The Go-Between (1971 Joseph Losey)

I went to look at 'Losey on Losey' for some insight, but it was published in 1967. I found some Green Shield Stamps inside!

But one thing I did do was reach for Harold Pinter's 'Five Screenplays'. The ending is incredible, but I didn't realise that the lover Ted had killed himself. 'Medium shot of TED dead. He is slumped in his chair, his gun against his leg. His shirt is bloody. His head cannot be seen.'  I double-checked the film - it isn't that clear. I think Losey slightly fluffed it:

He does write a bloody good screenplay. And it's quite detailed: he lists close ups, framing, voice over separate scenes, that sort of thing. And the dialogue if often not what's interesting, well it is, it's always well written, and often funny in its pointlessness, not just in the upper class nonsense that you often hear in Pinter, but even down to the schoolboy insults and mucking about.. There's always something else going on than just the dialogue.

And the film works well on many levels. The pompousness of the upper classes versus the straightforward working class. Marriage for title rather than love. Childhood and the effect it can have when older. Innocence. The English summer.

Dominic Guard is the young boy who becomes 'postman' for Julie Christie and Alan Bates. Margaret Leighton and Michael Gough are her parents, Edward Fox the scarred suitor. And Michael Redgrave is the older version of Guard who's left with a tricky task which we don't know if he completes. (And frankly - why should it be his responsibility/)

With Gerry Fisher's sepia tones and that highly memorable Michel Legrand score it's something of a marvel. Reginald Beck is the editor, but all the time jumps are in the screenplay.

The Blu-Ray is 1.85:1, which is also what IMDB lists it at, but I've only ever seen a 4x3 version, making me wonder if it was shot open matte.

Won BAFTAs for screenplay, Fox, Leighton and Guard (Newcomer).

Filmed in Norfolk. It was the last Pinter-Losey collaboration (the others being The Servant  and Accident).