Sparrows Can't Sing (1963)
Directed by Joan Littlewood
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Synopsis by Karl Williams
This British comedy drama of the lower classes features actors with such thick cockney accents that some prints of the film were subtitled. James Booth stars as Charlie, a merchant seaman who returns home to the East End after two years to find that his wife Maggie (Barbara Windsor) has taken up with another man, a married bus driver named Bert (George Sewell). After taking his brother Fred (Roy Kinnear) hostage in a pub, Charlie gets a reunion with Maggie, who shows up pushing a pram. It seems she's given birth to a child, and the father's identity is uncertain. Charlie and Maggie reconcile, but not before a vicious row with Bert, who doesn't want to give up his girl. Windsor, a BAFTA Best Actress nominee for her role, also performed the film's title song.
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Keywords
disillusionment, brother, bus-driver, child, development, extramarital-affair, family, family-member, family-tragedy, home, homecoming, hostage, house, husband, marriage, merchant, mother, park, sailor, search, temper, toddlers, violence, wife
