Watched this on True Movies the other night. Hadn't seen it before, but I was familiar with its reputation upon release. I was only 11 in 1962 and, according to the grown-ups this was one of those films which showed the sordid side of life and illustrated the deserved dire consequences of doing things you shouldn't. Certainly the poster was enough to tell you something untoward was going on. Personally, I was magically transported back in time to a past when everything was dull and grey including people's lives. It's all there. Know your place. Mind your manners. Sit up straight. Bates' character Vic, like many others is becoming aware of the big world outside his drab northern existence, and he doesn't want to miss out. More mundanely, he doesn't have a girlfriend and contrives to chat up nice girl Ingrid on the bus home. After this the plot follows an inevitable track like a Greek tragedy. You know they're going to have sex (which is why most people went to see the film) but their progress is furtive and embarrassing in line with conscience-loading morals of the time. We're even treated to a, now-hackneyed joke at Vic's expense (literally) when he can't bring himself to ask a female chemist shop assistant for a packet of condoms, and leaves the shop with a bottle of Lucozade! The resulting pregnancy means they "have" to get married in order to keep everyone happy (except Ingrid's mother with whom the couple go to live) The other characters i.e. the parents, Vic's loutish mates, Ingrid's friends, may appear to be stereotypes, but they have verisimilitude and are well portrayed by a host of actors who were to become stalwarts of British drama. James Bolam,Jack Smethurst and Thora Hird deserve mention, but Helen Fraser also pops up. She's practically a stock player in films of this era. With Ingrid's pregnancy and subsequent miscarriage, Vic's dreams of a future evaporate and he walks out. Only to be drawn back. He can't escape his situation, just like George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life or Billy Fisher in Billy Liar. The suggestion of a reconciliation has a precarious fragility about it. As the credits begin to roll you know it won't last.
Review of A Kind of Loving
