In Celebration (Blu-Ray)

Utilizing the same cast that appeared in the play’s acclaimed Royal Court Theatre run, director Lindsay Anderson (If....) transforms the stage triumph of In Celebration into a riveting cinematic experience. In their tiny house in a Yorkshire mining town, God-fearing and hardworking Mr. and Mrs. Shaw (Bill Owen and Constance Chapman) welcome their sons home to celebrate the couple’s fortieth wedding anniversary. But with each son’s arrival, more of the Shaws’ model family facade begins to wear away. Colin (James Bolam) is on the path to a loveless marriage. Steven (Brian Cox) is on the threshold of a nervous breakdown. But it is eldest son Andrew (Alan Bates) who tears into the Shaw family’s carefully maintained fictions, to either heal the painful rifts or else finally tear apart the fabric that binds them together.