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It's a very peculiar movie, which perhaps could only have been fully explained in semi-supernatural terms, although it never takes that step. The later sequences where murder seems entirely possible (particularly as they terrorize Seymour) are very unsettling. The movie is also a pretty effective exploding of the public school upper-crust ethos, depicting the boys as determined to get good university scholarships (perceived by them as the next thing to a divine right) while doing as little work as possible. That aside, it's not very ambitious or enormously distinctive - the portrayal of the school beyond the class itself is pretty vague and Hemmings' specific strategy - focusing on finding the ringleader - is fairly indistinctly plotted. Leonard Maltin's review refers to the actual killer's identity being revealed after closing credits but that wasn't the case in the print seen here (quite a let down, actually). The movie should surely have reached further into metaphor or broader meaning or SOMETHING. But even so, it kept me watching until 3.15 am one morning.

A forgotten gem, this is one of the earliest films John Mackenzie directed after a few years working in television, before he returned to television in time to shoot some of the finest Play For Todays of the 1970s. And along with The Long Good Friday and Ruby this is Mackenzie finest achievement in the cinema. A stunning thriller, this is an assured, efficient filming of a chilly concept. David Hemmings is excellently vulnerable in the lead, the perfect Hitchcockian hero, believed by nobody apart from the viewer. The class of boys includes a young Michael Kitchen, and there's Tony haygarth as a world weary colleague whose lack of joie de vivre begins to corrupt Hemmings as much as his class do.

The most frightening sequence is the shocking persecution of the wife in the squash courts, a superbly staged scene that is quite a jaw-dropper considering the age of the film. In fact it is more the quaint English setting that adds the real shyock to the scene. It is interesting to compare this film with two other public school movies of the era, inevitably Lindsay Anderson's If....but more significantly the brilliant Walk A Crooked Path

which similarly portrays the public school boys as corrupt, ruthless and cold blooded, brilliantly adept at money making, no matter how immorally, and trained to view the world with a haughty authority.

Unman Wittering And Zigo is a truly gripping thriller, and proves Mackenzie is a great thriller maker as he illustrated in pieces like Dennis Potter's Double Dare and The Long Good Friday even more vividly.

Brooks?"Blackboard Jungle" in which Glenn Ford's wife is assaulted by the young guys.Anderson?"If" with its strict school and religion and sport as vectors of alienation.Vigo? (Check the name;it cannot be a coincidence;besides Zigo is always away during the whole movie)"Zero de conduite" the granddaddy of all these students rebellions.

With such references,the miracle is that "Unman,Wittering and Zigo" is a thoroughly original movie,what we usually call a sleeper.Extremely suspenseful,frightening without any special effect,it sustains interest till its last pictures.David Hemmings gives a good performance of this nice teacher ,literally under his students'thumb.What is really fascinating is the way they subdue him,the very polite way they speak;the story is implausible,but its implacable logic makes our blood run cold."We have killed your predecessor" they say to a first bemused teacher "It's a perfect crime".Hemmings 's character is completely lonely in his chic school where nobody wants to believe him ,not even his wife."We took you in hand" his students keep on repeating him.

SPOILERS:Once again,the punching bag subject comes to the fore;it makes sense that such a character should be the instigator of the crime .Being an outcast is ,to some,unbearable,and out of despair,he'd do anything to become part of the group.But what's bred in the bone comes out in the flesh:during the terrifying scene at the gym,this boy is once again humiliated .Although ,they treated their pal like a dog,they have lost their strange leader and they become children again,crying children in the last sequence.

"Unman ,Wittering and Zigo" is a disturbing movie;to the art teacher who tells him he ultimately solves the mystery,Hemmings answers :"but what can explain their behavior?"And as they carry their dead companion,the students walk hostilely towards the headmaster and his old fossils:the true rebellion has only begun.

When a school teacher dies in an accident, his replacement quickly begins to suspect his students of murder.

Using its theatrical origins to claustrophobic effect, Unman, Wittering and Zigo very cleverly builds up layer upon layer of tension and menace, as Hemming's naive and idealistic Mr. Ebony is quickly and easily outclassed by his pupils, seemingly at every turn. Dismissed by his headmaster, and humoured by both his wife and a fellow teacher, Ebony is slowly ground into submission by the boys as they repeatedly claim to have killed his predecessor. However, when the boys attempt an assault on his wife as a way of further controlling Ebony, the web they have spun begins to unravel until eventually another tragedy forces out the truth.

Chilly and chilling, Mackenzie is well-served by his actors, both adult and juvenile. Hemmings captures just the right note of bewilderment and impotence, whilst Seymour turns the potentially thankless role of Mrs. Ebony into a striking portrait of independence, determination and naturalism - her performance during the attempted assault by the boys is quite brilliant. Standout amongst the boys are Hoye, Owen and Cashman, all conveying stonewall confidence collectively, whilst allowing just the faint trace of fear and uncertainty when separated from their classmates. Unsettling allusions to Ebony's ambivalence and a vaguely sexual response to his ordeal add to the mix, and only a slightly dissatisfying and unbelievable conclusion mar what is otherwise a deeply disturbing, grown up story. Highly recommended, if you can track it down.

Ok, it's not a big picture, but for me it was a once in a five years kind of thing. Air loaded with anxiety without the the ease of deeply understanding the motives or reasons of the characters. These psychological thrillers of 70's and early 80's are all about the feel - the poetical anxiety of not being safe or being able to find reasons for evil behavior. For me this genre is pure gold and nowadays rarely approached. Unman... is a nice find for a friend of this shivering era.