Review of A Taste of Honey

I have to give this film credit for being so ahead of its time in showing interracial love, premarital sex, and homosexuality through its working class characters. It has all of those things and an edge in its mother and daughter who bicker constantly, and yet somehow seems to have an innocence about it. The young people aren't naïve, but they have an openness about them, and they're honest and true to themselves. I guess you could say that about the mother too, though in a selfish sense, as she didn't seem to get the memo that motherhood involves sacrifice and showing love. It's fantastic that the characters don't fall into stereotypes, and that Shelagh Delaney wrote the play when she was just 18. It seems to me director Tony Richardson captures the spirit of it, and also got some nice shots of the scenery around Salford. I'm not sure if it was the melodrama of the thing, the 'kitchen sink' of themes tossed in, the perky soundtrack, or the uneven acting of the young woman character (Rita Tushingham), but something prevented me from truly loving it. Dora Bryan as the mom and Murray Melvin as the gay friend are notable though.