Stars: Rita Tushingham, Dora Bryan, Robert Stephens, Murray Melvin

Director: Tony Richardson

Summary: A lively tale of a pregnant Salford teenager, her mother, and her unlikely friendship with a homosexual. Based on a book by Shelagh Delaney.

Tony Richardson continued in the vein of kitchen-sink realism with this adaptation of Shelagh Delaney's novel of working-class life. Set in England in the early 1960s, A TASTE OF HONEY stars Rita Tushingham as the waifish Jo, a plain 17-year-old girl who is dragged from one shabby bed-sitter to another by Helen (Dora Bryan), her promiscuous, alcoholic termagant of a mother. When Helen and her current lover, Peter (Robert Stephens), take a holiday in Blackpool, Jo goes along and, while walking on the beach, meets Jimmy (Paul Danquah), a black sailor on leave. After they spend the night together Jimmy's ship leaves for points unknown. Helen and Peter have impulsively decided to marry, and they move into his flat, leaving Jo in the cold. She gets a job in a shoe store, where she meets gay and mild-mannered Geoffrey, and the two decide to move into a flat together. Jo soon discovers she's carrying Jimmy's child, news that depresses her. But Geoffrey couldn't be happier, and he begins knitting baby clothes, goes to a clinic for child-care instruction, and even offers to marry Jo. This moving film is exceptionally well acted and directed; it is a tribute to Richardson's boldness in taking on the theme of miscegenation, then a much more controversial issue.

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Reviewed by: davybozal24-7
Posted on April 3, 2006 10:42 AM

Shelagh Delaney's play A Taste of Honey had already played in the West End and on Broadway when Tony Richardson made his film adaption , shot on location in Salford and Blackpool .
Rita Tushingham made her indelible debut as Jo , a young girl who falls pregnant after leaving home and her floozie of a mother - a
revelatory performance by Dora Bryan . Jo befriends Geoff , a gentle ,
kind - hearted gay man , and they move in together like 2 children
playing house , for a while finding an innocent , but fragile happiness. Winner of a BAFTA for Best British Film .

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Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Special Features:	Commentary By Dora Bryan And Rita Tushingham And Murray Melvin, Video Essay By Cinematographer Walter Lassally, Picture Gallery, Printable Essay By Cameraman Desmond Davis, Directors Biography
Year:	1961
Release Date:	October 21, 2002
Runtime:	96 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	B F I V D 513
Keywords:	Taste, General, Honey, Delaney, Drama, Shelagh
Genre:	Drama