Spare the Rod

... 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.

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.

Max Bygraves did not enter movies that often. In CHARLIE MOON (1956) he had a role as a young lover with a hit song. SPARE THE ROD was very different. Directed by Leslie Norman, who was a grid workmanlike director, Bygraves plays an orphan boy made good as he takes up the role of a supply teacher at one of London's toughest schools. The temptation might have been to sentimentalise the material, but to his credit Norman suggests that friendships are few and far between in this discipline-dominated institution, presided over by a head teacher (Donald Pleasance) with a fondness fir a big stick and tyrannical rule. His sidekick (Geoffrey Keen) is a teacher of the old school, where the cane does most of the talking. Bygraves enters a knife-edge atmosphere, where learner rebellion is perpetually imminent, and semi-succeeds at his job by listening to the learners and taking their ambitions in mind. Needless to say, he doesn't succeed where others have failed, his over-zealous temper getting the better of him in the end when he attempts to defend a learner against an unwarranted beating from a teacher. At the end it is left undecided whether he will stay or not, but he remains popular by combining strictness with understanding. The film Has its share of educational cinematic cliches, but remains refreshingly

A British drama; A story about an inexperienced teacher determined to win the respect and confidence of his pupils, is advised by experienced colleagues to apply discipline and punishment to maintain control. This social drama set in the East End of London in the late 1950s draws on source material from the 1954 novel by Michael Clark. It is a portrayal of second tier education at a time when UK establishments were largely starved of attention and resources from education authorities. Its story subject aims to give a lesson to educators about the effect of the excesses of corporal punishment. Max Bygraves brings sincerity and attractiveness though he sometimes lacks potency as a lead character in his scenes with Geoffrey Keen's menacing schoolmaster and Donald Pleasance's headmaster of lost ideals. As an aside, Max Bygraves personally funded the making of the film after being inspired by the novel and by his own upbringing in the East End of London.

This is actually a fairly decent film ,made at a time when films about schools were very popular,eg St Trinians,Carry On Teacher,Bottoms Up.Maybe because there were so many of us at school at that time.I was at a grammar school but I recognised some of my old teachers in the characters shown here.On the one hand the disciplinarian and on the other the friendly teacher who made lessons interesting.There were many schools just like that shown in the film.Kids could leave at age 14 so some of them were just waiting till they could get their freedom.Bygraves,Keen and Pleasance all give first rate performances in an underrated film which is now available on video.