P'tang, Yang, Kipperbang

Not as "simple" as the plot synopsis makes out. The lad struggles with issues such as his hopes that after the second world war there will be progress for everyone and that there will be no more wars in the future. It is a sad awakening he has to the reality of lies and deceit. Lies from the person he admires and what we the audience see as the hypocrisy of his form teacher who while preaching moral decency to the class, behaves very differently herself (i am not condemning her it is actually the hypocrisy of the times astutely observed by Jack Rosenthal the author). Still, these are deep waters among the shallows of a "simple" boy girl plot. Oh, and I have't mentioned the cricket commentary that runs through the lads mind at crucial times. If you love any ball game e.g. Baseball, you will so get it- so US do give it a go. You could well love it! Cricket lovers- well it goes without saying.

1948. 14-year-old Alan Duckworth dreams of playing cricket for England and of kissing Ann Lawton, a classmate. She is oblivious to his infatuation and only has eyes for Geoffrey, the class heartthrob. It seems Alan's dreams will forever be dashed but then fate intervenes.

A sweet, funny coming-of-age film. Solid, entertaining plot and engaging characters and heaps of nostalgia make for a great movie. You can't watch this without thinking of your own school days and relating to Alan's priorities and predicament.

It's not just about the kids: the adults' sub-plots are very entertaining too. These also bring up some interesting themes.

Solid performances from the (largely) young cast.

Through their collaborations on TV in the 1960s and 1970s, writer Jack Rosenthal and director Michael Apted had crafted a number of popular and acute studies of human character through plays, sitcoms and even episodes of Coronation Street. Little wonder then that by the 1980s when the new fourth British television channel was being planned, that these two talents should be earmarked for the first project of its film wing.

Rosenthal returns to the landscape of his own youth for this story, a middle-class British school of the 1940s. In simple terms, it is the story of a fourteen-year-old boy, Alan Duckworth, and his two great loves: a very public passion for cricket and a more private, unrequited adoration of one of his female classmates, Ann Lawton. In the transitional stage between childhood and adulthood, he is able to maintain a friendship with the school groundsman, Tommy, and discuss intelligent topics with him, yet is still something of an unruly pupil, larking about with his 'gang' friends at inappropriate moments. It is the club greeting of this gang, an obligatory exchange of the password "P'Tang, Yang, Kipperbang - uhh!" that gives this film its title, one to rank among the most bizarre in the history of cinema along with Laughing Gravy (1930) and The Film That Rises To The Surface Of Clarified Butter (1968).

Duckworth's growing infatuation with Ann seems doomed to progress no further than longing gazes across the classroom until an unexpected turn of events propels him along a course whereupon it seems inevitable that he must declare his feelings to her. However, as this is a course of action he is now being pressured into, he begins to wonder if asking God to bring him this opportunity was such a good idea after all.

But this is a Jack Rosenthal script, so although this tale of adolescence is told in a quite charming way, there is so much more going on in the film and it explores love and sex as driving forces for most of the other characters in the film also, and how it differs for each. Tommy, recently back from serving overseas during the war, is now working the land at the school and has also been 'working' Miss Land, Alan's teacher. Miss Land, rather prim and proper in class, has quite an appetite for men, and when all the young eligible ones were away fighting it is revealed that she took on older men for lovers rather than remain celibate. The boys in Alan's class have reached an age where they want sex but haven't achieved it, and thus even a claim to have groped a girl's chest over her clothes affords a boy some superior status over his peers. But even the girls seem rather obsessed too, having a poll to see which is the most desirable boy in the class. The juxtaposition of these events help to illustrate that Alan is truly motivated more by love than mere lust. And just as they also demonstrate a depth to Alan, the events also show this unexpected depth of Alan's character to Ann Lawton, who had never previously given him a second thought.

There's a top-notch cast at work here, many of them just starting out on what have turned out to be successful screen careers. Watch out for one-time Eurovision entrant Frances Ruffelle as the girl who offers out hugs for all the boys in the class.

The film is not full of action or incident and although it explores some adult themes, it is subtle rather than explicit. As a snapshot of British life just after the war, I am not sure how much this will appeal to audiences of different ages or from different cultures but as its themes are so fundamentally human, the underlying story should surely be appreciated universally. And in its approach to exploring those themes, the film is practically faultless.

There is a great danger when you watch a film that had had such a profound affect on you the first time around , that 20 years later , it wont hold the same magic as it did before. I must admit i wasnt expecting it to be as good as i remembered but a was pleasently suprised. P'tang Yang Kipperbang is still as fantastic as i remember it when i was a 12 year old .This film has a certain type of brilliance that not many films possess. It is engrossing , it is briliantly acted and best of all it makes me feel like a kid again and there isnt many things that can do that. John Albasiny and Abigail Cruttenden's rolls in this film are 1st class and i had forgotten how good they were until now. I urge any parent of teenagers to sit them down and watch this and see if it has the same affect on them as it did on me. P'TANG YANG KIPPERBANG EEHHH! 10 out of 10.

This sweet, breezy, coming of age/first kiss movie follows the trials and tribulations of Alan "Quack-Quack" Duckworth, a likable young teenager going through his first crush. Set in post WWII Britian, Alan has his public love of Cricket, and his secret puppy-love for classmate Ann Laughton, who barely tolerates his existence. And just as Baseball (or Cricket) can throw you a curve ball, Alan gets his curve ball in the the form of an iron-clad opportunity to kiss the girl of his dreams. But will "Quack-Quack" be able to step up to the plate and fulfill his dream? Well, get a hold of this little gem of a movie and find out. Great supporting cast of his Teacher and Headmaster, his schoolyard chums, and Tommy the Groundskeeper , whom Alan admires, but whom might throw Alan yet another curve ball. All in all, an entertaining movie that I highly recommend.