British New Wave.

British New Wave

The British New Wave is the name given to the trend in film-making among directors in Britain in the late 1950’s and early 60’s. This type of genre centered on the class and the nitty-gritty of day-to-day life. It was also known as the kitchen sink drama.

The British New Wave was characterized by many of the same thematic conventions as the ‘French New Wave.’ Usually in black and white, these films had a spontaneous quality, often shot in style on real locations with real people, rather than extras. Thus forth capturing life as it happens.

Kitchen Sink Realism

Kitchen sink realism, or kitchen sink drama is a term coined to describe a British cultural movement that developed in the late 1950’s and early sixties in theatre, art, novels, film and television plays, whose heroes usually could be described as ‘angry young men.’ It used a style of social realism, which often depicted the domestic situations of the working-class, living in cramped accommodation, which was rented. It would often show the Britons spending their off-hours drinking and exploring social issues and political controversies.

Social Realism

Social Realism is a movement known internationally which draws attention to the everyday conditions of the working classes and the poor, and who are critical of the social structures that maintain these conditions.  

Britain today is still a society in many ways defined by the class of a person. In the 1950’s divisions were far more rigid. The films known as the ‘new wave; films and sources that inspired them gave a voice to a working class that was for the first time – gaining economic power.

Previously in cinema, working class characters had largely been used for a comedic effect. In the ‘new wave’ films we see their lives at the centre of the action.

 

Films included in the British New Wave movement are; A Taste of Honey, Look Back in Anger, Room at the Top, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, A Kind of Loving and Billy Liar.

Many of these films concentrate of the conflicts within the working class, contrasting the roughest working-class lives  (the very poor, criminal, unskilled) Such as Arthur in Saturday Night, Sunday Morning with the more respectable characters whom are skilled, aspirational, educated and ‘moral’ – characters such as Vic Brown and Billy Fisher.
There is clear recognition that social change and affluence will make the system more fluid. There is also an understanding that the essentials of power shan't change – the mindset that reinforces divisions is still very much there.

http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/445176/

In Britain critical writing about the state of British cinema began in the 1950’s and foreshadowed some of what was to come. Among the group of critic and documentary film makers was Lindsay Anderson who was a prominent critic writing for the influential Sequence magazine, which was co-founded with Gavin Lambert and Karel Reisz. Karel later became a prominent director also; writing for the British Film Institute’s journal Sight and Sound and the left-wing political weekly the New Statesman. In one of his early and most well-known polemical pieces, Stand Up, Stand Up – he outlined his theories of what British cinema should become. He developed a philosophy of cinema, which found expression in what became known as the Free Cinema Movement by the late 1950’s.

The Free Cinema Movement was the belief that the cinema must break away from it’s class-bound attitudes and that the working classes ought to be noticed and seen on Britain’s screens.

Notable Directors

•           Lindsay Anderson,
•           John Boorman,
•           Jack Clayton,
•           Basil Dearden,
•           Clive Donner,
•           Bryan Forbes,
•           Richard Lester,
•           Ken Loach,
•           Joseph Losey,
•           Karel Reisz,
•           Nicolas Roeg,
•           Tony Richardson,
•           Ken Russell,
•           John Schlesinger,
•           Peter Watkins
•           Peter Yates.

 

Directors, such as those above, brought wide shots and plain speaking to stories of ordinary Britons negotiating post-war social structures. “The new Wave protagonist was usually a working class male without bearings in a society in which traditional industries and the cultures that went with them were in decline.”

Relaxation of censorship enabled film makers to portray issues which were relatable to the audiences – prostitution, abortion, homosexuality, alienation, adultery etc. Characters included factory workers, office underlings, pregnant girlfriends, runaways, the poor, the depressed and dissatisfied wives.

Notable Actresses and Actors

•           Alan Bates,
•           Dirk Bogarde,
•           Julie Christie,
•          Oliver Reed,
•           Tom Courtenay,
•           Tom Bell,
•           Albert Finney,
•           Richard Harris,
•           Laurence Harvey,
•           Rita Tushingham,
•           Richard Burton,
•           Malcolm McDowell.

British New Wave Films

•           Room at the Top (1959)
•           Look Back in Anger (1959)
•           Tiger Bay (1959)
•           Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (1960)
•           Hell Is a City (1960)
•           The Entertainer (1960)
•           A Taste of Honey (1961)
•           A Kind of Loving (1962)
•           The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner (1962)
•           Billy Liar (1963)
•           This Sporting Life (1963)
•           Tom Jones (1963)
•           The L-Shaped Room (1963)
•           A Hard Day's Night (1964)
•           The Knack …and How to Get It (1965)
•           Kes  (1969)
•           If.... (1968)