To Sir, with Love *** (1967, Sidney Poitier, Judy Geeson, Christian Roberts, Suzy Kendall, Adrienne Posta, Lulu, Patricia Routledge, Faith Brook) – Classic Movie Review 2756

Writer-director James Clavell’s 1967 British school drama provides an excellent role for American star Sidney Poitier, though admittedly he turns up unexpectedly in a London inner-city school for hard knocks. There he teaches troublesome pupils Judy Geeson, Suzy Kendall, Adrienne Posta and Lulu (who also sings the title song).

He plays idealistic engineer-trainee Mark Thackeray, who arrives to teach a totally undisciplined class at a school in the slums of London’s East End. Still hoping for a good engineering job, he doesn’t plan to be there long. He tries to get the pupils to treat each other with respect, but gets involved in the students’ personal lives, avoiding the advances of amorous student Pamela Dare (Geeson) and winning over the class tough guy, Denham (Christian Roberts).

To Sir, with Love is fairly engaging and entertaining, and it is not at all badly played by the good cast. But it presents a tourists’ fantasy version of British school life at the time, though that is probably why it was particularly popular in America. Director Clavell (Shogun) adapts E R Braithwaite’s novel.

Also in the cast are Patricia Routledge, Geoffrey Bayldon, Faith Brook, Gareth Robinson, Graham Charles, Fiona Duncan, Ann Bell (as Mrs Dare), Mona Bruce and Edward Burnham.

Christian Roberts is best remembered for his role as the rebellious Denham here. His other films include The Anniversary (1968), Twisted Nerve (1968), The Desperados (1969), The Adventurers (1970), The Mind of Mr Soames (1970) and The Last Valley (1971) starring Michael Caine and Omar Sharif.

Poitier starred in a sequel, To Sir With Love 2, directed by Peter Bogdanovich in 1997, with cameo roles for original stars Geeson and Lulu.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2756

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