DVD

Average customer rating:

Look Back in Anger
That's Acting
interesting but overrated
Important to see
Gary Raymond

Look Back in Anger
Starring: Richard Burton , Claire Bloom , Mary Ure , Edith Evans , and Gary Raymond
Director: Tony Richardson
Manufacturer: MGM (Video & DVD)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

Classics | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $9.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Saturday Night And Sunday Morning
The Entertainer
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner
Darling
The Conformist (Extended Edition)

ASIN: B00005PJ6W
Release Date: 2001-12-11

Amazon.com

Richard Burton was riding high in grandiose roles in Hollywood and on Broadway when he returned to Britain to portray trumpet-playing social dropout Jimmy Porter in Tony Richardson's adaptation of John Osborne's groundbreaking 1956 play. Burton's Jimmy works in a public market "sweet stall" where he rubs shoulders with the working class with a condescending air, while he takes out his contempt of bourgeois complacency at home on his spiritually whipped wife (a numb-looking Mary Ure) and her best friend (Claire Bloom). Burton is too old for the part of the self-loathing college grad, but his performance simmers with frustration and misdirected rage that masks the sad, vulnerable underside to his misanthropic swipes. The film became the opening volley in Britain's "New Cinema," a new wave of young directors, working-class themes, and social-realist style. --Sean Axmaker

Description

OscarÂ(r) nominee* Richard Burton delivers a passionate performance, and Mary Ure, ClaireBloom, Gary Raymond and Edith Evans give exciting stand-out portrayals (Los Angeles Times)in this powerful and engrossing motion picture (Cue) that bristles with brilliant dialogue (The Hollywood Reporter) and raw human emotion. Rage! His eyes blaze with it and his bodyseethes with it. Jimmy Porter is a man consumed by anger, and every moment he spends in the rank, suffocating squalor of the English factory town that entraps him, propels him closer and closer towards self-annihilation. But Jimmy's savage cruelty is not limited to himself. He also hurts the ones he lovesagain and again. And this time, he's about to commit an act so brutal, so destructive, that his wife Alison, her best friend Helena, and even Jimmy himself may not be able to survive! *Actor: The Robe (1953), Becket (1964), The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (1965), Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf (1966), Anne Of The Thousand Days (1969), Equus (1977); Supporting Actor: My Cousin Rachel (1952)

Customer Reviews:

Look Back in Anger.......2007-06-26

Based on John Osborne's excoriating play, Tony Richardson's "Look Back in Anger" burst onto the screen in 1958 with piercing dialogue reflecting the stultifying state of the British lower classes. Richard Burton (in his prime) is electric as Jimmy, imbuing the malcontent with his own dark, scathing intensity. And Richardson evokes the Britain of cold-water flats and endless drizzle with a grim authenticity. Look for veteran stage actress Dame Edith Evans playing Mrs. Tanner, Jimmy's surrogate mother, and the only woman he trusts.

That's Acting.......2007-05-09

There are great performances by many great actors. but Burton's portrayal of Jimmy Porter is in a class by itself----even with a stellar supporting cast Burton is impossible to catch and even the audience needs to hang on to keep up with the pace. One of the most memorable screen performances in the history of cinema.

interesting but overrated.......2006-11-05

This is interesting as a period piece. The interest is not, however, in the somewhat untypical and sometimes unbelievable personalities portrayed, as in the streets, the houses, the clothes and some of the attitudes depicted. For example the class warfare, racial attitudes, and the fact that both Porter's wife and her actress friend, for all their sense of superiority towards Porter and the lower orders, (Porter acts similarly, with his own reverse snobbery) both easily and unquestioningly assume the fifties' feminine roles of ironing and folding clothes, and making meals. The children's games and demeanor are also typical of the times portrayed.

Both Porter and his wife are somewhat typical of their social class, although Porter is far more poetic in his verbal expression than anyone I ever knew back then, and far more emotional. He is domineering, controlling, and egotistical; he has a chip on his shoulder. His wife is unemotional, cold, snobbish, and unfeeling. It is no surprise that they don't get on.

He is too self-centred and doesn't enquire as to his wife's thoughts and feelings; he is too busy describing his own state. He does see that his wife lacks any strong feelings of her own, is merely unthinkingly conventional, and is too easily swayed by others,especially her folks and her friend. She is unhappy and unloved by him, but is all too ready to run away from the situation, and have her unborn child aborted (she doesn't abort because the doctor indirectly warns her not to). She is unwilling even to go with her husband to see his dying "ma" although he tells her he needs her to.

Porter is, like most of us I suspect, too willing to see his own imagined virtues and the weaknesses of others. This is good for the ego but very bad for human relations.

In the end they each realize their own faults. He sees that he is actually "slightly satanic" for example, and overcritical, and she sees that she is too vulnerable, dependent, and emotionally undeveloped. It takes a tragic event to bring them together. Things work out quite well in the end; they seem to each learn something valuable but much of the dialogue is stinted and unconvincing. All actors and actresses do a good job with the material provided.

Important to see.......2006-09-01

Despite strong acting on the part of all, I didn't think that the film adaptation was entirely successful, due to the script and direction. It remains a filmed play. Burton being always so angry doesn't ring true. But the film remains something important to see - and see again. In comparison with the majority of films coming out today, the films of the '60s had something to say and the acting and writing in general were superior.

Gary Raymond.......2006-07-25

The standout for me was this underrated handsome Brit who later wound up on "Rat Patrol" as Sgt. Moffitt. He plays Porter's pal who bears the anger and trumpet outbursts.
Nice period piece. Always good to watch Claire Bloom,, too.

Average customer rating:

A great showing of this ground-breaking play
This Just In . . .
I loved this film!
An exhausting, cathartic emotional experience.
Not What You Would Expect

Look Back in Anger
Starring: Kenneth Branagh , Emma Thompson , Gerard Horan , Siobhan Redmond , and Edward Jewesbury
Director: David Jones , and Judi Dench
Manufacturer: A&E Home Video
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

Drama | Kids & Family | Genres | DVD | Video

( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

Fortunes of War
Dead Again
How to Kill Your Neighbor's Dog
Look Back in Anger
The Winter Guest

ASIN: B0007WFUGK
Release Date: 2005-09-27

Amazon.com

When John Osborne's play Look Back in Anger debuted in 1956, the main character--ranting, relentless, infuriating Jimmy Porter--galvanized audiences and spoke for a young generation frustrated with stagnant life in postwar England. In this contemporary film adaptation, Jimmy Porter (Kenneth Branagh, Henry V, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein), an educated but unfulfilled man, runs a sweet shop and flails at his submissive wife Alison (Emma Thompson, Sense & Sensibility, Angels in America) and everyone else around him. Bitter and self-aggrandizing, Jimmy thinks he's the only one who sees through the suffocating illusions of bourgeois life; he excuses his verbal cruelties as attempts to goad others to wake up to life. Today, Jimmy's behavior may seem less like exhortations to live and more like domestic abuse, but there's no denying it's a juicy, complex role that Branagh digs into with gusto. Branagh's acting can often be vain and self-congratulatory, but here he's aggressive and doesn't shy away from Jimmy's unflattering aspects. Thompson gives a dependably smart and soulful performance. This TV movie version doesn't deviate from the stage production directed in 1989 by Dame Judi Dench (Oscar-winner for Shakespeare in Love); it's Osborne's divisive play presented in all its warts and glory, with no cinematic tricks to cover anything up. In an extra feature, Branagh provides valuable historical context for both the play and the production. --Bret Fetzer

Description

A powerful adaptation of one of modern drama's most celebrated plays. Since it first premiered on London's West End in 1956, John Osborne's LOOK BACK IN ANGER has shocked audiences with its blunt portrayal of domestic realism. Now available for the first time on DVD, Academy Award®-nominee Kenneth Branagh (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) and Academy Award®-winner Emma Thompson (Sense and Sensibility) star in this powerful Thames Television adaptation of Osborne's enduring classic. LOOK BACK IN ANGER tells the simple but gripping story of Jimmy Porter (Kenneth Branagh), an angry young man with a college education and a dead-end job. Feeling trapped by his circumstances, his squalid post-war flat, and spurred on by self-pity, Porter lashes out against his wife, Allison (Emma Thompson), his lover, Helena (Siobhan Redmond), and his business partner, Cliff (Gerard Horan). Fierce, compassionate, funny, and ultimately cathartic, John Osborne's classic "kitchen sink" drama, as directed by Academy Award®-winner Judi Dench (Shakespeare in Love), is a masterpiece of ensemble acting. DVD Features: An Angry Young Man: A Look Back at Look Back In Anger--An Interview with Kenneth Branagh; Cast Biographies; Interactive Menus; Scene Selection

Customer Reviews:

A great showing of this ground-breaking play.......2007-02-05

John Osborne broke the mold of polite English drama with this "kitchen sink" story of frustration, class wars, betrayal, post-war malaise, and
personal failure. Branagh and Thompson, married at the time, not surprisingly show great personal chemistry, and are also completely believable in their roles of a woman who married down and a man who married up and who can't forgive either himself or his wife for his failures.Also keep your eye on the ironing board. This is a filmed version of the play; no added scenes of the great outdoors.

This Just In . . ........2006-04-22

This movie is for anyone who didn't handle their past relationships perfectly and who wants to understand they are not alone in the mistakes they made.

I agree with another reviewer - this is my favorite Kenneth Brannagh performance. I've enjoyed him in other things, but I usually find myself looking at the screen and thinking, "Hey, there's charismatic Kenneth Branagh doing a charismatic acting performance." But his charisma is well placed in this part, playing Jimmy Porter, a man whose ideas are larger than his station, who is overwrought with the limitations of his era.

Jimmy: "They all want to escape from the pain of being alive, and most of all from love . . . It's no good trying to fool yourself about love, you can't fall into it like a soft job without dirtying up your hands. It takes muscle and guts. And if you can't bare the thought of messing up your nice, clean soul . . . then you'd better . . . become a saint, because you'll never make it as a human being. It's either this world or the next."

I don't know if the title of the play is ironic, sarcastic, tragic or literal - probably all four and more.

Jimmy: "You made a good enemy, didn't you? What they call a worthy opponent."
Alison: "I love you."

Alison: "You know, I keep looking back as far as I can remember, and I can't remember what it was to feel young . . . really young."

I titled this review "This Just In" because I feel kind of silly reviewing a movie that came out 17 years ago. But I recommend it because Judy Dench's choice to film the movie like a stage play was exceptional. A point of this play is to look at human relations in the confines of a small living space, small social circle, and British social constructs. And watching the characters, we see how difficult each conversational reply is because everyone in the room knows so much about each other's past. Their small space becomes even more difficult to move in, as they avoid the land mines, slip between the elephants, and struggle with eye contact. Yet despite the constant hardship, love survives.

Please comment, express feedback, or suggest related works or plays.

I loved this film!.......2001-05-09

I'm usually not too keen on plays done on film, but this one was really well done. Judi Dench did a very good job directing, and Branagh and Thompson worked really well together, as always. Everyone ought to see this film at least once.

An exhausting, cathartic emotional experience........2000-01-15

This is minimalist filmed version of a play originally directed for the stage by Judi Dench. In my opinion, it's also Kenneth Branagh's finest screen performance. For a full two hours, he is Jimmy Porter, the man you want to hate but can't help but love. He's one of the educated lower class, burdened by ego and unfulfilled potential. He's an urban lion with a huge heart and claws that constantly torture those around him, namely his wife (Emma Thompson).
These characters are so real, you'll dream about them afterward, and if you give it a chance, this film will work its way into your heart and teach you something about life.

Not What You Would Expect.......1999-07-28

Don't get me wrong, it is an excellent play. Well-acted and well-directed, but for Kenneth Branagh's USA fans, the character of Jimmy is a little tough to take at first. However, once you get some background on the characters, you find yourself very involved in the story. Fair warning, this is a play for adults and is very emotionally (usually negatively) charged. Don't be put off by that fact, though. The excellent performances alone make it well-worth watching.

Average customer rating:

A great showing of this ground-breaking play
This Just In . . .
I loved this film!
An exhausting, cathartic emotional experience.
Not What You Would Expect

Look Back in Anger [Region 2]
Starring: Kenneth Branagh , Emma Thompson , Gerard Horan , Siobhan Redmond , and Edward Jewesbury
Director: David Jones (IV)
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video

( L ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
Similar Items: