Like my favourite pop culture icon Morrissey (lead singer of the Smiths), I have always been attracted to the 'kitchen sink' British dramas of the 1950s and 60s. So called because these books, plays and films were realistic to the point of including even the drab kitchen sink, they appeal to me because they focus on people just trying to lead their lives even when that life may not be infused with glamour, adventure or sweeping romance. I was first introduced to them through Stan Barstow's "A Kind of Loving" trilogy of books.
How people make their way along life's path is a constant source of fascination for me because how I myself have done and am doing just that has taken up a lot of my own brain-space over the years. This clip is the perfect combination - the music is "Hand in Glove" by the Smiths and the film is "A Taste of Honey" starring Rita Tushingham. The film was taken from a book of the same title by Shelagh Delaney. The song speaks, for me at least, of finding moments of happiness wherever you can - finding the diamond in the dustbin, looking for just a taste of honey - even though those moments may be fleeting. And this also sums up the 'kitchen sink' genre in my eyes.
I have tracked down "Saturday Night and Sunday Morning" with Albert Finney and "A Taste of Honey" on DVD so I think I know what I'll be watching on the wet and cold weekend that awaits us...
2 comments:
Yes, it has its special power.
Yes, doesn't it?
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