One of the greatest British films of its period. Carol Reed directed this version of A J Cronin's novel in a free-wheeling, naturalistic style that belies its literary source. It's consistently cinematic in a way British cinema wasn't until the late fifties or early sixties. It's about coal-mining, (and the coal-mining sequences are superb), but it's also about politics and education and class and its various themes run seamlessly through the picture.
Michael Redgrave, in an early performance, is remarkably good as the idealistic young miner who educates himself and becomes a teacher but sells out and marries a heartless guttersnipe brilliantly played by a young Margaret Lockwood. Emlyn Williams is the spiv she really loves and Edward Rigby and Nancy Price are both superb as Redgrave's parents. In terms of style it's a much more primitive picture than some of Reed's later work such as "The Third Man" and "The Fallen Idol" but that works in its favour. This is a raw, highly energized picture and it's very moving.
Michael Redgrave, in an early performance, is remarkably good as the idealistic young miner who educates himself and becomes a teacher but sells out and marries a heartless guttersnipe brilliantly played by a young Margaret Lockwood. Emlyn Williams is the spiv she really loves and Edward Rigby and Nancy Price are both superb as Redgrave's parents. In terms of style it's a much more primitive picture than some of Reed's later work such as "The Third Man" and "The Fallen Idol" but that works in its favour. This is a raw, highly energized picture and it's very moving.