Zorniges Schweigen

I remember the reviews of this film in 1960 but did not manage to see it. Now (2007) I have seen most of it for the first time on afternoon TV. It struck me at first as an anti union film, but so much water has flowed under the bridge that it might be taken as a film about the herd instinct; about how unthinking people are so easily led whether by politicians of all persuasions or union reps with agenda of their own. I deplore the near destruction of the unions by Thatcher, but one can never return to voting by a show of hands any more than we can return to the the industrial Britain of the post war era. Unions need to be rebuilt but in another form.

The young couple are too saintly by half but there is an attempt to provide a certain amount of balance. Curtis actually says he can see "both sides".