Les Corps sauvages

Burton overacts and the dialogue is not that of a normal person but that of considered script. It doesn't ring true. Jimmy is just abusive to his wife, his friend and her friend. Through a modem lens, few would put up with him. Is this an insight into post war Britain? I don't know but I can imagine an angry post war generation. Maybe this notion makes the film more compelling and bleak.

Before George and Martha there were Jimmy and Alison, the vituperate couple at the heart of Osborne's legendary play and I suppose you could say the British Kitchen Sink movement started here. The difference, of course, being that while the Arthur Seatons and Colin Smiths of this world were unequivocally working-class kicking against the system and the intelligentsia, Jimmy and Alison were the intelligentsia playing at being working-class. And therein lies the rub; unlike later 'kitchen sink' movies "Look Back in Anger" isn't so much looking back as mired in the past, an uneasy amalgam of the kind of British films that were coming out in the late fifties and the kind of ground-breaking British cinema that would come to prevail in the early sixties.

There is no denying it is extremely well played. Burton is loudly splendiferous as Jimmy yet he seems strangely miscast at the same time. Perhaps it's that booming, melodious voice; this is a Jimmy that is more Shakespeare than Osborne, (note how Olivier completely subsumed his Shakespearean tendencies to become the definitive Osborne hero in "The Entertainer"). By the time Burton got around to playing George in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" you could say he had grown into the part.

Better cast are Mary Ure as Alison and Claire Bloom as Helena. Their performances feel new and edgy, a move away from the traditional kind of performances that British actresses had been giving up to then while Gary Raymond is an admirable Cliff and a miscast Edith Evans does what she can with Ma Tanner. Tony Richardson opens it out from the Porter's depressing flat to give a more 'cinematic' feel yet it still feels stagey and not in a good way. It's a refreshingly 'grown-up' movie but you may still wonder what all the fuss was about when the original play first opened.

Rebellious youth has always been a good subject for movie makers and Look Back in Anger for the United Kingdom became what The Wild One and The Blackboard Jungle were on this side of the Atlantic.

Though like Marlon Brando, Richard Burton should have been way too old to portray a rebellious youth, he certainly overcomes it with a bravura performance. Burton saw the play on the London stage and went to author John Osbourne and told him he wanted to do the screen version.

For the screen version the producers had the good sense to hire Osbourne to write all the additional scenes needed for a film. The play as presented on stage takes place entirely within the apartment of married couple Richard Burton and Mary Ure. He's a lower class youth who's married well beyond his station. Class and station are quite a bit more rigid in Europe than they are here. He's got a dead end job with a peddler's license in an open air market.

In generations gone by the character of Jimmy Porter would have been off for adventure in some faraway place with a strange sounding name that the United Kingdom had as a part of its empire&commonwealth. But the empire is no more and British society as a whole was adjusting to it in the post World War II years. So all Mr. Burton can do is play his raging trumpet and take out his frustrations on all around him.

Mary Ure repeated her role from both the Drury Lane and Broadway productions and she and Burton are joined by a good ensemble with Claire Bloom, Edith Evans, Gary Raymond in the main feature parts. Also look for Donald Pleasance in an early role as an officious inspector at the market, the kind of bureaucrat you love to hate.

Although the UK is still around minus the empire, Look Back In Anger is a fascinating look back to post World War II Great Britain.

The late fifties marked the beginning of the short lived new wave in British Cinema. This was largely influenced by the burgeoning of the American cinema and stage as opposed to the staid outdated state of affairs in British culture. In that brief period a number of films were made which broke new ground in an effort to portray the often harsh reality of life for millions of Britons. Tony Richardson was perhaps the most prominent exponent of the kitchen sink/angry young man genre and "Look Back in Anger" one of his finest works.

Time has not been kind to a lot of the films which at the time may have seemed important. "Look Back in Anger" is one of the few which have retained its power, due to John Osborne's writing, Richardson's direction and outstanding performances by all.

It must have been an exciting time with the emergence of some exceptional young actors, (Alan Bates, Albert Finney, Tom Courtney, Rita Tushingham, Vanessa Redgrave, to name but a few) as well as a new generation of writers and directors. But it was not long before this exciting movement petered out and British cinema would be once again dominated by largely mediocre films.

"Look Back In Anger" has an emotional rawness to it which is still extremely effective. Osborne does not shy from exposing the ruthlessness his characters are capable of. It's a ruthlessness born of frustration and pain and as such one we can comprehend if not forgive.

Richard Burton in the lead gives a virtuoso performance, but it's the kind of acting which belongs on the stage. Burton, unlike many of his theatrical peers never quite got the hang of screen acting. He's always a number of shades to big. Still, when at his best (such as in "Night of the Iguana"), it's fascinating viewing, despite the overt theatricality.

Claire Bloom who had partnered Burton often on stage, is a fine match for the fiery Burton. The lesser known Mary Ure (Osborne's wife at the time) gives a remarkably touching portrayal as the torn and suffering spouse. Gary Raymond lends much charm in the role that was created by Alan Bates on the stage. And then there's the great Edith Evans in a small role; but then you know what they say about there being no small roles, only small actors. She certainly was one of the greats.

This is classic film making and one of the high points of British cinema, which has never regained its position in the making of exciting, intelligent and important films. Sadly director Tony Richardson too, never really fulfilled the promise of his outstanding early works.

Not one to miss.

Those people in Britain who hark back to some kind of mythical golden age. Meet Jimmy Porter from 1959. Here is a well balanced individual. He has a chip on both shoulders!

Jimmy Porter (Richard Burton) is an angry young man in Derby. A working class lad with a university degree who is bitter at the world and whatever injustices it holds.

Jimmy works in a market stall with his amiable Welsh lodger Cliff, both enjoy jazz in the evenings. Jimmy is married to an upper middle class wife Alison (Mary Ure) who he is constantly mean to. Cliff tries to keep the peace.

When Alison invites her actress friend Helena (Clair Bloom) to stay with them. Tension between the couple increases especially with someone close to Jimmy becoming seriously ill. Jimmy also despises Helena and Alison leaves him unable to tell him that she is pregnant.

In a twist, Helena who also loathes Jimmy ends up becoming his lover. It leads to the viewer to think if she engineered Alison's departure.

Director Tony Richardson was inspired by the French New Wave of realist cinema. It features a powerhouse performance from Burton. All rage and fury yet compassionate to the little fellow, here an Indian market trader constantly discriminated against.

Looking back at the film, Jimmy Porter comes across as a petty mean bully against his wife rather than a grey bleak post war Britain unsure of itself with the loss of an empire. He could had social climbed the corporate ladder with his degree but seems to have wasted any potential opportunities.

Look Back in Anger heralded a new type of film with a different portrayal of the working classes, more raw and honest. Ironically writer John Osborne who wrote the original stage play became a country squire later in life. The original angry young man ended up being rather fond of the establishment that he once detested.