Tom Curtis works at a factory as a drill operator. He has two important things in his life, he has a family with his Italian wife and a football team for the working men to look after. The local union chiefs want to strike over conditions but the main union is not in favor of the action. When the strike happens and Tom does not walk out, he has to endure the calls of ‘scab’. His wife is newly pregnant and cant be left without pay. When the strike is called off and everyone returns to work, he has to face the fire of the bosses and his fellow men.

Unions have often been depicted as either social pioneers or a demonic cabal. This film plays the angle of a world far more complex and motivations far more sadistic. Take it as a film that sees the world as a mess. A mess that can only be cleaned up when blood is spilled. How it does this, is simple enough. Man is wronged, man is damned, man is redeemed only after a loss. Melodramatic but bold in its statement, you the viewer must understand that the film is not as it is sold on its packaging. It has no link to that great British New Wave as suggested. More it is a social film of the mid to late 50s that wanted to acknowledge the problems in the system post WW2.  It is not great or ambitious. It is a tale that goes along but from start to end, purpose is clear.

The DVD is less impressive and allows me to ask a very important question. Why do some very middle of the range films get treated to a new print and quality release but get those poor paying people to spend on a lack of additional. You will have to play the game of ‘spot the face’…. Oliver Reed is a face in the crowd…. Or you could play the ‘nasty guy’ drinking game. Every time you see a certain nasty bit of work you drink a shot. After ten minutes…Blasted…. Or just don’t bother with the disc and buy something else…Fallen Idol prehaps