Sons and Lovers (1960)

A young man with artistic talent lives in a close-knit coal-mining town and finds himself inhibited by his emotionally manipulative mother.

Director:

Jack Cardiff

Writers:

Gavin Lambert (screenplay), T.E.B. Clarke (screenplay)

Stars:

Trevor Howard, Dean Stockwell, Wendy Hiller

Won 1 Oscar. Another 7 wins & 16 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Trevor Howard	...	Walter Morel
Dean Stockwell	...	Paul Morel
Wendy Hiller	...	Mrs. Morel
Mary Ure	...	Clara Dawes
Heather Sears	...	Miriam
William Lucas	...	William Morel
Conrad Phillips	...	Baxter Dawes
Ernest Thesiger	...	Mr. Hadlock
Donald Pleasence	...	Pappleworth
Rosalie Crutchley	...	Mrs. Leivers
Sean Barrett	...	Arthur Morel
Elizabeth Begley	...	Mrs. Radford
Edna Morris	...	Mrs. Anthony
Ruth Kettlewell	...	Mrs. Bonner
Anne Sheppard	...	Rose

Storyline

It's the early twentieth century. The Morel family lives in the coal mining community of Bestwood, England, just outside of Nottingham. There is little connection now between husband and wife, Walter and Gertrude, due to their differences, while each quietly or not so quietly is able to manipulate emotionally their now adult sons. While eldest son William has escaped the clutches of his parents by moving to London, each of the two remaining sons have ended up having a natural alliance or connection to one parent. Arthur, like brusque Walter, works in the mines, something that Walter believes is their duty and legacy. Artistically inclined Paul, who is self-taught in his art, instead has a lower paying office job, in Gertrude's mind it a longer path but to greater financial gain, Paul who is never to work in the mines. Paul, arguably, would live as a painter if he was able. Paul's relationship with two women is shown in light of the influence Gertrude has had in his life, he who has ...

---

Plot Keywords:

london england | snow | train | train station | fight | 

---

Taglines:

You'll never forget the young lovers in Sons & Lovers

---

Genres:

Drama

---

Certificate:

Approved

Did You Know?

Trivia

Features the only Oscar nominated performances of both Trevor Howard and Mary Ure.

---

Quotes

Miriam: You know, my mother disapproves more and more of the books you bring. She blames you for putting ideas into my head.
Paul Morel: Does she think heaven frowns on ideas? Your mother breathes religion through her nostrils!
Miriam: Do you think that's wrong?
Paul Morel: It's not religious just to be religious! I think a crow is religious as it sails across the sky. It's showing the glory of God but it doesn't know it. God doesn't know things, he is things.

---

Connections

Referenced in Kate & Allie: Sons and Lovers (1985)

---

Soundtracks

The Night My Old Lady Left Town
(uncredited)
Written by Hal Shaper

User Reviews

It takes its time, it broods, it makes love wordy--but it does all this really really well

Sons and Lovers (1960)

D. H. Lawrence is at an all time low in popularity--both his books and the movies based on them. Why? Good question. It's more than just passing tastes. I think it has to do with the precious boundary breaking that once made Lawrence a daring darling of the literary set. Sexual taboos have since been so radically eclipsed, from Henry Miller to John Updike, not to mention hundreds of less mainstream authors, Lawrence is almost stuffy and pretentious.

Or so it would seem. "Sons and Lovers" is a love story set in a tough mining town in England early in the 20th Century. It's filled with the longing of a man to rise out of these pits and be "something" in the world--namely, a successful painter. The girl who loves him is overly devoted, and after a tryst (that was the radical part) there is a falling apart of things. How true this can be! I mean, this is great stuff--a sensitive story about the feelings most of us have had, where desire is mistaken for something deeper, where the world is calling and love, or shades of love, are not enough to keep you home.

The filming is straight out of the gritty, short period of British films known rough as the British New Wave or the Angry Young Men (or both). These films, a grown out of French New Wave and early Italian neo-realism, were a reaction against the slick and vacuous big studio filmmaking (Hollywood especially) from this period. There are more typical films from this group than "Sons and Lovers" but it's certainly part of that mood, looking at working class life, filming with great economy and directness, and using actors in a realistic, vaguely documentary way. For insight into this kind of film, try "Loneliness of a Long Distance Runner" or "Look Back in Anger." Even the first Beatles film, oddly enough, is influenced by this movement ("A Hard Day's Night"), in the raw, fast, black and white style.

But if that's the context, you still have to ask if this film is any good. And the answer is quite. It's a big movie, a deep movie, emotional and deeply serious. It is sad, too, overall, or perhaps melancholy is a better word, and this gloom is slightly wearing after a bit. Some people will find that talking about love is a peculiarly British and indirect way of being in love--the literary overwhelms the truth.

Director Jack Cardiff is a cinematographer above all. This might explain the visual emphasis, the sublime, restrained photography. Lead young actor Dean Stockwell is a perfect visual cast, and he really is good, somehow, in a way that is convincing, though he isn't always commanding. A small part of me didn't care what happened to anyone in the movie. It was all plain to see, and I knew what I was supposed to feel, but I didn't always get the force of those feelings.

The movie, like the book, is patient and deliberate, and quite nuanced and beautiful.

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 July 1960 (West Germany)

Also Known As:

Sons and Lovers

Filming Locations:

Pinewood Studios, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$500,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jerry Wald Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1