# Look Back in Anger (1959 film)
**Look Back in Anger** is a 1959 British drama directed by [Tony Richardson](https://www.edgepedia.org/tony-richardson), adapted by [Nigel Kneale](https://www.edgepedia.org/nigel-kneale) from [John Osborne](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-osborne)'s 1956 play of the same name, and starring Richard Burton as the disaffected antihero Jimmy Porter. It was Richardson's feature film directorial debut and is counted among the first films of the British New Wave, the movement that brought working-class characters and class conflict to the center of British cinema.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52951-LOOK-BACK-IN-ANGER)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / debut | Tony Richardson's first feature film; he had also directed the original 1956 stage production[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52951-LOOK-BACK-IN-ANGER) |
| Source | John Osborne's play *Look Back in Anger*, which opened in London on 8 May 1956[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52951-LOOK-BACK-IN-ANGER) |
| Screenplay | Nigel Kneale, with additional dialogue by John Osborne[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52951-LOOK-BACK-IN-ANGER) |
| Lead cast | Richard Burton (Jimmy Porter), Mary Ure (Alison Porter), Claire Bloom (Helena Charles), Edith Evans (Mrs "Ma" Tanner), Gary Raymond (Cliff), Donald Pleasence (Hurst)[2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/look-back-anger-archive-review-best-young-british-film-our-generation) |
| Production | Woodfall Film Productions, produced by Harry Saltzman; distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52951-LOOK-BACK-IN-ANGER) |
| Running time | About 98 to 101 minutes (BFI lists 101 minutes; the BBFC lists 100 minutes)[3](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/f6686142-a251-508e-a6dc-73297d605eeb/look-back-in-anger) • [4](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/look-back-in-anger-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0yndcymzm) |
| Recognition | Nominated for four BAFTAs and a Golden Globe; the 1960 Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor – Drama was the first of Richard Burton's six Best Actor nominations from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association[5](https://www.miramax.com/movie/look-back-in-anger/) |
## Spoilers
### Story and characters
The film follows Jimmy Porter, a college-educated trumpet player who works on a sweet stall in a market and rages against the Establishment, his middle-class wife Alison, and her friend Helena Charles, with whom he begins an affair.[7](https://player.bfi.org.uk/rentals/film/watch-look-back-in-anger-1959-online) The BBFC describes the story as that of an intelligent but volatile man torn between his wife and her friend; the protagonist repeatedly mocks and derides his wife and her family, and in one sequence pushes her over an ironing board, causing her to burn her hand on the iron.[4](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/look-back-in-anger-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0yndcymzm)
The cast also includes Edith Evans as Mrs "Ma" Tanner, the cheerful woman who lent Jimmy the money to set up his stall, a figure introduced for the film, and Glen Byam Shaw as Colonel Redfern, Alison's father.[2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/look-back-anger-archive-review-best-young-british-film-our-generation) • [8](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/mar/30/look-back-in-anger-review-john-osbourne-tony-richardson-richard-burton)
## From stage to screen
Osborne's play opened at the [Royal Court Theatre](https://www.edgepedia.org/royal-court-theatre) in London on 8 May 1956 as the third production of the newly formed English Stage Company, and it became the play most associated with the "angry young men" label.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52951-LOOK-BACK-IN-ANGER) • [6](https://pilot-theatre.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/look-back-in-anger.pdf) Richardson, who had directed the stage production, then directed the film.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52951-LOOK-BACK-IN-ANGER)
The film was the first production of Woodfall Film Productions, a company formed by the producer Harry Saltzman, Osborne, and Richardson; Warner Bros. provided financing at the start of production and handled distribution.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52951-LOOK-BACK-IN-ANGER) Filming took place from early October to mid-November 1958 at [Elstree Studios](https://www.edgepedia.org/elstree-studios), with additional location shooting in London.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52951-LOOK-BACK-IN-ANGER) Mary Ure, Osborne's wife at the time, reprised her role as Alison Porter from the London and Broadway stage productions.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52951-LOOK-BACK-IN-ANGER)
The film opened in London on 26 May 1959, in Los Angeles the week of 14 September 1959, and in New York on 15 September 1959; the AFI catalog gives a general release date of 26 September 1959, while [Sight and Sound](https://www.edgepedia.org/sight-and-sound) lists the original UK release date as 28 May 1959.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52951-LOOK-BACK-IN-ANGER) • [2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/look-back-anger-archive-review-best-young-british-film-our-generation)
## Adaptation and style
Kneale's screenplay opens the play out: the original takes place entirely inside a single cramped attic flat, while the film adds scenes such as an extraordinary opening set in a jazz club, where Jimmy plays trumpet in a sweaty freakout as local youth dance nearby.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/mar/09/sounds-of-the-kitchen-sink-trad-jazz-and-british-cinemas-new-wave) • [7](https://player.bfi.org.uk/rentals/film/watch-look-back-in-anger-1959-online) The music is performed by Chris Barber and His Band, with musical supervision by John Addison.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52951-LOOK-BACK-IN-ANGER)
In a contemporary review for Sight and Sound, the critic Penelope Houston wrote that Richardson's "tough, vital style" represented something new in British cinema, and that the cinematographer Oswald Morris answered the intimate subject with harsh, realistically lit exteriors and extensive use of close-up.[2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/look-back-anger-archive-review-best-young-british-film-our-generation) A later academic account characterizes the film by the extremity of its shot scale in showing the claustrophobic relationship between Jimmy and Alison.[10](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/british-new-wave/from-microscope-to-telescope-the-films-of-tony-richardson/E00369B7F1BD82E2BA6263E6706BD587)
Houston judged that Kneale's adaptation, which she called "technically an extraordinarily clever one," sacrificed the play's claustrophobic tensions and long speeches but gave more weight to the personal drama, amounting "rather to translation than adaptation."[2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/look-back-anger-archive-review-best-young-british-film-our-generation) The American press was cooler: TIME found the film's overall effect caricature and noted that the adaptation cut important passages of the play, including Jimmy's complaint that "there aren't any good, brave causes left"; [Pauline Kael](https://www.edgepedia.org/pauline-kael), writing in [The New Yorker](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-new-yorker), called the film "something of a mess" but possibly among the most exciting films then coming out of England.[11](https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0%2C33009%2C811315-2%2C00.html) • [12](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/look-back-in-anger/critic-reviews/) Reviewers have repeatedly questioned whether Burton, then in his thirties, was too old for the part.[12](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/look-back-in-anger/critic-reviews/)
## Place in British cinema
The film is regarded as a touchstone of the British New Wave and of kitchen-sink realism, the cycle of social-protest films that followed, including Woodfall's own *The Entertainer* (1960), *Saturday Night and Sunday Morning* (1960), *A Taste of Honey* (1961), and *The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner* (1963).[7](https://player.bfi.org.uk/rentals/film/watch-look-back-in-anger-1959-online) • [13](https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/10351/1/522036.pdf) Burton's portrayal of the archetypal angry young man is credited with helping to spark this new wave of cinematic social realism.[7](https://player.bfi.org.uk/rentals/film/watch-look-back-in-anger-1959-online)
Osborne's play was later adapted twice more for the screen: a 1980 film directed by [Lindsay Anderson](https://www.edgepedia.org/lindsay-anderson) and David Hugh Jones starring [Malcolm McDowell](https://www.edgepedia.org/malcolm-mcdowell) and [Lisa Banes](https://www.edgepedia.org/lisa-banes), and a 1989 television version directed by Judi Dench and David Jones starring Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52951-LOOK-BACK-IN-ANGER) • [6](https://pilot-theatre.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/look-back-in-anger.pdf) The 1959 film was re-released in UK cinemas on 30 March 2018.[2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/look-back-anger-archive-review-best-young-british-film-our-generation)
## References
1. [Look Back in Anger (1959), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/52951-LOOK-BACK-IN-ANGER)
2. [Penelope Houston, "Look Back in Anger archive review," Sight and Sound (BFI)](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/look-back-anger-archive-review-best-young-british-film-our-generation)
3. [Look Back in Anger (1958), British Film Institute](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/f6686142-a251-508e-a6dc-73297d605eeb/look-back-in-anger)
4. [Look Back in Anger, British Board of Film Classification](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/look-back-in-anger-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0yndcymzm)
5. [Look Back In Anger, Miramax official site](https://www.miramax.com/movie/look-back-in-anger/)
6. [Look Back in Anger study guide, Pilot Theatre](https://pilot-theatre.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/look-back-in-anger.pdf)
7. [Look Back in Anger, BFI Player](https://player.bfi.org.uk/rentals/film/watch-look-back-in-anger-1959-online)
8. [Peter Bradshaw, "Look Back in Anger review," The Guardian, 30 March 2018](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/mar/30/look-back-in-anger-review-john-osbourne-tony-richardson-richard-burton)
9. [Andrew Pulver, "Sounds of the kitchen sink: trad jazz and British cinema's new wave," The Guardian, 9 March 2021](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/mar/09/sounds-of-the-kitchen-sink-trad-jazz-and-british-cinemas-new-wave)
10. ["From microscope to telescope: The films of Tony Richardson," in The British New Wave, Manchester University Press](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/british-new-wave/from-microscope-to-telescope-the-films-of-tony-richardson/E00369B7F1BD82E2BA6263E6706BD587)
11. ["Cinema: The New Pictures," TIME, 28 September 1959](https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0%2C33009%2C811315-2%2C00.html)
12. [Look Back in Anger critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/look-back-in-anger/critic-reviews/)
13. [Social Realism: A British Art Cinema, White Rose eTheses](https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/10351/1/522036.pdf)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Adaptations of literature, stage, and other media › Films based on stage plays*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license