John Schlesinger directed A Kind of Loving, a British kitchen sink drama, based on Stan Barstow’s 1960 novel of the same name.
It stars Alan Bates and June Ritchie as two lovers in early 1960s Lancashire. The photography was by Denys Coop, and the music by Ron Grainer. Filming locations included the towns of Preston, Blackburn, Bolton, Salford, Manchester, Radcliffe and St Anne’s-on-Sea in the northwest of England.
The film belongs to the New British Cinema, a genre commonly known as “kitchen sink drama.”
The novel was later adapted into the 1982 television series A Kind of Loving.
Victor ‘Vic’ Brown (Bates) is a draughtsman in a Manchester factory who sleeps with a typist called Ingrid Rothwell (Ritchie) who also works there. She falls for him but he is less enamoured of her. When he learns he has made her pregnant Vic proposes marriage and the couple move in with Ingrid’s protective, domineering mother, Mrs Rothwell (Thora Hird), who disapproves of the match. Ingrid has a miscarriage, Vic has regrets and comes home drunk. The couple then consider the possibility of making do with ‘a kind of loving’.
Commercial Success:
It was the sixth most popular film at the British box office in 1962.
Critical Status:
The film won the Golden Bear award at the 1962 Berlin Film Fest.
Cast
Alan Bates as Victor Arthur ‘Vic’ Brown
Thora Hird as Mrs. Rothwell
June Ritchie as Ingrid Rothwell
Bert Palmer as Mr. Geoffrey Brown
Pat Keen as Christine Harris
James Bolam as Jeff
Jack Smethurst as Conroy
Gwen Nelson as Mrs. Brown
John Ronane as Draughtsman
David Mahlowe as David Harris
Patsy Rowlands as Dorothy
Michael Deacon as Les
Annette Robertson as Phoebe
Fred Ferris as Althorpe
Leonard Rossiter as Whymper
Malcolm Patton as Jim Brown
Harry Markham as Railwayman
Peter Madden as Registrar
