Kitchen Sink Realism

Young, attractive and vivacious, model Diana Scott (Julie Christie) is firmly determined to become rich and famous, and she does not hesitate to take bold steps to succeed. She finally literally strikes gold: she meets Robert Gold (Sir Dirk Bogarde), a well-known television journalist who not only introduces her into new social and professional circles, but also abandons his family to live with her. Diana seems to have happily combined success and love. However, in those roaring sixties, others are ready to offer her even more money, fame, and fun than Robert can.

Going nowhere fast, Billy Fisher, an incorrigible fantasizer, dreams incessantly of escaping his drab existence and humdrum routine work as an undertakers' clerk in Yorkshire. Seeking refuge from his working-class family and not one but two demanding fiancees in the imaginary country called Ambrosia, more and more, Billy finds himself cut off from reality, picturing himself as its ruler and hero. Then, as Billy's fabrications grow increasingly wilder and problems start piling up, lovely, happy-go-lucky Liz enters the young day-dreamer's life, offering a way out of this fine mess. However, new beginnings are always scary, and Billy must make up his mind: it's either a fresh start in London or an endless beautiful lie in Ambrosia.

On the far side of middle age, Archie Rice (Sir Laurence Olivier) lives in a British seaside resort with his father, retired successful vaudevillian Billy Rice (Roger Livesey), second wife Phoebe Rice (Brenda de Banzie), and doting son Frank Rice (Sir Alan Bates). Following in retired Billy's footsteps, Archie is a song-and-dance music hall headliner, with Frank supporting his dad as his shows' stage manager. The waning popularity of Archie's type of shows, a dying form of entertainment, is not helped by Archie's stale second rate material, which brings in small unappreciative crowds. Archie clings to his long-held lifestyle, including heavy drinking and chronic infidelity, of which Phoebe is aware. What Archie has not told his offspring is that Phoebe was his mistress while he was still married to their now deceased mother. His want to be a music hall headliner is despite his financial problems, he an undischarged bankrupt who now signs Phoebe's name to everything. Phoebe wants them to escape this life to something more stable, such as the offer from her relations to manage a hotel in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, while Archie, always one step ahead of his creditors for his current show, wants to mount another for the winter season. Long-suffering Phoebe often drowns her sorrows with booze. One person in their immediate family who has somewhat escaped their life is Archie's daughter, Jean Rice (Dame Joan Plowright), an art school teacher in London, she who is still trying to find her place in the world. Her pre-engagement boyfriend Graham (Daniel Massey) wants her to move to Africa with him for a job, which she is reluctant to do if only because of not yet being ready to leave her dysfunctional family behind, they who she still feels to need to watch over. Unlike Archie, Jean is more concerned about the fact that her brother Mick Rice (Albert Finney) has just been shipped overseas to fight in the Suez Crisis. Archie's steps in his determination to mount that new show, seemingly at any cost, may break the family apart once and for all.

A plea for reform of England's anti-sodomy statutes, Melville Farr (Sir Dirk Bogarde), a married lawyer, tries to locate a blackmailer who has photos of Farr and a crying young gay man (who is being blackmailed and later commits suicide) in Farr's car. After the suicide, Farr tracks down other gay men being extorted for money by the same blackmail scheme. Worldly Police Detective Inspector Harris (John Barrie) considers the anti-sodomy law nothing more than a license to blackmailers, and eventually is contacted by Farr to capture the malicious blackmailer. The movie, far ahead of its time, ends with Farr and his loving wife coming to terms with his homosexual tendencies in advance of the public exposure he will face in the team of blackmailers' trial.

In a French village, Manou is an Italian logger, virile, with a broad laugh. He can't say no to women's sexual invitations, and jealous villagers blame him for recent fires and a flood. He is innocent; the culprit is "Mademoiselle," town schoolmarm, a recent arrival admired by all, but sexually repressed and obsessed with Manou. She sets the first fire accidentally and throbs watching a shirtless Manou perform heroics. Subsequent catastrophes are no accident and express her mad passion for him. Also, after befriending Manou's son, she turns on the lad, making him miserable and raising his suspicions. Her designs, Manou's frank innocence, and the town's xenophobia mix explosively.

The aristocratic Tony (James Fox) moves to London and hires the servant Hugo Barrett (Sir Dirk Bogarde) for all services at home. Barrett seems to be a loyal and competent employee, but Tony's girlfriend Susan (Wendy Craig) does not like him, and asks Tony to send him away. When Barrett brings his sister Vera (Sarah Miles) to work and live in the house, Tony has a brief hidden affair with her. After travelling with Susan and spending a couple of days in a friend's house outside London, the couple unexpectedly returns and finds Barrett and Vera, who are actually lovers, in Tony's room. They are fired and Susan breaks with Tony. Later, Tony meets Barrett alone in a pub and hires him back, and Barrett imposes his real dark intentions in the house, turning the table and switching position with his master.

Adapting her play "A New Communion for Freaks, Prophets and Witches", playwright/actress

In 1880s Salford, England, widower Henry Hobson, owner and operator of Hobson's Boots, lives with his three adult daughters Maggie, Alice, and Vicky in a flat attached to the shop. Henry is miserly, dipsomaniacal, and tyrannical, not allowing his daughters to date since their sole purpose in life is to serve him and the shop--for no wages. He changes his mind about Alice and Vicky, for whom he will choose husbands although they've also chosen the men they'd marry if they could. However, Henry won't provide them with dowries, which might be a challenge in finding them men he would consider suitable husbands. He considers Maggie far too useful to him as the overly-efficient, organized one, so doesn't intend to let her go--besides, at age 30, she's too old for any man to want anyway. Incensed by her father's attitude, Maggie decides to show him how wrong he is about her being an unmarriageable spinster by proposing to timid Willie Mossop, the shop's poor, uneducated, illiterate boot hand--yet best bootmaker, apparently better than any bootmaker in nearby Manchester--who has known no other professional life than the shop. They enter into a marriage of convenience. Despite the differences in their social classes, Maggie believes she can show her father that she can find a husband while also forcing him to treat Willie better (and by association her) in paying him decent wages, otherwise she will use her wifely influence to convince Willie to take his and her valuable services elsewhere. If their hands are forced, Maggie believes their best weapon is wealthy, particular Mrs. Hepworth, who said that only Willie shall ever make her boots. Maggie has even taken into consideration what effect her actions will have on her sisters' nuptials, vowing to them that all will be all right in that regard. Although she truly has no idea how her father will react, she hasn't considered Willie, who might already have his own life outside the shop. If he does agree, what effect will her plan have on him and his entire being?

Joan Webster is an ambitious and stubborn middle-class English woman determined to move forward since her childhood. She meets her father in a fancy restaurant to tell him that she will marry the wealthy middle-aged industrial Robert Bellinger in Kiloran island, in the Hebrides Islands, Scotland. She travels from Manchester to the island of Mull, where she stays trapped due to the windy weather. Whilst on the island, she meets Torquil McNeil and as the days go by they fall in love with each other.

The Oxford Professor of Philosophy Stephen (Sir Dirk Bogarde) has two favorite pupils, the athletic aristocrat William (Michael York) and the Austrian Anna von Graz (Jacqueline Sassard). Stephen is a frustrated man, with a negligent wife, Rosalind (Vivien Merchant), who is pregnant of their third child, and is envious of the Oxford professor Charley (Stanley Baker), who has a television show. Stephen feels attracted to Anna, but William woos her and she becomes his girlfriend. Charley has a love affair with Anna, but when things go wrong, Anna must leave town.

A homely but vivacious young woman dodges the amorous attentions of her father's middle-aged employer while striving to capture some of the glamorous life of her swinging London roommate.

Aston (Robert Shaw), a quiet, reserved man, lives alone in a top-floor cluttered room of a small abandoned house in a poor London district. He befriends and takes in Mac Davies (Donald Pleasence), an old derelict who has been fired from a menial job in a café. In time, Aston offers him a job as caretaker of the house. Aston's brother, Mick (Sir Alan Bates), a taunting sadist, harasses the derelict when his brother is away, countermanding his orders. Eventually, Aston, irritated by the cantankerous old man, puts him out.

Hazel Woodus is a beautiful but innocent country girl who loves all the creatures around her, especially her pet fox cub. She is given a rough time by her father but can escape to run barefoot through the woods when her harsh life gets too much for her. It is there that she is found by the local squire, Jack Reddin, finds her and is struck by her beauty. The obvious conflict develops when the squire leads the local hunt and tries to kill Hazel's pet fox. The title "Gone to Earth" is taken from the huntsmans cry when the target is no longer obtainable.

76 year old Margaret Ross lives in a run-down flat, is all alone in the world. Despite being a bright, she's not totally right in mind. She has delusions, the most common is her neighbours are listening to her through the building's pipes. Following a being hospitalised, Margaret isn't capable of managing herself, lMr. Conrad, who has taken a liking to her, takes it upon himself to ensure she's taken care of. As such, the authorities go looking for her husband, Archie, but as she's been alone - with the whispers - will it bring her happiness?

A stern father and lenient mother try to deal with the ups and downs of their four children's lives in working-class Bolton.

Mandy was born deaf and has been mute for all of her life. Her parents believe she is able to speak if she can only be taught and so enrol her with a special teacher.

A working-class love story set in and around the London Underground of the 1920s. Two men - gentle Bill and brash Bert - meet and are attracted to the same woman on the same day at the same Underground station. But the lady chooses Bill, and Bert isn't the type to take rejection lightly...

Awkward young Irish farm girl Kate Brady moves to Dublin and shares a room with funny, outgoing Baba Brennan, where she soon meets middle-aged writer Eugene Gaillard, who is immediately attracted to the shy and innocent Kate and ignores the more sophisticated Baba.