Appearing shortly after Harold Macmillan’s landslide Tory victory in the 1959 General Election, I’m All Right Jack offers up a pin-sharp satire of industrial relations in 50s Britain; its title - borrowed from Royal Navy slang (“fuck you, I’m all right, Jack!”) - suggesting the smug and complacent selfishness that many, not least of all the film’s creators John & Roy Boulting, felt had permeated the trade union movement.
Writing for The Criterion Channel in 2018, Michael Sragow says “I’m All Right Jack’s delicious comic setup shows workers and management maneuvering with an excruciating blend of bluntness and delicacy. When Kite (Peter Sellers), the comedic core of the film, raises questions about an embarrassingly green employee, the company’s personnel director (Terry Thomas) offers to sack the man. But Kite, after consulting with his committee, backs off: “We do not and cannot accept the principle that incompetence justifies dismissal,” he says. “That is victimization.” It’s a triumph of bad faith on all sides. Letting no one off the hook, this movie lampoons unions and broadsides the self-interest of capital and management, the coarsening influence of tabloid media, and the dangers of class and race-based tribalism.”
📽️ Doors open 5.30, for drinks, nibbles & classic cocktails.
📽️ Films start 6.30 with a brief introduction from the curators.
📽️ Entry is free with a yearly ticket, although we suggest a small donation of £5 per person to help keep the lights on. Yearly tickets can be purchased on the door (£7.50 adult / £6.00 concessions).
📽️ If you buy tickets and are subsequently unable to attend, please let us know as soon as possible so that we can give your seat(s) to someone else.