Guy Green's (1960) film of Bryan Forbes' screenplay is based on a treatment by Michael Craig and, brother, Richard Gregson. Set in London in the late 1950's it was the first release of the joint venture production company Beaver Films set up by Bryan Forbes and Richard Attenborough.
As the film opens, we join Tom Curtis (Richard Attenborough) at work in a small engineering factory beset with labour problems. Single-minded and fiercely independent, Curtis is slow to grasp the implications of the fomenting unrest among his workmates as they band together to challenge the management head-on in a dispute that ultimately leaves Curtis out in the cold.
We follow Curtis home at night where his workmate Joe Wallis (Michael Craig - also writer) lodges with Curtis, his wife Anna (Pier Angeli) and their young family.
But as industrial relations deteriorate at work we see Curtis becoming increasingly isolated and intimidated by his determined colleagues.
With solid performances from Bernard Lee (Bert Connolly), Geoffrey Keen (Davis) and Alfred Burke (Travers) as the sinister agitator, the audience sees Curtis left high and dry as even the management feel compelled to abandon him.
Increasingly out of his depth, we are drawn into Curtis' worsening situation as his family are also intimidated in an effort to break his indomitable will.
This film captures something of the early struggle for recognition by employees in small firms like this before employment protection became enshrined in the law of the land. It gives us a feel for the situation of the casualties along the way and the forces at play.
