Film Studies: 5 Films Charting the Rise and Fall of Woodfall Films

Often regarded as ‘defining a era’ - Woodfall Films, founded in the late 1950s are all too quickly dismissed as ‘just’ being notable for making a small number of memorable ‘kitchen sink dramas’ we look beyond the realism and ‘angry young men’ manifestos into what makes the output of this small company special. Even the company’s core ‘favourites’ have a different distinctive, perhaps slightly minimalist feel, taking in the surrounding countryside with a distinctive use of score. Tony Richardson’s own full colour romp Tom Jones in 1963 is commonly regarded as a deliberate attempt to end the clichés of the kitchen sink drama as the socio-political landscape shifted quickly. Alongside, 1964’s The Knack and How to Get It, and the financial disaster of The Charge of the Light Brigade, we consider the international influences behind all these films, whilst also asking why some of Woodfall’s output, though box office and critical success and failure have perhaps aged better than others. A Taste of Honey (1962), Tom Jones (1963), The Entertainer (1960), The Knack and How to Get It (1965), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968).