The Angry Silence Review

Without A Voice

♦ Tripwire reviews British union drama The Angry Silence, directed by Guy Green

The Angry Silence

Director: Guy Green

Stars: Richard Attenborough, Michael Craig, Bernard Lee, Gerald Sim

The Angy Silence was a drama about the dangers of a union abusing its powers, released in 1960 and written by Bryan Forbes. Richard Attenborough plays Tom Curtis, a man with an Italian wife and two children, who decides that risking his livelihood isn’t worth it when he has a family to support. However the local union led by the slippery Bert Connelly (Bernard Lee) decides that Curtis needs to be taught a lesson and so they send him to Coventry, an action which has a number of terrible consequences. Michael Craig is his footloose and fancy free friend Joe Wallace, who does grow as a character throughout the film. Green makes a decent fist of holding it all together, Attenborough is very solid as he often was and it is also interesting to spot a cameo from a young Oliver Reed as one of the factory workers. Lee, who of course went on to play M in James Bond, is very good as are many of the other supporting cast members like Laurence Naismith, Brian Murray and Alfred Burke. Even though it is a little clumsy and hamfisted at times, The Angry Silence had some valid points to make about the abuse of power and it is worth checking out if you are a fan of British cinema.

JOEL MEADOWS

The Angry Silence [DVD]

Studio Canal