The L-Shaped Room

1962
2h 6m

IMDb RATING

7.3/10

2.3K

YOUR RATING

A single, pregnant woman moves into a London boarding house where she meets a group of fellow misfits.

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94 Photos

Drama Romance

A single, pregnant woman moves into a London boarding house where she meets a group of fellow misfits.A single, pregnant woman moves into a London boarding house where she meets a group of fellow misfits.A single, pregnant woman moves into a London boarding house where she meets a group of fellow misfits.

Director
- Bryan Forbes
Writers
- Lynne Reid Banks
- Bryan Forbes
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.3/10

2.3K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Bryan Forbes
Writers
- Lynne Reid Banks
- Bryan Forbes
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 3 wins & 6 nominations total

Trivia
The Smiths open their album "The Queen Is Dead" with the scene of the character Mavis leading a chorus of "Take Me Back To Dear Old Blighty".

Goofs
The first-floor light goes out by itself (as it does often as the switch is faulty) twice as Jane goes from Toby's room up to hers, looking for him.

In 60's bedsit land many houses had push-button light switches in the corridors that turned themselves off after a very short time to preserve electricity costs (and also as a fail-safe for people forgetting to turn them off). So the light switch was not necessarily faulty.

Quotes
Jane Fosset: Oh, you English are so funny about smells. You hate garlic, you're frightened of perfume unless it's very cheap and very nasty, but you *love* the smell of fish and chips. First time I went out for a walk with an Englishman, he took us two miles out of our way so I could smell a fish and chips shop.
Toby: Oh, well, you see it's a very powerful aphrodisiac for an Englishman. Before the war, most children were conceived on Friday nights.

Connections
Edited into The Queen Is Dead (1986)

Soundtracks
Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor Op. 15
Written by Johannes Brahms (uncredited)
Performed by Peter Katin and City of London Sinfonia
Conducted by Muir Mathieson

User reviews43

Review

Featured review

The effect of the incidental music

I saw this film first when I was twenty and, for me, it summed up all the anguish of being young, female and alone in London. The performances are magnificent, and at the time, I found Tom Bell to be quite attractive. I later went off him when he was successively portrayed as a seedy villainous type. The thing which completely mesmerised me at the time was the music (Brahms First Piano Concerto). I haven't read any other comments about the music and I am interested to know if anyone else was as affected by it as I was. It is, of course, a fabulous piece but this was my first introduction to it. I was a music student in 1962 but in common with many other music students of the time, not very knowledgeable. I immediately became very passionate about this piece.