| Product: |
If.... (DVD) |
| Date: |
16.04.08 (86 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Beautifully acted, funny, classy all round
Disadvantages: A bit elitist, probably without meaning to be
A review of the Paramount DVD.
If.... is a classic British film from 1968, directed by Lindsay Anderson (not a woman, in spite of his girly name).
It's about life in an absurdly constrictive public school, and three sixth formers who try to rebel against the system. It's very 1960s, but while it sometimes seems a bit gauche, especially in some of its dialogue, it's a lot of fun.
It was filmed in a real public school at Cheltenham, where Anderson himself had been taught. The genuine locations help enormously. This feels like a school; even if most people won't have been to an über-posh boarding school there's still something here to relate to. The pointless, often utterly bizarre rules, imposing conformity on the boys there, aren't a million miles from the second rate grammar school I attended. The petty cruelty of the system, the brutal punishments, and the dark hints of sexual abuse from the staff will perhaps be less familiar to most, and the school is clearly more like a prison. It's the kind of education that seems so popular with governments these days - that which reduces people's openness to new ideas and restricts their intellectual horizons. The one teacher who tries to introduce new ideas into his class is met with blank indifference from most of the pupils.
But this being the 60s, there are rebels without a cause. The three boys, Travis, Johnny and Wallace, occasionally joined by a nameless girl who works at a nearby café, start out by letting their hair grow a bit too long, but soon graduate to more dangerous antics like stealing motorbikes and messing around with guns. They are completely convincing as intelligent, upper-class adolescents, with their ever expanding wall of revolutionary pin-ups and boozy conversations about nothing.
Travis is played by Malcolm McDowell in his first role, and it made a star of him. He's great, with enough of the 'cheeky chappie' about him that you don't mind his character being a bit pretentious. The way he watches other people, and his subtle facial reactions, are the most impressive thing here, more than his acrobatic rebellious antics. I've never understood why he didn't go on to become one of the biggest stars of the 1970s. The other pupils are all pretty good, although apart from Robin Askwith in a small role, none seem to have gone on to become famous. The prefects, sneering, unthinking enforcers of the nasty rules, look a bit too old to be at school, but are impressively loathsome.
The teachers are generally played by recognisable characters actors like Arthur Lowe and Graham Crowden. Peter Jeffrey is especially good as the smilingly patronising headmaster, convinced he understands his young charges and delivering some of the film's funniest lines. The absurdity of the upper-middle-class rituals and attitudes is ruthlessly lampooned.
The film is shot very nicely, and the direction is unobtrusive enough to not distract. It often switches from colour to black and white, although that was apparently because of cost rather than an artistic decision. It works very nicely, though. There are various surreal little episodes throughout, and certain things may not really happen (I'm dubious that one character even exists), but don't worry if that's not really your cup of tea, the surreal bits aren't too obtrusive either. Mostly the film is completely convincing. The scene where Travis and friends wait outside the gym, where they are to be flogged by the prefects, is brilliant, incredibly suspenseful and beautifully acted.
The famous ending is perhaps a little abrupt and leaves things unresolved. This is a frustrating feature of good British films of this era (such as Witchfinder General, Deep End or A Clockwork Orange) - just when you feel the film-makers are about to break through some barrier and reveal something fundamental and deeply unpleasant about our national character, the damn thing ends, leaving you hanging. Oh well - I guess a good showman should always leave you wanting more. Unfortunately Anderson never made anything quite as good as If.... again.
(On the other hand, like the British counterculture in general, this film assumes that white, upper-middle-class males are somehow representative of everyone. The thought that a public school is an appropriate venue for a film about revolution could only occur to someone who had been to one himself. This might well explain why Britain in the 60s didn't have the kind of political counterculture that was seen in America and on the continent. This certainly undermines the film's universality, and McDowell, great though he is, is too haughty and pretty to be a James Dean-style icon of youthful rebellion.)
This was one of the first British films to feature full-frontal female nudity, which earned it an 'X' certificate at the time (the studios cut the full-frontal male nudity). It was also controversial for its anti-establishment attitude. Nowadays it's a 15. The casual attitude to the homosexual relationship between one of the sixth formers and a much younger boy would be the most likely cause of controversy today, but that's an incidental detail, so matter-of-fact as to be almost unnoticeable.
There are a fair few extras. There's a commentary from Malcolm McDowell and a film critic who knew Anderson, which is one of the best commentaries I've heard recently. There's a 22-minute documentary from the 60s made by Anderson about the teaching of deaf children, which is oddly compelling. Something called 'Cast & Crew', which I expected to be the usual text piece copied from the IMDB, turned out to be a 40-minute BBC round-table discussion featuring various behind-the-scenes personnel (not Anderson, who had died by then), hosted by the irritating Kirsty Wark. It's a bit pretentious, to be honest. There's also a 15-minute interview with actor Graham Crowden, which is a bit odd, since he really only has one scene. But he's a likeable guy and shares some of his memories of Lindsay Anderson, who he worked with several times.
The DVD is very cheap, only about £6 from amazon, and it even comes with a handful of postcards of stills from the film. (The blurb on the back of the box is kind of stupid, though, claiming the film is 'profoundly deep', a phrase that suggests the writer couldn't think of anything worthwhile to say.)
This is a great film, and very cheap, and something that everyone should see at least once.
(300 opinions now. Yay.)
Summary: A 60s classic
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