In the 1950s another crisis struck (colpì) the world of the cinema. It was due to (dovuta a ) a new form of entertainment (intrattenimento) that attracted the traditional cinema-going public, the television.To challenge (sfidare) the new threat (minaccia), the cinema industry started producing films focussed on (incentrati) features (caratteristiche) that were not available (disponibili) on television. An example is supplied(fornito) by realist films such as Look Back in Angerand Room at the Top (1959), Saturday Night and Sunday Morning(1960), A Taste of Honey (1961), A Kind of Loving (1962) and This Sporting Life (1963) that put working class lives on the British screen. They were adaptations of plays or novels about working class life made by directors like Karel Reisz (1926– 2002), Lindsay Anderson(1923–1994) and Tony Richardson (1928 – 1991) belonging to (appartenenti) the “new wave movement”. In the sixties the most British popular success was undoubtedly (indubbiamente) the James Bond cycle, which began in 1962 with Dr. No starring Sean Connery (1930 – ) as Bond and which lasted (durò) through to the late eighties. The incredible actions, sex and violence of the Bond films offered a complete different form of entertainment from television. Other famous movies based on spectacular qualities were Lawrence of Arabia (1962), by English director David Lean (1908 – 1991), starring Peter O’Toole (1932 – ) and Doctor Zhivago (1965). The former (il primo) was one of the longest commercially made talking films: it runs (dura) for 3 hours and 42 minutes.
2013-05-17