3:53pm Friday 26th June 2009
Room At The Top (1959)
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the release of one of the best British movies ever.
Jack Clayton’s film, adapted from Bradford author John Braine’s first and best-selling novel about an ambitious, embittered and ruthless working-class man’s rise to the top, was filmed on location in Bradford (including The Boy and Barrel pub, Westgate), Bingley, Keighley and Halifax between June 2 and 19, 1958.
The black and white film, recently digitally re-mastered, won two Oscars, one for Neil Paterson’s screenplay, the other for Simone Signoret in the category of Best Leading Actress.
Laurence Harvey, Heather Sears, Donald Wolfit, Hermionie Baddeley, Donald Houston, Richard Pasco, Ian Hendry and Derren Nesbitt (who at this year’s 15th Bradford International Film Festival gave the most entertaining screen talk) were among the cast.
The sequel, Life At The Top, was filmed in 1965 and brought Laurence Harvey and Donald Wolfit back to Bradford where scenes were shot in the Wool Exchange and the council chamber at City Hall. Jean Simmons, later given a Lifetime Achievement award at the Bradford International Film Festival, replaced Heather Sears.
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