Courtesy of Scottish Screen Archive

This film pulls no punches. Shot in and around Wishaw (a working-class town in the industrial west of Scotland) using locals as actors, Chick's Day (d. Enrico Cocozza, 1950) presents a strong urban-social commentary and reflects on the cause and effect of crime. The clip shows the closing sequences, in which Chick, sickened of his dissolute living after having committed a violent robbery, returns to his broken home (from which he has been earlier thrown out), desperate for solace and security. As he arrives, he passes out, perhaps owing in part to the drink he has consumed, and in part owing to his parlous state of mind. He awakens from his nightmare to knock desperately on the door: his plea is unheard, as his mother is drunkenly gallivanting with a lover.

Chick's Day won accolades as the 1951 Amateur Cine World's Film of the Year, and the Scottish Amateur Film Festival Lizar's prize in 1951. It was originally produced as a silent film - sound was added post-1951 - and distributed by Contemporary Films in the 'Classics of Silent Cinema' section.

Kenneth Broom

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