Bristol schoolteacher Bates and wife Janet Suzman’s marriage is both shored up and stunted by their responsibilities as caregivers for their only child (Elizabeth Robillard), who is severely disabled by cerebral palsy. Peter Nichols adapted his own acclaimed autobiographical play, potently combining gallows humor, kitchen-sink drama, and fantasy sequences. With Peter Bowles, Murray Melvin, and, Joan Hickson, reprising her Broadway role.

Print courtesy of the British Film Institute