Saturday Night and Sunday Morning (film)
| Saturday Night and Sunday Morning | |
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Original British quad format cinema poster
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| Directed by | Karel Reisz |
| Produced by |
Tony Richardson Harry Saltzman (executive producer) |
| Written by | Alan Sillitoe |
| Starring |
Albert Finney Shirley Anne Field Rachel Roberts Hylda Baker Norman Rossington |
| Music by | John Dankworth |
| Cinematography | Freddie Francis |
| Edited by | Seth Holt |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Bryanston Films (UK) |
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Release date
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Running time
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89 min |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £100,000 or £120,000 |
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning is a 1960 British film directed by Karel Reisz and produced by Tony Richardson. It is an adaptation of the 1958 novel of the same name by Alan Sillitoe, who also wrote the screenplay adaptation. The film is about a young machinist who spends his weekends drinking and partying, all the while having an affair with a married woman.
Arthur Seaton is a young machinist at a Nottingham factory. He is determined not to be tied down to living a life of domestic drudgery like the people around him, including his parents, whom he describes as "dead from the neck up". He spends his wages at weekends on drinking and having a good time. Arthur is having an affair with Brenda, the wife of an older colleague. He also begins a more traditional relationship with Doreen, a beautiful single woman closer to his age. Doreen, who lives with her mother and aspires to be married, avoids Arthur's sexual advances, so he continues to see Brenda as a sexual outlet.
Brenda becomes pregnant by Arthur, and demands his help in terminating the unwanted pregnancy (as abortion was not legal in Britain at the time of the film). Arthur takes her to see his Aunt Ada for advice; when his aunt's method of having Brenda sit in a hot bath and drink gin does not work, Arthur provides Brenda with the name of a doctor who performs illegal abortions. However, Brenda decides that she will keep the child after all, and suffer the consequences. Brenda's husband Jack (Bryan Pringle) finds out about her pregnancy and her affair with Arthur, and enlists the help of his brother and a fellow soldier to chase Arthur down through a town fairground (where he has taken Doreen on a date) and give him a severe beating. Arthur is trapped on an amusement ride as the two soldiers menacingly stand and wait for him. When he escapes the ride, he is caught and beaten.
Arthur spends a week recovering and is visited by Doreen; they later have sex. After recovering, Arthur returns to work, and realises his affair with Brenda is finished after her husband tells him to stay away from Brenda. Arthur decides to marry Doreen. The film ends with Arthur and Doreen discussing the prospect of a new home together, with Arthur showing that he still has mixed feelings about settling down into domestic life.
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning was at the forefront of the British New Wave, portraying British working class life in a serious manner for the first time and dealing realistically with sex and abortion. It was among the first of the "kitchen sink dramas" that followed the success of the play Look Back in Anger. Producer Tony Richardson later directed another such film, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, which was also adapted from an Alan Sillitoe book of the same name.
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