Review: To Sir, with Love
Blu-ray: To Sir, with Love (1967)
Mark Thackery (Sidney Poitier); a black man from British Guyana, teaches at an inner city school in London hoping he will get a ‘real’ job in engineering. His class are disruptive, disenfranchised 15 year olds ready to leave school and get a job. Can he win them over and help them trasition to adulthood?
To Sir, with Love was written by E.R. Braithwaite and is largely autobiographical, based on his experiences as a teacher in an East End school. Born in British Guyana in the 1920’s, many of the situations and incidents described by the character in the book and film are drawn from his real-life experiences. Amazingly this was written and directed by James Clavell who is famous for his Japanese themed books such as TaiPan and Shogun. I had no idea he had directed any films!
The story itself is one of those happy-ending popcorn movies that probably DID have a bit of a hard edge for the time it was made, however, the big shock here is literally a burning sanitary towel (one of the girls tries to burn it in the classroom fire – even I don’t remember fires in classrooms and I went to a convent, but this is glossed over to the point that you have to guess what’s burning) and NOT the issue of race. Even when the film was released in 1967 I’m quite sure the arrival of an, albeit very articulate, powerful, handsome, confident man who is black at any school would cause all sorts of problems, mostly related to the colour of his skin and … well… racism. There are a few small ‘digs’; some of the kids making a crack about his blood being red and one of the teachers; Theo Weston (Geoffrey Bayldon …who will always be Catweazle to me) suggesting he gets his ‘voodoo’ dolls out. Apart from that Thackery is accepted not only by the pupils but also the surrounding residents.
It’s also quite obvious that these are not tough kids (Michael Des Barres was straight out of boarding school and his dad is a Marquis. Lulu was on tour with the Beach Boys and main bad boy Christian Roberts was just out of Rada), and they are won over so easily, it’s amazing. However, this is Sidney Poitiers Film and he makes it so very watchable. 1967 was a stand-out year for Poitier; To Sir, with Love, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and In The Heat of the Night were all released, making him probably the most popular male film star of that year, well popular with most people, probably not the KKK. It’s Poitier’s confident performance that make this a memorable film. Though on watching I reflected on how interesting a re-make would be. Still set in the late 60’s but directed by Steve McQueen and starring Jeffrey Wright. Wouldn’t that be something? I predict at least 2 stabbings, a rape and that sanitary towel in the fire? A baby. A ‘nice’ sanitised slice of the swinging 60’s and definitely worth a watch for Poitier.
Great extras from Powerhouse once again, who are going from strength to strength with their fantastic releases.
INDICATOR LIMITED EDITION SPECIAL FEATURES:
• 2K restoration
• Audio commentary with Judy Geeson and film historians Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman
• Audio commentary with novelist E.R. Braithwaite and author/teacher Salome Thomas-El
• Those Schoolboy Days (2016, 24 mins): new interview with actor Christian Roberts
• Look and Learn (2016, 11 mins): new interview with art director Tony Woollard
• E.R. Braithwaite: In His Own Words (2011, 24 mins): the writer discusses his life and work
• Lulu and the B-Side (2011, 5 mins): interview with the acclaimed singer
• Miniskirts, Blue Jeans and Pop Music! (15 mins): a look at the swinging sixties
• To Sidney With Love (2011, 5 mins): agent Marty Baum on Sidney Poitier
• Principal El: He Chose to Stay (2011, 11 mins): interview with teacher and author Salome Thomas-El
• Isolated score: experience Ron Grainer’s original soundtrack music
• Image gallery: on-set and promotional photography
• Original theatrical trailer
• New and improved English subtitles for the deaf and hard-of-hearing
• Limited edition exclusive 16-page booklet with a new essay by the BFI’s Tega Okiti
• UK Blu-ray premiere
• Limited Dual Format Edition of 3,000 copies
Review by Tina (co-host of 60 Minutes With) from a disc kindly supplied by Powerhouse Films.