Spare the Rod

"Spare the Rod" may not qualify as a masterpiece but it's still worth seeing all the same. The story about an inexperienced school teacher who has the task of teaching a difficult class, usually makes for fairly engaging drama. I believe the above film achieves this, thanks to a good script and a solid performance from Max Bygraves. I've no idea why he didn't appear in more movies like "Spare the Rod," he would have been good. Even though Donald Pleasence is billed second in the cast, he hasn't much to do and his character isn't part of the storyline. Geoffrey Keen does quite well as a rather brutal teacher colleague who relishes the chance to use his cane. After a while, he manages to partly redeem himself. The classroom scenes are the best in my opinion, as the dramatic tension between teacher and rebellious pupils is at its best. You won't see much location photography around London, which is good as the narrative can remain focused upon the films main setting - that being of the school. One scene which must have raised an eyebrow or two, is the one where that blonde schoolgirl makes a pathetic attempt to seduce her own teacher. I'm surprised the B.B.F.C didn't demand the scene be removed. Obtaining this film on DVD is next to impossible but if you can watch it on TV, don't miss it.

I enjoyed Blackboard Jungle and To Sir, with Love, but hadn't got around to seeing this counterpart until recently. I remember Max Bygraves mentioning it years ago on TV which always intrigued me. Bygraves is actually quite suited to his role, any shortcomings in his performance largely compensated for by the nature of the role he is playing. Donald Pleasence is marvellous as always and I'm sure Geoffrey Keen enjoyed every moment as the preening Mr Gregory. The book it is based upon did stir up the debate on the use of corporal punishment in schools when it came out, and although the cane is never likely to reappear, recent creative developments in school discipline suggest that another film along these lines may soon be needed to temper the fine balance between rectification and reprisal.

... with Max Bygraves as a new teacher at a tough secondary school populated with the worst of the worst students. He's determined to make a difference, despite the cynicism of principal Donald Pleasence and veteran teacher Geoffrey Keen. Also with Betty McDowell, Peter Reynolds, Richard O'Sullivan, Claire Marshall, and Jeremy Bulloch.

Singer and comedian Bygraves was a major star at the time, and wanted to try his hand at dramatic acting, so he co-produced this adaptation of a controversial novel. It was meant to shine a light on the deplorable conditions of this sort of school in the UK, one in which the students were virtually given up on, and the faculty just waited for them to quit or age out of the system. It will seem like a lot of oldhat stuff to most modern viewers, as the tough school drama has become a bit of a cliche, but it was rather new material in the UK at the time. The students actually look like kids, with O'Sullivan and Marshall the stand-outs among them.

Spare the rod is brilliant movie superb acting and atmospheric, so many programs have copied this, max bygraves suprised me with he's acting it was very good

I must say I find the "6" rating awarded by all the previous reviewers of this film a bit on the harsh side and have awarded a ranking two levels higher myself. OK, so Max Bygraves was not a professional actor and his cinema 'career' is really not that much to speak about, but I still think he did a very good job in this picture. The support from consummate professionals like Pleasance and Keene also helped, of course, but he obviously established a genuine rapport with the actors playing the school pupils and he conveys the various emotions demanded by the role well, I thought. The main pleasure I experienced from watching the film, however, was in being reminded of just how absolutely appalling and brutalising so-called "secondary mods" in poor areas were, with jaded and often burnt-out teachers often resorting to brutal physical force/punishment in an attempt to maintain some sort of order and discipline. The film shows many insights, both retrospectively (e.g. how many (non-commissioned) ex-service men were herded into teaching after the second world war) and (unknowlingly) in terms of the future as well (e.g. the lad who tells Bygraves he "does not need to learn to read" as he intends to follow his dad in "working on the docks for £28.00 a week" (considerably more than a teacher like Bygraves portrays would have received at the time!) One wonders what became of the lad twenty years later when the London Docks had all gone and the entire surrounding area (as I can personally recall) had become totally derelict (until reclaimed by property developers who have now made the whole area totally beyond the dreams of the grandchildren of most of the kind of kids portrayed in the film.) A fascinating insight into a world long gone - and, one has to say, hopefully for good in some ways! The next time someone starts bleeting on about how "great" grammar schools were, the question to ask is, "And will YOU be sending your kids to a secondary mod like 'Worrell St' if the tests show they are a "sheep and not a goat" as well?