829 A Taste of Honey

[swo17]

A Taste of Honey



The revolutionary British New Wave films of the early 1960s were celebrated for their uncompromising depictions of working-class lives and relations between the sexes. Directed by Tony Richardson, a leading light of that movement, and based on one of the most controversial plays of its time, A Taste of Honey stars Rita Tushingham, in a star-making debut role, as a disaffected teenager finding her way amid the economic desperation of industrial Manchester, and despite an absent, self-absorbed mother. With its unapologetic identification with social outcasts and its sensitive, modern approach to matters of sexuality and race, Richardson's classic is a still startling benchmark work of realism.

SPECIAL FEATURES

• New, restored 4K digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
• New interviews with actors Rita Tushingham and Murray Melvin
• Audio interview with director and coscreenwriter Tony Richardson, conducted by film critic Gideon Bachmann at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival
• New interview with Kate Dorney, curator of modern and contemporary theater at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, about A Taste of Honey's onstage origins
• Excerpt from a 1960 television interview with A Taste of Honey playwright Shelagh Delaney
• Momma Don't Allow (1956), Richardson's first theatrical film
• PLUS: An essay by film scholar Colin MacCabe

[knives]

This seems buried under the other very exciting titles that were announced so I'll give a simple shout out that this is a great film. It's easily my favorite Kitchen Sink balancing the miserablism so common to these films with that light air of absurdity which would characterize some of British cinema pretty soon afterward. Rita Tushingham in particular is amazing in this and its no wonder that she'd become the face of Richard Lester's films for a while after this. It's a genuine powerhouse performance. It's also nice how it handles its social issues in a subdued and casual manner very reminiscent of Martin Ritt. Mama Don't Allow is also a pretty good documentary.

[domino harvey]

Nice, did we know this one was coming?

[swo17]

Lots of speculation from phantom pages, Hulu, and the New Year's Drawing.

[Berzeli]

Isn't this from the British Lion Films library? I thought (probably erroneously) that the entirety of British Lion was with Studiocanal.

Nice bit of news in any case.

[dwk]

Apparently Twilight Time said on facebook that a number of Tony Richardson's films have reverted to his estate and they've already been licensed to a US company. So, this may be one of those and Criterion may be that company.

[swo17]

It's from Westchester Films.

[knives]

Apparently Twilight Time said on facebook that a number of Tony Richardson's films have reverted to his estate and they've already been licensed to a US company. So, this may be one of those and Criterion may be that company.

If that is the case it is probably all of his Woodfall films which include this, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, Look Back in Anger, and The Entertainer. They apparently also were the source for Kes. http://www.imdb.com/company/co0103083/?ref_=ttco_co_2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Berzeli]

It's from Westchester Films.

From what I can gather Woodfall was the production company and British Lion the distributor. It is listed on the library page of British Lion, and as noted on that page "Full Library Copyright © StudioCanal".

I'm happily wrong on this though.

edit: I should probably note that the British Film website hasn't been updated for a while it looks like.

[colinr0380]

It's from Westchester Films.

I see from that list that Westchester Films has Room At The Top too. Hopefully we might see that turn up at some point, perhaps along with its sequels Life At The Top and Man At The Top.

I'm a bit more of a fan of John Schlesinger's first feature A Kind Of Loving from this period (mainly for Alan Bates locked in a battle of wills with mother-in-law from hell Thora Hird!), but A Taste of Honey is great too!

[colinr0380]

• Excerpt from a 1960 television interview with A Taste of Honey playwright Shelagh Delaney

I wonder if this is going to be Ken Russell's Monitor piece on Delaney?

[FrauBlucher]

Beaver Caps look great.

[FrauBlucher]

bluray.com

[Drucker]

I want to echo Knives' recommendation for this wonderful film. I had a good feeling about it and blind-bought it and was glad I did. So many of the feelings of youth and young adulthood play out so well here. Rather than a cartoonishly evil mother that can't understand her daughter's problems, we are given a fairly even and balanced relationship. The daughter occasionally still needs her mother, and her mother destroys the idea that an adult should have all the answers for their child. Mom is just as confused about how the world works, and susceptible to outside/negative influence as daughter.

The film also handles poverty expertly, and as Knives remarked, in a subdued way. The family is forced to confront issues that no middle class family would likely face and without saying so explicitly, it illustrates how the cycle of poverty can re-inforce itself. The powerlessness of poverty is on full display.

All around the film is simple with magnificent execution and great performances, and a really, really likeable lead. Don't skip this film.

[movielocke]

A very good film with an incredible central performance, certainly don't miss this title it's a lovely gem