Look Back In Anger (1959)

A disillusioned angry working class but educated young man (Richard Burton) rails against the establishment. The brunt of his rage often falls on his wife (Mary Ure). When an actress friend (Claire Bloom) of his wife visits them for a few weeks, everything comes to a head. Based on the play by John Osborne and directed by Tony Richardson (TOM JONES). This film was the first of its kind in the so called "kitchen sink" realism or "angry young man" films that would soon revolutionize British cinema in the 1960s. British cinema had been devoted to the upper class for so long that this revealing look at working class Brits was startling and long overdue. The writing is first rate and Burton is excellent. He restrains his tendency to chew scenery for the most part and when he lets it out, it's appropriate. The downside is that to modern audiences, his character often comes across as boorish and cruel and even self pitying. Not a particularly sympathetic character even if you understand his anger. The performances are uniformly good including Gary Raymond as Burton's best pal and there's a lovely turn by Edith Evans as a cockney mother figure. With Donald Pleasence, Glenn Byam Shaw, Nigel Davenport and George Devine.