Part of the freshness of the British New Wave was the films’ use of relatively unknown actors such as Albert Finney (above) and Saturday Night and Sunday Morning was one of the first New Wave films to focus on working class life. The film that heralded the ‘wave’, Room at the Top, had a protagonist, Joe Lampton, who is desperate to join the middle classes whereas Saturday Night’s Arthur Seaton (Finney) relishes his working status with his ‘chippy’ attitude as his opening voice over states, above an image of him working in a factory:
Don’t let the bastards grind you down. That’s one thing I’ve learned . . . I’d like to see anybody try to grind me down. That’d be the day. What I want is a good time. All the rest is propaganda.
Finney’s brilliant performance shows both the charisma of the rebel and the immaturity of Seaton, particularly when his face breaks out in a childish grin when he fires pellets at a local gossip. Despite the fact that, in common with other films of the time, it represents popular culture negatively, Seaton criticises his dad for watching television all the time (see above), its treatment of race, although incidental, is progressive. During Seaton’s introductory monologue he says ‘I’m like him’, and at that moment the camera frames one of the few Afro-Caribbean workers. Seaton identifies himself via his class and rebellious attitude and not race.
At the end of the film it appears that Seaton has been recouped for a conventional lifestyle, as he decides to wed Doreen (Shirley Anne Field) after, it is implied, they’ve had sex. However, this doesn’t stop him throwing stones at a site where the ‘nice’ semi-detached homes he’s destined for are being built.
The cast is brilliant giving a debut to some who would become stalwarts of British cinema: Colin Blakely, Bryan Pringle and Norman Rossington. Hylda Baker is a standout as Seaton’s Aunt Ada and Rachel Roberts, as the married woman with whom Seaton is having sex, is heartbreaking when faced with an abortion.
The Case for Global Film 
I’m not sure Finney was so ‘unknown’ in 1960 – although he was probably not known to the popular audience. He was already a stage star and had appeared in THE ENTERTAINER (1960) with Olivier. In some ways he was the forerunner of Kenneth Branagh and then David Tennant. I expect several middle-class schoolgirls caught sight of him at Stratford as Coriolanus.
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It is a classic of the 1960s British cinema, and has an unusually empathetic portrayal of working class life. However, the dead hand of British censorship still operated, so that the abortion incident is far less subversive than in the book.
The film is pretty good for the period in terms of gender. And Rachel Roberts’ performance is equal to Albert Finney’s.
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