Synopsis

"Saturday Night and Sunday Morning changed the face of British cinema overnight," as if... auteur Lindsay Anderson wrote. "It opened doors that had been nailed fast for fifty years." Directed by Czechoslovakia-born Karel Reisz, this uncompromising tale of a Nottingham factory-hand at work, rest and (plenty of) play broke new ground in its depiction of the British working class. Adapting his own bestselling novel, Alan Sillitoe plunges the viewer into the life of Arthur Seaton—played by Albert Finney in a BAFTA-winning performance that ignited what would prove an enduring, superlative career. A brawny, boozing bloke with a contemptuous attitude to authority—indeed, to anyone and anything who gets in his way—Seaton is arguably the closest European equivalent to the snarling rebels portrayed in American movies by the likes of Marlon Brando. Shot in real Midlands locations on artfully inky black-and-white by legendary cinematographer Freddie Francis, this unforgettable film is a sophisticated and penetrating character-study painted against a context of gritty, documentary-style realism. Embellished by a moody jazz score by Johnny Dankworth, Reisz's early masterpiece has maintained a strong appeal over every subsequent generation—a beacon of radicalism and audacity that blazes boldly on.