IMDb RATING
6.4/10
375
YOUR RATING
It's heaven at Angel Hill Grammar School until the arrival of the new headmaster, Mr. Frome, who prohibits sixth formers from their beloved music-making. Dingle, a very unconventional music ... Read allIt's heaven at Angel Hill Grammar School until the arrival of the new headmaster, Mr. Frome, who prohibits sixth formers from their beloved music-making. Dingle, a very unconventional music master, helps the students in their time of need.It's heaven at Angel Hill Grammar School until the arrival of the new headmaster, Mr. Frome, who prohibits sixth formers from their beloved music-making. Dingle, a very unconventional music master, helps the students in their time of need.
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It's Great to be Young, (1956) is a narrative of a co-educational school and its pupils excepting their rights. Look further into the sub-text to find it is more about an evolving education system. Moreover it is a comment on the grammar school system. In this era, as is the case nowadays, the grammar school system was designed for more academically able pupils. In other words, a school for the children of the middle class who can avoid paying the education fees of expensive private schools at the expense of the tax payer.
In this film it is notable that the boys are asked questions by the teachers on the subjects of history, Latin and music, whilst overlooking the girls on such questions. Instead girls are encouraged to pursue romance and domestic duties, such as knitting.
Overlapping this dark side of the British education system is the upbeat, energetic, effervescent feel to it, with great performances, good acting and a fine cast of players, including the great Sir John Mills, and a very young Richard O'Sullivan.
It is in many respects a time-piece of traditional school teachers, and education, with corporal punishment and conservative attitudes verses the post-modern jazz, the pre-rock 'n' roll era.
A film that is upbeat, if a tad cheesy, with its dark comments on the British education system.
In this film it is notable that the boys are asked questions by the teachers on the subjects of history, Latin and music, whilst overlooking the girls on such questions. Instead girls are encouraged to pursue romance and domestic duties, such as knitting.
Overlapping this dark side of the British education system is the upbeat, energetic, effervescent feel to it, with great performances, good acting and a fine cast of players, including the great Sir John Mills, and a very young Richard O'Sullivan.
It is in many respects a time-piece of traditional school teachers, and education, with corporal punishment and conservative attitudes verses the post-modern jazz, the pre-rock 'n' roll era.
A film that is upbeat, if a tad cheesy, with its dark comments on the British education system.
I am 40 and first saw this film about 2 years ago. It is full of fun, wit and charm. A true classic of English film making. As usual, Cecil Parker and John Mills are amazing together. Their performance and that of all the supporting cast, is true chemistry.
If you want fun, laughs, music and nostalgia, this is certainly a film to watch. I just wish I could obtain a full version on video or DVD, but unfortunately, it has never been released in the UK.
If you want fun, laughs, music and nostalgia, this is certainly a film to watch. I just wish I could obtain a full version on video or DVD, but unfortunately, it has never been released in the UK.
It's delightfully old-fashioned,but it's full of Joie De Vivre and it's really much fun to watch!
This grammar school is really too good to be true :all the pupils are very nice,very polite but they have a tendency to favor jazz music over classical ,predating ,in their own modest way ,the sixties'youth ,when England reigned over the whole musical world .
Mr Dingle,wonderfully portrayed by John Mills ,is a teacher with whom we do need education.When the new headmaster arrives ,none of his colleagues supports him ,not even the gym teacher (and however his subject is not considered a serious one either). In the next decade,Dingle would have embraced the Beatles without a moment's hesitation.He's not only a teacher ,he is also the confidant (wait for the "flash"),and ,even without their instruments ,his class can play infectious music -in an extremely well-directed scene.
Imitating the beginning of the French Revolution,the students after a "singing strike" and a conspiracy of silence ,lock themselves in the gym to support their teacher who has been unfairly dismissed (and has become the toast of the local pub).
Plenty of fun with Mr Dingle!
This grammar school is really too good to be true :all the pupils are very nice,very polite but they have a tendency to favor jazz music over classical ,predating ,in their own modest way ,the sixties'youth ,when England reigned over the whole musical world .
Mr Dingle,wonderfully portrayed by John Mills ,is a teacher with whom we do need education.When the new headmaster arrives ,none of his colleagues supports him ,not even the gym teacher (and however his subject is not considered a serious one either). In the next decade,Dingle would have embraced the Beatles without a moment's hesitation.He's not only a teacher ,he is also the confidant (wait for the "flash"),and ,even without their instruments ,his class can play infectious music -in an extremely well-directed scene.
Imitating the beginning of the French Revolution,the students after a "singing strike" and a conspiracy of silence ,lock themselves in the gym to support their teacher who has been unfairly dismissed (and has become the toast of the local pub).
Plenty of fun with Mr Dingle!
I saw this when I was a kid of maybe 10 or 11. It was my favourite film for many years after. It is, of course, very dated now but the performances are still great. Particularly memorable in this fifties curiosity is Richard O'Sullivan whose comic timing, even as a child was terrific - he made the movie for me. Carol Shelley whom I saw in The Odd Couple many years later was a particular crush of mine. John Mills is the central figure in this movie as a teacher obsessed with music who comes up against the authoritarian figure of Cecil Parker, the newly-appointed head of Angel Hill school. It is a snapshot of fifties school life in a typical middle-class organisation and it was quite like the grammar school which I attended (though it was not quite as much fun where I was).
10maznar
I saw this film about 55 years ago. And it is still in my mind fresh and clear. It brought me more emotions than any other film by John Ford, Ingmar Bergman o Woody Allen. Some one told me that the incredible, fantastic, young girl (five or six years old, white boots) dancing "claqué" (I think some English speakers name it Tap dance or something like that...), when the film is near its end, was the daughter of Sir John Mills, the well know Sarah Mills, a lot of years before Ryan's Daughter, and so on... Is it true? Some one knows? Just speaking about all that things make me feel 55 years younger... And, by the way, I have a light notion about the musicians. They were the Ray Martin Orchestra, is not it? The same people that in other memorable french film, "A la mi-Aôut"...
Did you know
- TriviaRichard O'Sullivan (Lawson) was born in 1944 and by the time this film was released in 1956, he had made 11 films, as well as several TV appearances.
- GoofsWhen Mr. Frome steps onto the 'tear gas' bomb, the smoke fills the entire screen in one shot, yet the next shot later there's only a little smoke.
- SoundtracksYou Are My First Love
Written by Ray Martin (music) (as Lester Powell) and Paddy Roberts (lyrics)
Sung in prologue by Ruby Murray
Sung by Dorothy Bromiley (dubbed by Edna Savage)
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official site
- Language
- Also known as
- It's Great to Be Young!
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime1 hour 34 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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