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Category Archives: Working Class

The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

99m; U.S.

Director: Ernst Lubitsch

Cast: Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart and Frank Morgan

Synopsis (IMDB): In Budapest, Hungary, the Matuschek and Company store is owned by Mr. Hugo Matuschek and the bachelor Alfred Kralik is his best and most experienced salesman. When Klara Novak seeks a job position of saleswoman in the store, Matuschek hires her but Kralik and she do not tolerate each other. Meanwhile the lonely and dedicated Kralik has an unknown pen pal that he intends to propose very soon; however, he is fired without explanation by Matuschek in the night that he is going to meet his secret love. He goes to the bar where they have scheduled their meeting with his colleague Pirovitch and he surprisingly finds that Klara is his correspondent; however, ashamed with the unemployment, he does not disclose his identity to her. When Matuschek discovers that he had misjudged Kralik and committed a mistake, he hires him again for the position of manager. But Klara is still fascinated with her future fiancé and does not pay much attention to Kralik.

 

Shout Youngstown

Synopsis: Documentary on closings of steel plants in Youngstown, OH and the effects on the community.

Contact: View here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jk4ARquynE

 

Signal Seven (1986)

92m; U.S.

Director: Rob Nilsson

Cast: Bill Ackridge, Dan Leegant and John Tidwell

Synopsis (New York Times): The title refers to a radio distress call for a taxi driver in trouble and the movie is about people in various states of distress and the subtle signals for help they send out. It’s also about pride, loneliness, friendship, ambition, failure, fear and hope, as seen through the daily lives of a group of middle-aged cab drivers. The film follows two of them, Marty and Speed, played with depth and sensitivity by Dan Leegant and Bill Ackridge, through a night’s rounds at a time when one of their colleagues is brutally murdered. They audition for parts, play cards, trade tall tales, pick up fares, cope with the murder and try to get on with life.

 

Slim (1937)

85m; U.S.

Director: Ray Enright

Cast: Pat O’Brien, Henry Fonda and Stuart Erwin

Synopsis (IMDB): A veteran lineman takes an awe-struck young farmer under his wing, but problems arise when he introduces him to his occasional girlfriend, a pretty nurse.

 

Somers Town (2008)

71m; U.K.

Director: Shane Meadows

Cast: Thomas Turgoose, Ireneusz Czop and Piotr Jagiello

Synopsis: Two teenagers, both newcomers to London, forge an unlikely friendship over the course of a hot summer. Tomo (Thomas Turgoose) is a runaway from Nottingham; Marek (Piotr Jagiello), a Polish immigrant, lives in the district of Somers Town, between King’s Cross and Euston stations, where his dad is working on a new rail link. When Marek agrees to let homeless Tomo move into his room, unbeknownst to his father, the pair forms a strong bond, as they work odd jobs for an eccentric neighbor and compete for the attention of Maria, a beautiful young French waitress whom they are both infatuated with. But it’s only a matter of time before Marek’s dad discovers what’s going on…

 

Sometimes a Great Notion (1970)

114m; U.S.

Director: Paul Newman

Cast: Paul Newman, Henry Fonda and Lee Remick

Synopsis (IMDB): Hank Stamper and his father, Henry Stamper own and operate the family business by cutting and shipping logs in Oregon. The town is furious when they continue working despite the town going broke and the other loggers go on strike ordering the Stampers to stop, however Hank continues to push his family on cutting more trees. Hank’s wife wishes he would stop and hopes that they can spend more time together. When Hank’s half trouble making brother Leland comes to work for them, more trouble starts.

 

Sons and Lovers (1960)

103m; U.K.

Director: Jack Cardiff

Cast: Trevor Howard, Dean Stockwell and Wendy Hiller

Synopsis: Film version of DH Lawrence’s early novel about growing up in a mining town.

 
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Posted by on May 7, 2012 in Drama, Working Class

 

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South Riding (2011)

 

Cast: Anna Maxwell Martin, David Morrissey and Penelope Wilton

Synopsis (IMDB): Set in the 1930s, Britain is in depression and still scarred by the effects of World War I. Young and passionate Sarah Burton returns to her conservative home-county, bursting with modern ideas. As the new headmistress in South Riding, she inspires her girls –including Lydia Holly, a scholarship student from the slums– to think for themselves. But not everyone sees eye-to-eye with Miss Burton. She finds a few allies, Joe Astell being one; but the sparks really start to fly when she crosses paths with Robert Carne, a haughty landlord whom she despises.

 
 

The Southerner (1945)

92m; U.S.

Director: Jean Renoir

Cast: Zachary Scott, Betty Field and J. Carrol Naish

Synopsis (IMDB): Sam Tucker, a cotton picker, in search of a better future for his family, decides to grow his own cotton crop. In the first year, the Tuckers battle disease, a flood, and a jealous neighbor. Can they make it as farmers?

 

Sounder (1972)

105m; U.S.

Director: Martin Ritt

Cast: Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield and Kevin Hooks

Synopsis (IMDB): The Morgans, a loving and strong family of Black sharecroppers in Louisiana in 1933, face a serious family crisis when the husband and father, Nathan Lee Morgan, is convicted of a petty crime and sent to a prison camp. After some weeks or months, the wife and mother, Rebecca Morgan, sends the oldest son, who is about 11 years old, to visit his father at the camp. The trip becomes something of an odyssey for the boy. During the journey he stays a little while with a dedicated Black schoolteacher.