Main Cast: Alan Bates, June Ritchie, Thora Hird, James Bolam, Bert Palmer, Leonard Rossiter, Gwen Nelson
Release Year: 1962
Country: UK
Run Time: 107 minutes
Plot
This well-wrought romance takes place in Lancashire, England in an industrial area where Vic (Alan Bates) and Ingrid (June Ritchie) work in the same factory. He is a draftsman who wants only a physical relationship with the woman of his choice (Ingrid), and she is a typist who wants true love with the man she is interested in (Vic). In carefully handled scenes throughout, Vic and Ingrid get together but with consequences neither could have foreseen. Ingrid becomes pregnant, and that one indisputable fact tests the mettle of their relationship more than anything else they could have imagined. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
Review
One of numerous unheralded small films graced with the presence of underrated British actor Alan Bates, A Kind of Loving is the story of a young British couple who marry after the woman (June Ritchie) becomes pregnant. Their marriage founders, but they eventually reconcile. Director John Schlesinger blanketed the film with a morose urban landscape and a blunt moral tone. Based on a novel by Stan Barstow, it has an early 1960s feel of fresh disillusionment, as young adults battle a society that once seemed promising but is now unforgiving. Bates' performance helps the film achieve a rare dignity despite the indecision and failings of its characters, none of whom are paragons of virtue. This was Schlesinger's first feature film; he would later win acclaim with such films as Darling and Midnight Cowboy that continued to show his skill at memorable characterizations. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
Malcolm Patton - Jim Brown; Pat Keen - Christine; Jack Smethurst - Conroy; Patsy Rowlands - Dorothy; Peter Madden - Registrar; Jerry Desmonde - Television Compere; Joe Gladwin - Bus Driver; John Ronane - Draughtsman; Kathy Staff - Mrs. Oliphant; Reginald Green - Contestant; Harry Markham - Railwayman; Bryan Mosley - Bus Driver; Annette Robertson - Phoebe; David Cook - Draughtsman
Credit
Ray Simm - Art Director, Laura Nightingale - Costume Designer, John Schlesinger - Director, Roger Cherrill - Editor, Ron Grainer - Composer (Music Score), Ron Grainer - Musical Direction/Supervision, Denys Coop - Cinematographer, Joseph Janni - Producer, Maurice Fowler - Set Designer, Willis Hall - Screenwriter, Keith Waterhouse - Screenwriter, Stan Barstow - Book Author
Victor 'Vic' Brown (Bates) is a draftsman in a Lancashire factory who sleeps with a typist called Ingrid Rothwell (Ritchie) who also works there. She falls for him but he is less enamoured of her. He then learns she is pregnant so he proposes marriage and the couple move in with her domineering mother Mrs Rothwell (Thora Hird), who looks down on Vic. Ingrid has a miscarriage, Vic has regrets and comes home drunk. The couple then consider the possibility of making do with a 'kind of loving'.
