When he refuses to join an unofficial strike, factory worker Tom Curtis (Richard Attenborough) is ostracised by his workmates and finds enormous strain placed on his wife and young son.
Attenborough gives a sterling performance as Curtis, but the acting honours go to Pier Angeli as his distraught wife and Alfred Burke as the devious agent provocateur behind the strike.
Although this fascinating melodrama was made over 50 years ago, its attitudes to trade unionism and industrial action are curiously contemporary.
Bryan Forbes intelligently explores a range of political issues in his Oscar-nominated screenplay, but the practised rhetoric sounds false in the mouths of the rank and file, and, consequently, the best moments are not the confrontations between strike-breaker Richard Attenborough and his workmates, but those depicting the pressures on his marriage.
Tom Curtis
Richard Attenborough Anna Curtis
Pier Angeli Joe Wallace
Michael Craig Bert Connolly
Bernard Lee Travers
Alfred Burke Davis
Geoffrey Keen Martindale
Laurence Naismith Sid Thompson
Russell Napier Pat
Penelope Horner Green
Michael Wynne Roberts
Norman Bird Masters
Gerald Sim Mick
Oliver Reed Brian
Stephen Lindo
Director
Guy Green
Video
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When he refuses to join an unofficial strike, factory worker Tom Curtis (Richard Attenborough) is ostracised by his workmates and finds enormous strain placed on his wife and young son.
Bryan Forbes intelligently explores a range of political issues in his Oscar-nominated screenplay, but the practised rhetoric sounds false in the mouths of the rank and file, and, consequently, the best moments are not the confrontations between strike-breaker Richard Attenborough and his workmates, but those depicting the pressures on his marriage.
