The L-Shaped Room (1962)

A single, pregnant woman moves into a London boarding house where she meets a group of fellow misfits.

Director:

Bryan Forbes

Writers:

Lynne Reid Banks (based on an original novel by), Bryan Forbes (written for the screen by)

Stars:

Leslie Caron, Anthony Booth, Avis Bunnage

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 3 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Leslie Caron	...	Jane
Anthony Booth	...	Youth in Street
Avis Bunnage	...	Doris
Patricia Phoenix	...	Sonia
Verity Edmett	...	Jane II
Tom Bell	...	Toby
Cicely Courtneidge	...	Mavis
Harry Locke	...	Newsagent
Ellen Dryden	...	Girl in Newsagent's
Emlyn Williams	...	Dr. Weaver
Jennifer White	...	Monica
Brock Peters	...	Johnny
Gerry Duggan	...	Bert
Joan Ingram	...	Woman in Park
Mark Eden	...	Terry

Storyline

Jane, a young French woman, pregnant and unmarried, takes a room in a seedy London boarding house, which is inhabited by an assortment of misfits. She considers getting an abortion, but is unhappy with this solution. She falls into a relationship with Toby, a struggling young writer who lives on the first floor. Eventually she comes to like her odd room, and makes friends with all the strange people in the house. But she still faces two problems: what to do with her baby, and what to do with Toby.

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Plot Keywords:

unplanned pregnancy | gay black man | homosexual subtext | west indian | trumpet | 

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Taglines:

"Sex is not a forbidden word!"

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Did You Know?

Trivia

Opening credits: The events and characters depicted in this photoplay are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons living or dead is coincidental.

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Goofs

The first floor light goes out by itself (as it does often due to the faulty switch) twice as Jane goes from Toby's room up to hers, looking for him.

In 60's bedsit land many houses had push-button light switches in the corridors that turned themselves off after a very short time to preserve electricity costs (and also as a fail-safe for people forgetting to turn them off). So the light switch was not necessarily faulty.

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Quotes

Jane Fosset: You can't afford it.
Toby: I *know* I can't afford it. I can't afford *any* of the bloody decencies of life. I can't afford to take you out, I can't afford to buy you a proper Christmas present, I can't afford even to be able to tell you not to worry.
Toby: Look, I'm 28 years old, and I'm still living hand to mouth like a bloody tramp. I've been writing for ten years, I've written five stinking novels that nobody wants to wipe their behinds upon, and now you tell me I can't even afford a bottle of ...

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Connections

Featured in Leslie Caron: The Reluctant Star (2016)

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Soundtracks

Take Me Back To Dear Old Blighty
(uncredited)
Written by A.J. Mills, Fred Godfrey and Bennett Scott
Sung by Cicely Courtneidge

User Reviews

A truly touching performance by Leslie Caron

I first saw this film when I was I'm my early teens and for some reason it always stuck with me. Some 30yrs later, I watched it again last night and was awestruck by the performances in this fine fine film.

Leslie Caron was nominated for an Oscar for her role and won the Golden Globe and BAFTA for her performance .. and rightly so. Such a touching, understated delivery that will have you too fall in love with her character Jane.

It's hard to believe I am only the 2nd user to comment on this forgotten gem. Films like this really illustrate the dire state of motion picture making these days. They sure don't make em like they used to folks.

Available on DVD, unfortunately not in it's original aspect ratio. Perhaps one day someone will release it in wide screen to truly appreciate the gritty black & white photography.

Highly recommended .. a flawless film throughout !

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

20 November 1962 (UK)

Also Known As:

The L-Shaped Room

Filming Locations:

4 St Luke's Road, Notting Hill, London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Davis-Royal, Romulus Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

126 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1