Monday 17 October 2011

to sir with love - (1967) james clavell

E.R Braithwaite himself, who the film is based on






Although it looks as though it was filmed in a completely different age, To Sir With Love is still an excellent and compelling movie, dealing with a new black teachers experiences with a tough (and mainly white) East End classroom. It is based on the semi autobiographical novel by E.R Braithwaite, and Sidney Poitier (who plays the teacher, Mr Mark Thakeray) gives a superb (and mainly restrained) performance. The children are cynical and distrusting of authority, but Sir manages to win them over by treating them as adults, while also managing to avoid the dangers posed by love struck Pamela Dare (played by Judy Geeson). Lulu is a pupil, and also gets to sing, and although it is more prominent in the book, another new teacher Gillian Blanchard (Suzy Kendall) also falls for him. In the end, he has to decide whether to take an engineering job, or stay on as a teacher with the next lot of kids. Guess what he does.....

toodle pip

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