Films of the early Sixties that examined taboos
sir – The late Malcolm Muggeridge said one of the benefits of growing older was that young historians who get things wrong about the past can be pulled up by those who were around at the time.
Your TV preview of The Servant on July 24 said: “The film was highly unusual in British cinema at the time (1963), breaking away from the family-friendly fare that was the norm by exploring social taboos, such as class tensions and underlying homosexual attraction.”
Was it so unusual? Among the films that appeared over the three preceding years were: The Angry Silence, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, Victim, A Taste of Honey, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, The Kitchen, The Entertainer, The Caretaker, Life for Ruth, Billy Budd, The L-shaped Room, This Sporting Life, Billy Liar, The Small World of Sammy Lee, Reach for Glory and The Damned. Edward Thomas
Eastbourne, East Sussex