This early Alan Bates film, based on Stan Barstow's best-selling novel, was the first feature film that John Schlesinger directed. Though not technically an 'angry young man' drama, it has connections to the genre by being part of the British New Wave of the late 50s and early sixties.
Vic Brown (Alan Bates) is a well-liked and wholesome young draftsman from a good family. His father, mother, and recently-married sister all see him as moving up and doing well in his field; his younger brother looks up to him and asks his advice about girls. When Vic meets a young typist, Ingrid Rothwell (June Ritchie), from the office, he can't take his eyes off of her and the two fall head over heals in love with each other.
After a brief courtship, Vic starts to have second thoughts about Ingrid and starts seeing other girls. But, Ingrid (now totally in love with Vic) starts to worry that Vic no longer loves her. The two start dating again and finally have sex (both of them for the first time). Even this is cute since it shows more realism (for the time) than the instant gratification we see in the films and TV of today.
Of course, the inevitable film story occurs when she becomes pregnant by him and they are forced to get married. How sad both families look during Vic and Ingrid's civil marriage; how different their marriage ceremony is from the one that opened the film, that of Vic's sister in a huge church wedding with all the trimmings!
Vic is doing well at work, but not well enough to support a family quite yet. So, the newly married couple makes the fatal mistake of moving in with Ingrid's mother, Mrs. Rothwell, expertly realized as the mother-in- law from hell by Thora Hird. When they move it to HER house, Vic finds himself as the interloper in the house and ultimately in his own marriage, constantly being nagged and badgered (or, worse yet, totally ignored) by Ingrid and her mother. He does the 'slow burn' for the sake of his marriage and the soon- to-arrive baby.
One day, while arriving home from work, Vic learns that Ingrid has been rushed to the hospital; when he gets to the hospital, he leans that she had a miscarriage while falling down the stairs. Vic hadn't been informed about either until he gets to the hospital where his mother-in- law stares daggers at him (for whatever he did or did not do..to cause this miscarriage).
Several weeks after the miscarriage, things only get worse when he tries to have sex with her and she begs off, claiming it might hurt her too close to the miscarriage. This is a similar to an earlier scene in the film when he tries to have intercourse with her (after they had been married) and she begs off, feeling that it might hurt the baby. In the earlier scene, he has to prove that sex would NOT hurt the baby by showing her a chapter from a marriage manual he had purchased before their marriage.
Ingrid seems unable to confront her mother to save her marriage, and Vic gets no help from HIS family either. The kitchen-sink realism of this story has a bittersweet ending when the couple finally decides what to do about their marriage. Parts of this film may seem dated by today's standards. However, it engagingly tackles very REAL problems that did— and probably still do--happen to young couples who have to make difficult choices.
Vic Brown (Alan Bates) is a well-liked and wholesome young draftsman from a good family. His father, mother, and recently-married sister all see him as moving up and doing well in his field; his younger brother looks up to him and asks his advice about girls. When Vic meets a young typist, Ingrid Rothwell (June Ritchie), from the office, he can't take his eyes off of her and the two fall head over heals in love with each other.
After a brief courtship, Vic starts to have second thoughts about Ingrid and starts seeing other girls. But, Ingrid (now totally in love with Vic) starts to worry that Vic no longer loves her. The two start dating again and finally have sex (both of them for the first time). Even this is cute since it shows more realism (for the time) than the instant gratification we see in the films and TV of today.
Of course, the inevitable film story occurs when she becomes pregnant by him and they are forced to get married. How sad both families look during Vic and Ingrid's civil marriage; how different their marriage ceremony is from the one that opened the film, that of Vic's sister in a huge church wedding with all the trimmings!
Vic is doing well at work, but not well enough to support a family quite yet. So, the newly married couple makes the fatal mistake of moving in with Ingrid's mother, Mrs. Rothwell, expertly realized as the mother-in- law from hell by Thora Hird. When they move it to HER house, Vic finds himself as the interloper in the house and ultimately in his own marriage, constantly being nagged and badgered (or, worse yet, totally ignored) by Ingrid and her mother. He does the 'slow burn' for the sake of his marriage and the soon- to-arrive baby.
One day, while arriving home from work, Vic learns that Ingrid has been rushed to the hospital; when he gets to the hospital, he leans that she had a miscarriage while falling down the stairs. Vic hadn't been informed about either until he gets to the hospital where his mother-in- law stares daggers at him (for whatever he did or did not do..to cause this miscarriage).
Several weeks after the miscarriage, things only get worse when he tries to have sex with her and she begs off, claiming it might hurt her too close to the miscarriage. This is a similar to an earlier scene in the film when he tries to have intercourse with her (after they had been married) and she begs off, feeling that it might hurt the baby. In the earlier scene, he has to prove that sex would NOT hurt the baby by showing her a chapter from a marriage manual he had purchased before their marriage.
Ingrid seems unable to confront her mother to save her marriage, and Vic gets no help from HIS family either. The kitchen-sink realism of this story has a bittersweet ending when the couple finally decides what to do about their marriage. Parts of this film may seem dated by today's standards. However, it engagingly tackles very REAL problems that did— and probably still do--happen to young couples who have to make difficult choices.