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John Osborne
Biography:
Born 1929 in London, England. After briefly
working as a copywriter, he became an actor in repertory theaters, all the
while
writing plays. Many of his plays were made into films. He became known as
one of the "Angry Young Men" after the production of his play, Look Back in
Anger (1956, filmed
1958). He wrote the British social drama The Entertainer (1957, filmed
1960). Other works include Luther (1960, filmed 1971),
Inadmissible Evidence (1964, filmed 1965), West of Suez (1971) and
Déjàvu (1991). Also wrote
the screenplay for the Oscar winning Tom Jones
(1964). He also wrote a two volume autobiography, A Better Class of Person (1981, televised 1985)
and Almost a Gentleman (1991). Died 1994.
"Look
Back in Anger - A harsh, caustic, unforgettable treatment of the
classic John Osborne play, this British film features Richard Burton in
one of his best performances as the quintessential, working-class, angry
young man rebelling against anything and everything in the depressed
environment of late 1950s England. He rails against the bureaucracy of
British government and the hypocrisy that surrounds him even as he engages
in a vindictive affair with his best friend's wife. Burton's classic
performance as a man hopelessly embittered by drink, by his environment,
by his failures, and by his own inability to think beyond the narrow
confines of his world influenced countless other actors and films that
came out of Britain during this period. The writing is bleak, but
inspired, and the film makes for a sometimes harrowing but
thought-provoking and essential film." (Robert Lane)
"The
Entertainer - Seedy vaudevillian (Olivier, recreating his stage
role) ruins everyone's life and won't catch on. Film captures flavor of
chintzy seaside resort, complementing Olivier's brilliance as egotistical
song-and-dance man. Coscripted by John Osborne, from his play. Film debuts
of Bates and Finney. Olivier and Plowright married the following year.
Remade as a 1975 TVM starring Jack Lemmon." (Leonard Maltin, 1998)
"Tom Jones
- Winner of four Academy Awards including best picture, director,
screenplay, and music, this 1963 adaptation of Henry Fielding's classic
novel is a rousing, bawdy comedy about a young man's ribald adventures in
18th-century England. Albert Finney is splendidly hilarious in the title
role of a charming womanizer who was discovered as an abandoned infant in
the bed of Squire Allworthy, a wealthy landowner who named the child Tom
Jones and raised him as his own. As a young man, Tom yearns for the comely
daughter (Susannah York) of a neighboring squire, but his amorous
adventures (including an extended food orgy that becomes the film's
funniest scene) lead him to London and to a duel with a jealous husband.
He's sentenced to hang, but fate intervenes. A hit around the world, the
film was expertly written by noted playwright John Osborne, and Richardson
uses a variety of old-style movie techniques to heighten the lusty,
good-natured fun. Don't miss this one!" (Jeff Shannon) |
Almost a Gentleman:
An Autobiography (1955-1966)
Paperback
(March 1994) $11.95
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Damn You England:
Collected Prose
Hardcover
(September 1994) $22.95
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John Osborne:
Plays One - Look Back in Anger, Epitaph for George Dillon,
The World of Paul Slickey and Dejavu
Paperback - 400
pages (April 1996) $14.95
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John Osborne:
Plays Two - The Entertainer, The Hotel in Amsterdam, West of Suez and
Time Present
Paperback - 296 pages
(June 1998) $16.95
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Look Back in Anger
"Play in three acts by John Osborne, performed in 1956 and published
in 1957. A published description of Osborne as an "angry young
man" was extended to apply to an entire generation of disaffected
young British writers who identified with the lower classes and viewed the
upper classes and the established political institutions with disdain.
Although the form of the play was not revolutionary, its content was
unexpected. On stage for the first time were the 20- to 30-year-olds of
Great Britain who had not participated in World War II and who found its
aftermath lacking in promise. The hero, Jimmy Porter, has reached an
uncomfortably marginal position on the border of the middle class, from
which he can see the traditional possessors of privilege holding the
better jobs and threatening his upward climb." (The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature)
Paperback Reissue edition (August 1992) $7.16
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Dejavu
Paperback - 104 pages
(February 1992) $8.95
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Luther
Paperback (December 1994)
$7.96
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The Meiningen Court Theatre, 1866-1890
Hardcover (June 1988)
$69.95
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Osborne, Plays One (Oberon Books)
Paperback - 240 pages
(February 1999) $15.16
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Right Prospectus: A Play for Television
Hardcover (November 1983)
$2.95
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Subject of Scandal and Concern
Paperback (June 1982)
$1.00
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