Tony Richardson-A Taste of Honey (1961)

Tony Richardson continued in the vein of kitchen-sink realism with this adaptation of Shelagh Delaney's novel of working-class life. Set in England in the early 1960s, A TASTE OF HONEY stars Rita Tushingham as the waifish Jo, a plain 17-year-old girl who is dragged from one shabby bed-sitter to another by Helen (Dora Bryan), her promiscuous, alcoholic termagant of a mother. When Helen and her current lover, Peter (Robert Stephens), take a holiday in Blackpool, Jo goes along and, while walking on the beach, meets Jimmy (Paul Danquah), a black sailor on leave. After they spend the night together Jimmy's ship leaves for points unknown. Helen and Peter have impulsively decided to marry, and they move into his flat, leaving Jo in the cold. She gets a job in a shoe store, where she meets gay and mild-mannered Geoffrey, and the two decide to move into a flat together. Jo soon discovers she's carrying Jimmy's child, news that depresses her. But Geoffrey couldn't be happier, and he begins knitting baby clothes, goes to a clinic for child-care instruction, and even offers to marry Jo. This moving film is exceptionally well acted and directed; it is a tribute to Richardson's boldness in taking on the theme of miscegenation, then a much more controversial issue. Bfi Video Publishing




Jo (Rita Tushingham) is an awkward, shy 17-year-old girl living with her promiscuous alcoholic mother, Helen (Dora Bryan). Desperately longing to simply be loved, when her mother's latest "romance" drives Jo out of their apartment, she spends the night with a black sailor on a brief shore leave. But when Jo's mother abandons her to move in with her latest lover, Jo finds a job and a room for herself, meets Geoffrey (Murray Melvin), a shy and lonely homosexual, and allows him to share her flat. When she discovers that she is pregnant with the sailor's child, Geoffrey, grateful for her friendship, looks after her, even offering marriage. Their brief taste of happiness is short-lived for Jo's fickle and domineering mother, her own romantic hopes dashed, appears on the scene, determined to drive the gentle Geoffrey from the flat and take over the care of her daughter, rearranging everything to suit herself. (http://imdb.com/title/tt0055506/plotsummary)




The moving story of a plain young girl who becomes pregnant by a black sailor, befriends a homosexual, and gradually becomes a woman. British filmmaking enjoyed a resurgence, known as the British New Wave, during the late 50's and early 60's, with "kitchen sink" films depicting gritty realism, working-class people, and only an occasional happy ending. A Taste Of Honey is one of the defining films of this time period. Written in 1958 by then nineteen-year-old Shelagh Delaney, and first presented by Joan Littlewood in 1959 as a stage play, it was brought to the screen by director-producer Tony Richardson's Woodfall Films in 1961. His search for an unknown actress to play Jo, the teenage daughter, culminated in his discovery of Liverpool-born Rita Tushingham, whose "all-speaking eyes" stood out in her film test. (amazon.com)




The mother-daughter relationship between Helen (Dora Bryan) and Jo (Tushingham) is one of the best on film. Helen's sluttish ways and egocentric lifestyle prompt some wonderfully catty zingers from Jo. As the film goes on, we see that Helen truly loves Jo and never lies to her, but that Helen's first priority is Helen. (amazon.com)




Jo becomes involved with a black man and with a gay man, highly controversial for 1961 audiences, and experiences a brief period of happiness - a taste of honey - before her mother returns with all of her emotional baggage intact. (amazon.com)




A great script gives an actor the opportunity to shine, and Dora Bryan and Rita Tushingham give standout performances. (amazon.com)




Grittily realistic and wonderfully acted, A Taste Of Honey is essential viewing for anyone interested in British Cinema. (amazon.com)