Twelve years after he made his first big screen impression in BLACKBOARD JUNGLE as a cocky student, Sidney Poitier stepped behind the teacher's desk to educate a class full of cocky students. As he'd do many times in his career, Poitier takes good material and makes its so much better with his intense performance.
Here he plays Mark Thackeray, an engineer, who can't find work in his field, so he takes a post as a teacher in an East end London school. His class is filled with unruly seniors who have no use for what Thackeray has to teach them. He especially has problems with Bert Denham (Christian Roberts), who simply wants to push the rookie teacher as far as he can. Eventually the teens push him too far and he snaps. He then realizes that everyone treats them like children, so he will treat them like adults. The change in approach works and he builds respect through respect. But fellow teacher Gillian Blanchard (Suzy Kendall, THUNDERBALL) warns him that he shouldn't be in a room alone with Pamela Dare (Judy Geeson, THE PLAGUE DOGS), because she might be young, but she's still a woman who desires Thackeray.
With these students, they come from tough backgrounds. Thackeray is the first adult to treat them like adults. This builds their self respect for themselves and their fellow students. But with their new confidence they push back against other teachers who want to talk down to them. In every situation, Thackeray tries to do what is right with dignity and maturity. These are the toughest lessons for the students to shallow, because it makes it seem Thackeray is siding with the other adults over them.
Two elements stick out. Director James Clavell uses a stills montage for the students' first trip to a museum. Surprisingly the technique is more compelling than if it were filmed. The stills feel like they're capturing something memorable in these students' lives. This transforms the stale montage sequence into something more emotional and profound. The second highlight is a bit of a trivia tidbit. Pop star Lulu starred as cockney student Barbara "Babs" Pegg and sings the title song at the end. It's a sentimental moment, but one that is earned over the course of the film.
Poitier's character might be viewed as a prude by today's standards, but his lessons in common courtesy are not simply lessons in formality. He is trying to teach these teens that they don't have to become simply part of the "unwashed masses" as the other teachers believe they will become. When he demands that the boys refer to all the girls as Miss, the boys complain that they know the girls so why can't they call them by their first names. Thackeray counters with the question, "Do any of the girls deserve to not be called Miss?" The boys silence underlines the broader point that Thackeray is trying to make.
The film touches on race a bit, but the film is mostly a tale of class. So who would be better in the middle of that story than the master of class, Sidney Poitier?
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Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
