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John Osborne and the Gift of Friendship

In 1956 John Osborne changed the face of British theatre with his emotionally charged play, Look Back in Anger. Set in a scruffy flat in a typical town in the Midlands, and starring anti-hero Jimmy Porter as the first "angry young man" railing at national apathy, the play captured the imagination of the increasingly disillusioned post-war British public. While other playwrights of the time were chronicling the affluent bourgeoisie, Osborne portrayed the domestic, kitchen sink, realism of the disenchanted, angry, working class.

A unique aspect of this film about the playwright is the recent discovery of extracts from some of the original stage performances of Osborne’s most famous plays, material of great historical importance not seen for almost 40 years, including Laurence Olivier in The Entertainer, Albert Finney in Luther, Nicol Williamson in Inadmissible Evidence, Robert Stephens in Epitaph for George Dillon, and Jill Bennett in A Patriot for Me, with behind-the-scenes footage from Osborne’s Oscar-winning film Tom Jones. Contributions are from Richard Burton, David Hare, Kenneth Tynan, Tony Richardson, Claire Bloom, John Heilpern (Osborne’s authorized biographer), Peter Nichols, Christopher Hampton, Jocelyn Herbert, Charles Wood, Natasha Richardson, Lindsay Anderson, Peter Bowles, Ben Walden, Terence Frisby, Bill Bryden, Sylvia Sims, Bill Kenwright, Robert Fox, Anthony Page and the late Helen Osborne.

Cast: John Osborne, Richard Burton, Daivd Hare, Kenneth Tynan, Tony Richardson, Claire Bloom
Director(s): Tony Palmer
Format: Colour
Region: 0 (all)
Discs: 1
Classification: Exempt
Running Time: 128 minutes
Studio: Isolde Films