The Angry Silence (1960)

User Rating:

7.3/10   

Director:

Guy Green

Writers:

Michael Craig (original treatment for the screen)
Bryan Forbes (screenplay)

Release Date:

29 July 1960 (Sweden)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

Rough, Tough, Deeply Moving

Plot:

A young factory worker decides to stand up against his work-mates and fellow union members when they want to hold a wildcat strike.

Plot Keywords:

Strike | Factory | Husband Wife Relationship | Canteen | Labor Relations

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 4 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Richard Attenborough	...	Tom Curtis
Pier Angeli	...	Anna Curtis
Michael Craig	...	Joe Wallace
Bernard Lee	...	Bert Connolly
Alfred Burke	...	Travers
Geoffrey Keen	...	Davis
Laurence Naismith	...	Martindale
Russell Napier	...	Thompson
Penelope Horner	...	Pat
Brian Bedford	...	Eddie
Brian Murray	...	Gladys
Norman Bird	...	Roberts
Beckett Bould	...	Arkwright
Oliver Reed	...	Mick
Edna Petrie	...	Harpy

Runtime:

USA:95 min | UK:95 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:PG (re-rating) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:A | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Ipswich, Suffolk, England, UK

Company:

Beaver Films

Trivia:

Being an anti-trades union film, this was initially banned in Wales where the cinema chains were controlled by the miners' unions. It was only when Richard Attenborough personally intervened and screened it for the union leaders that the ban was revoked.

Movie Connections:

References From Here to Eternity (1953)

Oozing with violence !

Although I saw this film many years ago when I was a university in the 1970's, it would not appear to be very well known. A couple of years ago it came out on DVD in the UK and I gobbled it up the day I found it ! In fact, the film is a masterpiece of acting. It depicts an age in Britain's Industrial Relations which was ( fortunately for us all ) swept away when Margaret Thatcher's government came to power in 1979. Prior to this, the British Economy was in a mess and all people could think about doing was going on strike. The film, made in 1959 presumably depicts somewhere around the beginning of this period. Nowadays, people don't speak of "closed shop" agreements, presumably because it has been made illegal, but at the time, if you weren't a member of a union, you had difficulties to be employed. T The film is extremely violent in its ideas and although the physical violence is limited, the underlying and implied violence in thought and ideas is rather frightening. Scenes of Attenborough trying to enter the factory to work and being intimidated by other striking workers really are very shocking and difficult to watch. Attenborough's wife on the screen the Beautiful and much regretted Pier Angela brings a soft and feminine touch to this world of bigoted louts and layabouts. Watching someone being sent to Coventry ( ie being ignored ) is no easy matter and I felt quite sick at the way Attenborough was treated by his colleagues, just because he refused to strike. Nowadays that sort of thing wouldn't happen but at the time the mentality was different ( which just goes to prove that the old mentalities are not always the better ones ) I was curious to know about the person who arrives on a train at the beginning and leaves just as furtively at the end. I don't know the actor's name but he certainly had a face corresponding to the part. I assume he was an agent from a competitor company sent by them to stir up trouble amines the Martindale Employées so that another company would get the orders. We don't have confirmation of this during the film by that is my own idea. I originally thought he was a commy infiltrator but then changed my mind after a few viewings of the film.

I personally found the film very nourishing and very intense, true it depicts a long lost era in British Labour Relations but the sheer intensity of the acting and the violence means that one cannot get it out of one's mind. What a shame we no longer have British Cinema today producing films of this intensity on problems in current-day Britain!