And Women Shall Weep is a 1960 British drama film directed by John Lemont and starring Ruth Dunning, Max Butterfield and Richard O'Sullivan.[1] A mother tries to prevent her younger son being led astray by his delinquent elder brother.[2]

And Women Shall Weep
Original British quad poster
Directed byJohn Lemont
Screenplay byJohn Lemont
Leigh Vance
Produced byNorman Williams
StarringRuth Dunning
Max Butterfield
Gillian Vaughan
Richard O'Sullivan
CinematographyBrendan J. Stafford
Edited byBernard Gribble
Music byPhilip Green
Production
companies
Alliance Film Studios Limited
Ethiro Productions
Distributed byJ. Arthur Rank Film Distributors (UK)
Release date
  • 17 April 1960 (1960-04-17) (UK)
Running time
65 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

The title is taken from Charles Kingsley's 1851 poem, Three Fishers.[citation needed]

Cast

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  • Ruth Dunning as Mrs Lumsden
  • Max Butterfield as Terry Lumsden
  • Richard O'Sullivan as Godfrey Lumsden
  • Gillian Vaughan as Brenda Wilkes
  • Claire Gordon as Sadie MacDougall
  • David Gregory as Desmond Peel
  • David Rose as Woody Forrest
  • León García as Ossie Green
  • Prudence Bury as Jenny Owens

Critical reception

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The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "This frantic domestic melodrama fails both in its strictures on teenagers and as an orgy of mother-love emotionalism. Its thrills are only too patently geared towards sensationalism, while the character of the mother is overdrawn, overplayed and as in her unnecessary burst of violence at the end as anything but sympathetic."[3]

The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "This little British B-movie is given great strength by the leading performance of veteran TV character actress Ruth Dunning. She stars as a widow trying to keep her young son Richard O'Sullivan on the straight and narrow. However, her older son Max Butterfield is beyond help. Slight and overplayed."[4]

References

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  1. ^ "And Women Shall Weep". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  2. ^ "And Women Shall Weep (1959) - John Lemont - Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related". AllMovie.
  3. ^ "And Women Shall Weep". The Monthly Film Bulletin. 27 (312): 68. 1 January 1960 – via ProQuest.
  4. ^ Radio Times Guide to Films (18th ed.). London: Immediate Media Company. 2017. p. 38. ISBN 9780992936440.
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