : A Kind Of Loving [1962]
Actor : Array
Audience rating : Suitable for 15 years and over
Format : Array
Languages : Array
Number of items : 1
Original release date : 1962-04-12
Region code : 2
Running time : 112
Studio : Momentum Pictures
Theatrical releaseDate : 1962-10-01
Number of discs : 1

Editorial reviews

Amazon.co.uk Review
Pity poor Vic (Alan Bates): when he begins a relationship with Ingrid (June Ritchie), a typist at the Lancashire factory where he works as a draughtsman; his life comes apart at the seams. Ingrid's gossiping, malicious friends are bad enough, but her mother Mrs Rothwell (the terrifying Thora Hird) is something else. Vic has to marry Ingrid-she's pregnant--and the only place for them to stay is chez Rothwell.

There's a tenderness about A Kind of Loving which you don't find in the more abrasive "kitchen sink" films of the 60s. Vic is not a rebel like Arthur Seton in Saturday Night, Sunday Morning or a macho lunk like Richard Harris' rugby-league player in This Sporting Life. He's a likable, easygoing youngster who soon discovers that real-life love affairs are infinitely messier than he and his mates could ever have imagined. The acute, witty screenplay, adapted by Willis Hall and Keith Waterhouse from Stan Barstow's novel, shows how limited Vic and Ingrid's choices really are. They have no privacy or independence. Bounced into a marriage that neither necessarily wants, their romance quickly sours. Mrs Rothwell is truly the mother-in-law from Hell--a busybody and a tyrant. Look out for the Queen Victoria-like expression on her face when a drunken Vic throws up in her front room. Debut-feature director John Schlesinger captures the humour and the pathos in the young lovers' plight without ever making fun of them. --Geoffrey Macnab

Special Features
1.66 Wide Screen
DVD 5
English
Region 2
Dolby Digital 2.0 English
Dolby Digital 2.0
None

Synopsis
This bittersweet drama details the lives of a young couple who are forced to marry due to a pregnancy. As they mature, they learn to love one another. Sensitive and well-acted.

Customer reviews

review by: alanaitch date: 2008-05-14 rating:

Get your Brylcreem off my antimacassar!
Stan Barstow was one of the most underrated writers of the sixties and the following decades,and a hell of a nice bloke. Schlessinger does a
great job of translating it to film without losing much of Barstow's incisive writing. Alan Bates and June Ritchie (then an unknown amateur) were near perfect casting, as was Thora Hird. Unfortunately, I do not feel the other pricipals were so well cast, not that they weren't up to the job - quite the opposite. However,having been introduced to the book in 1967 - as part of day-release - by a student teacher with the longest legs in the universe and who would not have looked out of place on the screen herself,and reading it on average once every eighteen months I envisage them differently. Vic's new brother-in-law is a teacher and ex-serviceman, on the film he is portrayed as a balding, bespectacled, over-studious type not your average desert rat at all. Vic's dad is shown as a railwayman, and quite small at that, whereas in the book he is a miner and the description gives the impression of a strapping middle-aged man with a bit of presence, can we have been so short of coal in 62 that we were afraid all colliers would down tools at being shown on film as rough and ready?
These minor carps apart, I cannot fault the film at all, other than it was made in Lancashire, why? I can remember most West Riding mill towns, as is Cressley, were just as mucky as the one on the film - Bolton I believe - correct me please if I am in error.
I cannot recommend this film enough, or the book, if only for the memories of those exquisite legs.

review by: brianj926 date: 2006-04-22 rating:

Early 60s spot on.
Believe me, this might as well be an early 60s documentary. Just the way it was for plenty of Vic's and Ingrid's, including staying with the mother in law. Incidently, Thora Hird wasn't the worst. A sort of semi-staid Britain just before the Beatles exploded on the scene. Great acting all round. From the script to the decor, clothing and shortage of cars on the road, it's just the way it was. No features or trailer, who cares. If you want to time travel back to early 60s UK and be a fly on the wall in almost any home.

review by: eredfearn2 date: 2002-07-06 rating:

British Film Making At Its Best
Adapted from a famous Stan Barstow novel the story evolves around Vic Brown's relationship with Ingrid Rothwell, a typist who works at the same place. When Ingrid falls pregnant, Vic is obliged to marry her and his life is turned upside down when he comes up against the mother-in-law from Hell wonderfully portrayed by Thora Hird. This is a fine example of British movie making and is worth seeing for the performances by Alan Bates; June Ritchie and of course, Thora Hird. Controversial at the time since it shows a partially nude June Ritchie which was taboo at the time, it looks dated now. But one cannot deny it was a fine achievement for its time. Good picture and sound make the DVD version a good buy. Shame there are no other features available; a trailer would have been nice.

review by: date: 2001-11-26 rating:

Classic
The DVD for this film is not exceptional; no commentary, no featurette, no features at all actually(not even subtitles, and I don't count the aspect ratio as a feature).
The plus point here is that this film is exceptional. This was John Schlesinger's feature film directorial debut, and one of Alan Bates finest performances.
One might say that this was hardly a ground-breaking film, following "Room at the Top" and "Saturday Night & Sunday Morning", but this film follows in that vein so well. The disc isn't groundbreaking, though for a film from 1962 it was hardly expected to have an assortment of special features, but the transfer is rather pleasing and the sound is really quite good.
This disc is worth buying for the film alone, which in my opinion is one of the finest films made, besides, in the end you buy a DVD for the film, not the features on the disc.
I recommend that you do what I did, buy this and enjoy it, there really aren't many finer films out there.

Similar products

Poor Cow
Billy Liar [1963]
The Family Way [1966]
Georgy Girl [1966]
The L-Shaped Room [1962]

Similar categories