American Cinematographer - December 2004 - 12

The

ZERO GRAVITY
FLYING EYE

Each year around the holidays, I like to take advantage

of the seasonal lull by kicking back and revisiting some
of my favorite films. Since revival houses have pretty
much gone the way of the Nehru suit, I do most of my
on DVD, which, under the right conditions, is not
bad way to go.
This month's column isn't about technical issues,
nor do I have any gripes to spew or axes to grind. Instead,
I want to embrace the spirit of the season by recom¬

viewing
such

ental Service
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mending some admittedly offbeat pictures that I'm sure
you'll enjoy.
Everyone's list of "The 10 Movies I'd Take to the
Moon" evolves over the years, but the British "Kitchen
Sink" melodramas have ranked near the top of my own
heap for as long as I can remember. My trumpeting of a
certain school of filmmaking may be construed as a bit of a cheat, but I can promise that
any of these films is more than suitable for that long ride through space: Look Back in
Anger, Boom at the Top, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, The Entertainer, A Taste
of Honey, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, A Kind of Loving, Billy Liar, This
Sporting Life and A Place to Go.
Characterized by a sort of social-realist, slice-of-life approach to characters who
are usually trapped on the lower rungs of the economic ladder in post-war, pre-swinging
London, the Kitchen Sink films are stark, unsparing and brutally immediate. At first pass,
they might seem a bit depressing, but they're really not; despite the characters' rough
circumstances and preponderance of personal flaws, they can't help but remind you of
Churchill's ideal: no matter how bad things get, one should never waver or give up. Such
great performers as Alan Bates, Dirk Bogarde, Richard Burton, Julie Christie, Tom
Courtenay, Albert Finney, Laurence Harvey, Charlotte Rampling, Lynn Redgrave and Rita
Tushingham all made their bones in Kitchen Sink films. They also made a cinematic mark
that has endured. The fortitude that shines through their performances - even if the
characters' determination is misguided or misapplied - is something to appreciate,
especially in contrast to the shallowness of our own contemporary culture. Though the
lives of the characters might be small, these are not small people.
There are only a dozen or so films that make the cut as true Kitchen Sinks, all
photographed in black-and-white and produced between 1958 and 1963 on budgets that
were miniscule, even for their day. Largely directed by such perennials as Tony
Richardson, Karel Reisz and John Schlesinger, these films are enormously well crafted
and show a remarkable range of visual textures: perpetually overcast, northern industrial
towns; sooty brick rowhouses and their cramped interiors; muddy football patches; dank,
crowded pubs. These elements combine to create the rarest of cinematic experiences: a
palpable awareness of a particular place and time. Often the effect is so well done that
you can almost smell the dampness wafting up from the cobblestones.
A great deal of credit for this success must, of course, go to the cinematographers,
primarily BSC legends Ossie Morris, Freddie Francis, Walter Lassally and Denys Coop.
Their Kitchen Sink work has a rare economy of style, a selectivity that mitigates against
all but what helps the stop/ along. This sort of simplicity does not come easily and is often
the result of a complex internal or mechanical approach. Either way, what these film¬
makers achieved with such scaled-down means is an encouraging antidote to much of
what we see on screen today. I've been a fan of these films since I first caught them on
public television as a kid - well before I knew what a cinematographer was, I assure
you - and I still learn something new with every viewing.
Don't just take my word for it, though. Many of the Kitchen Sink films are avail¬
able on DVD and have been transferred from above-average elements. So get in out of
the freezing rain, pour yourself a tall brandy, and spend a little time in the company of
some

wonderful artists.
And while you're at

it, have a Merry Christmas, too!

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Richard P. Crudo, ASC
President

Douglas

byPhot

American Cinematographer - December 2004

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