Four in the Morning (1965 film)
{{Short description|1965 British film by Anthony Simmons}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2015}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Four in the Morning
| image = Four in the Morning FilmPoster.jpeg
| alt =
| caption =
| director = Anthony Simmons
| producer = John Morris
| writer =
| screenplay = Anthony Simmons
| story =
| based_on =
| narrator =
| starring = Ann Lynn
Judi Dench
Norman Rodway
Brian Phelan
Joe Melia
| music = John Barry
| cinematography = Larry Pizer
| editing = Fergus McDonell
| studio =
| distributor =
| released = {{Film date|1965}}
| runtime =
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget =
| gross =
}}
Four in the Morning is a 1965 British film directed and written by Anthony Simmons and starring Judi Dench, Ann Lynn, Brian Phelan and Norman Rodway.{{Cite web |title=Four in the Morning |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150039557 |access-date=12 January 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}} The score is by John Barry.
Plot
As dawn breaks, a young woman is found dead on the banks of the River Thames. The film follows the day experienced by two unconnected London couples: a young man and a club hostess; and a woman coping with a teething baby and a frustrated husband who has been on a drunken night out with his friend.{{Cite web |title=Four in the Morning (1965) |url=https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-ipzpg3/four-in-the-morning/ |access-date=2022-03-07 |website=Radio Times |language=en}}
Cast
- Ann Lynn as girl
- Judi Dench as wife
- Norman Rodway as husband
- Brian Phelan as boy
- Joe Melia as friend
- Patrick O'Connell as man at bar in night club
Critical reception
The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote:
With Four in the Morning, written and directed by him and produced independently by a group formed expressly to make the film and handle its distribution, Simmons announces himself as a feature director of unusual sensitivity. The film was originally intended as a documentary attempt to capture the atmosphere of Thames-side life, but changed its character in the making and developed into a full-length feature. It still has the feel of a documentary about it, and apparently much of the dialogue was improvised as the scenes were shot. ... Though Simmons' direction just fails to keep the strands together, by the end of the film one begins to realise how the three stories are essentially a development from each other. ... And in the final sequence, as the morning stream of officeworkers hurries across London Bridge while in the mortuary the dead girl is shut away as an iron door closes behind her body, one can see an echo of the end of Truffaut's Jules et Jim, the sense both of the finality of death and of its nearness to those of us who live. Four in the Morning is an uneven film, perhaps even a nihilistic film, but for the work of an independent British group it is an extraordinary achievement, and one waits to see more from Anthony Simmons.{{Cite journal |date=1 January 1966 |title=Four in the Morning |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1305825399/FC9E8483BD5D43DFPQ/1 |journal=The Monthly Film Bulletin |volume=33 |issue=384 |pages=15 |via=ProQuest}}The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 4/5 stars, writing: "The title's a clever pun, since the film deals with the time of a young girl's drowning, and with the (unrelated) trials and tribulations of two unnamed couples. Acclaimed in its day as a sharp slice of British neorealism, talented director/writer Anthony Simmons has done nothing quite as good. Judi Dench won a Bafta award for her role, while Ann Lynn, Norman Rodway and Brian Phelan have seldom been better. The bleak score by John Barry is superb."{{Cite book |title=Radio Times Guide to Films |publisher=Immediate Media Company |year=2017 |isbn=9780992936440 |edition=18th |location=London |pages=338}}
Accolades
The film won several international awards including the Golden Leopard at the 1965 Locarno International Film Festival{{cite web|url=http://www.pardo.ch/jahia/Jahia/home/Festival/History/Winners-of-the-Golden-Leopard/lang/en |title=Winners of the Golden Leopard |publisher=Locarno International Film Festival |access-date=2011-09-04 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090719031720/http://www.pardo.ch/jahia/Jahia/home/Festival/History/Winners-of-the-Golden-Leopard/lang/en |archive-date=19 July 2009 |df=dmy }}.
Judi Dench won the 1965 BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles{{Cite web |title=Most Promising Newcomer To Leading Film Roles in 1966 |url=https://awards.bafta.org/award/1966/film/most-promising-newcomer-to-leading-film-roles |archive-date= |access-date=12 January 2024 |website=BAFTA}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|0060426|Four in the Morning}}
{{Anthony Simmons}}
{{Golden Leopard}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Four in the Morning}}
Category:Films directed by Anthony Simmons
Category:Golden Leopard winners
Category:Films scored by John Barry (composer)
Category:1960s English-language films
Category:British black-and-white films
Category:English-language drama films
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