If....

Infobox Film
name = if....


caption = 1969 original film poster
director = Lindsay Anderson
producer = Lindsay Anderson
Michael Medwin
writer = David Sherwin
John Howlett (screenplay)
starring = Malcolm McDowell
David Wood
Richard Warwick
Christine Noonan
Robert Swann
music = Marc Wilkinson
cinematography = Miroslav Ondrícek
editing = David Gladwell
distributor = Paramount Pictures
released = 19 December, 1968 (UK)
9 March, 1969 (US, New York only)
runtime = 111 min. (approx.)
country = UK
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by = "O Lucky Man!"
amg_id = 1:63498
imdb_id = 063850

"if...." is an award-winning 1968 feature film by British director Lindsay Anderson satirising English public school life. Famous for its depiction of a savage insurrection at a public school, the film is associated with the 1960s counterculture movement because it was filmed by a longstanding counter-culture director at the time of the student uprisings in Paris in May 1968. It includes controversial statements such as "There's no such thing as a wrong war. Violence and revolution are the only pure acts" and features surrealist sequences throughout. On its release in the UK it was given an X certificate.

The film stars Malcolm McDowell in his first screen role and his first appearance as Anderson's "everyman" character, Mick Travis. Arthur Lowe, Peter Jeffrey, Richard Warwick, David Wood, Christine Noonan, and Rupert Webster (as the young boy Bobby Phillips) also take starring roles.

It won the 1969 "Grand Prix" at the Cannes Film Festival. In 2004 the magazine "Total Film" named it the sixteenth greatest British film of all time.

The Criterion Collection released the DVD on 19 June 2007.

ynopsis

The film is set in an English public school (To be precise, Cheltenham College). Mick Travis (Malcolm McDowell) is one of three non-conformist boys among the returning class. They are watched and persecuted by the "Whips", senior boys given authority as prefects over junior boys. The prefects are entitled to the services of "Scum", who are first-year boys assigned to run errands, make tea, and generally act as unpaid servants. The film makes reference upon the tradition of "fagging" in English public schools during the 1960s and before. Among the duties given to Scum in this film is the job of warming up a toilet seat for a Whip.

The early part of the film shows scenes in the school as the pupils return at the start of a new term. Mick Travis, the protagonist, arrives back at school with a suitcase on his shoulder, wearing a black hat, and a black scarf across his face to hide his moustache. Rowntree asks him, "Who are you supposed to be, "Guy Fawkes?" hinting at the conclusion of the film. Rowntree is the Head Whip (Robert Swann), and he revels in his power, ordering the junior boys to "Run! Run in the corridor!"

After the first evening meal, the Whips conduct some of the more mundane business of the school, signing up boys for "Confirmation class," and "VD clinic." Each boy has to lower his pants so the school nurse can inspect his genitals, as was typical at 1960s public schools.

These early scenes show the school's customs and traditions. The Headmaster, played by Peter Jeffrey, is somewhat remote from the boys and the House Masters. Arthur Lowe, as Mick's House Master Mr. Kemp, is told "I'll have to get back to you on that" when he brings things to the Headmaster's attention. Kemp himself is easily manipulated by the Whips into giving them a free hand in enforcing discipline.

As the film progresses Mick steals a motorbike, has an affair with a local waitress and Wallace finds adolescent romance with Bobby Philips, a junior boy, whom he takes to bed. They indulge in self-inflicted ordeals, such as seeing how long they can hold a plastic bag over their faces.

As the film progresses it concentrates on Mick's group and their clashes with the school authorities. Mick and his friends are subject to punishments, until one by one they are given a beating with a cane by Rowntree. Mick's beating is especially severe, yet tradition demands that he shake hands with Rowntree and say, "Thank you, Rowntree."

Scenes are shot through with surreal elements, such as some scenes being shot with sepia tones. This was not for dramatic emphasis, as people presumed, but simply because the huge windows at the college gave off obstructing light that affected the camera lenses.

At the end, in a surreal sequence, they discover a cache of automatic weapons, and revolt against the establishment. On Founders' Day when parents are visiting the school, they start a fire under the hall, smoke out the parents, staff and boys, and open fire on them from a rooftop. Led by the visiting General who was giving the speech, the staff and boys break open the Combined Cadet Force armoury and fire back.

The Headmaster, tries to stop the firefight and call for peace. Mick's girl, who is on the roof with them, produces a revolver from her belt and shoots him through the forehead. The battle continues, and the camera closes in on Mick's face as he keeps firing, ending the movie with a blackout and an echo of gunfire with the film's title "if...." emblazoned in red on the screen.

Production and locations

David Sherwin's original title for the screenplay was "Crusaders". In 1960, he and his friend and co-writer John Howlett took it to Seth Holt, a veteran Ealing Comedy film editor who at the time was breaking into direction with Hammer Studios, for which he would go on to direct several classics. Holt felt unqualified to direct but offered to produce Crusaders. They also took it to Sherwin's hero, Rebel Without a Cause director Nicholas Ray, who liked it but had a nervous breakdown before anything came of it. Holt introduced Sherwin to Anderson in a Soho pub. [ [http://www.totalfilm.com/dvd_reviews/if DVD review] , Total Film]

The school was Lindsay's old alma mater Cheltenham College, Gloucestershire, but this was not revealed as part of the agreement needed to shoot there. The students who appeared in the film were actual students from the school, who were not paid, but just fed and given a class by the film crew.

Aldenham School in Elstree, Hertfordshire was used for later scenes filmed after previous summer commitments prevented further shooting at Cheltenham.

The J&H Packhorse Cafe no longer exists. It was originally on the A5 just south of Dunstable in Bedfordshire (near the village of Markyate) and not in the Cheltenham area as originally thought.

The sweat room scenes were filmed at Aldenham School (though they were redesigned for the film).

The painting in the dining hall is Aldenham School's founder, Richard Platt. The Hall scene was an amalgamation of both school halls at Cheltenham and Aldenham.

Anderson originally approached Charterhouse School for permission to shoot the film; negotiations were going well until the school discovered the content of the film and pulled out.

The outside shots of the school including the final showdown on the roof were that of Cheltenham College.

The speech day interior was filmed inside St John's Church on Albion Street, Cheltenham. The church was eventually demolished.

The motorbike shop was in Shepherd's Bush, London.

Much is said of the film's use of black and white sequences. In the audio commentary to the 2007 DVD release, Malcolm McDowell confirmed that lighting the chapel scenes for colour filming would take much longer than they would if they were lit for black and white. [cite DVD-notes | title = If.... | titlelink= | titleyear = 1968 | director = Lindsay Andersen | format = DVD audio commentary to the film | publisher = Paramount Home Entertainment | location = Los Angeles, California | publisherid = PHE 9395 | year = 2007] The time they could use the school chapel was limited, so Anderson opted to shoot those scenes not in colour. Liking the effect this gave, he then decided to shoot other sequences in black and white to improve the 'texture' of the film. As a child, he was impressed watching a gangster film which started in black and white and then turned to colour. [Sutton, Paul. "If...: Turner Classic Movies British Film Guide"]

The other disputed reason for the mixed use of black/white and colour was due to the film's limited budget, therefore requiring shots towards the end of filming to be done in black and white.

ources and influence

The film is, in part, a satire of Rudyard Kipling's "Stalky & Co", about 3 student rebels who are at heart loyal to the Crown.(Note also that the film title came from a famous Kipling poem If%E2%80%94.)Among themes in common between the book "Stalky" and the film "If":
* a residential secondary school;
* a school cadet corps armed with real rifles;
* a school chaplain who believes in the rebels;
* loud traditional African music;
* a girlfriend at an off-campus sweet shop.

The film's surrealist sequences have been compared to Jean Vigo's French classic "Zéro de conduite" (1933). Anderson acknowledged an influence, and described how he arranged a viewing of the film with his screenwriters, David Sherwin and John Howlett at an early stage in production planning, though in his view the Vigo film's influence on "if..." was structural rather than merely cosmetic. "Seeing Vigo's film gave us the idea and also the confidence to proceed with the kind of scene-structure that we devised for the first part of the film particularly." [http://www.is.stir.ac.uk/libraries/collections/anderson/inhisownwordsifzero.php Extract from letter written in 1976 by Lindsay Anderson to Jack Landman in which he discusses the parallels between If.. and Jean Vigo's Zéro de Conduite (LA 1/6/3/8)] , "The Anderson Collection", University of Stirling, accessed 14 February, 2008]

A single piece of music recurs in the film, the "Sanctus" from the "Missa Luba". This version of the Latin Mass in African style, sung by a choir of Congolese children, had been on the UK Singles Chart in the 1960s.

The final gun battle was parodied in a 1970 episode of "Monty Python's Flying Circus" entitled "." The parody is presented as "If" - a film by Mr Dibley", in which Dibley is played by Terry Jones.

The 1994 Japanese video game "Shin Megami Tensei if..." was named after the movie. The game is about a school that is drawn in a realm of demons, and the game uses the same font as the movie for the "if..." part of its title.

Cast

*Malcolm McDowell as Mick
*David Wood as Johnny
*Richard Warwick as Wallace
*Christine Noonan as The Girl
*Robert Swann as Rowntree
*Peter Jeffrey as Headmaster
*Arthur Lowe as Housemaster
*Mona Washbourne as Matron
*Ben Aris as John Thomas, Undermaster
*Robin Askwith as Keating
*Simon Ward (participation disputed Fact|date=December 2007)
*Rupert Webster as Bobby Philips
*Hugh Thomas as Denson
*Martin Beaumont as Hunter
*John Garrie as Music Master
*Philip Bagenal as Peanuts
*Charles Sturridge as Markland
*Robin Davies as Machin
*Graham Crowden as History Master
*Tommy Godfrey as School Porter
*David Griffin as Willens
*Charles Lloyd Pack as Classics Master
*Richard Everett as Pussy Graves
*Ellis Dale as Motorcycle Salesman
*Peter Sproule as Barnes
*Sean Bury as Jute
*Brian Pettifer as Biles
*Mary McLeod as Mrs. Kemp, Housemaster's Wife
*Geoffrey Chater as Chaplain
*Anthony Nicholls as Gen. Denson
*Michael Newport as Brunning

equels

* "O Lucky Man!" (1973)
* "Britannia Hospital" (1982)

References

*cite book | first =Gavin | last =Lambert | authorlink = | coauthors = | year =2000 | month = September| title = Mainly About Lindsay Anderson| chapter = | editor = | others = | edition =1st | pages =384 | publisher = Knopf| location = | id =ISBN 0-679-44598-6 | url =
*cite book |first=David|last=Sherwin|year= 1969|title=If.... A film by Lindsay Anderson and David Sherwin. [Screenplay by David Sherwin] |pages=167|publisher=Simon and Schuster|id=ISBN 0-671-20451-3
*cite book | first = Lindsay| last =Anderson | authorlink = | coauthors = | year =2004 | month =September | title =Never Apologise: The Collected Writings of Lindsay Anderson | chapter = | editor = Paul Ryan| others = | edition = | pages = | publisher =Plexus Publishing Ltd | location = | id = ISBN 0-85965-317-X | url =
*cite book | first =Lindsay | last =Anderson | authorlink = | coauthors = | year =2004 | month =August | title =Lindsay Anderson: Diaries | chapter = | editor =Paul Sutton | others = | edition = | pages = | publisher =Methuen Pub Ltd | location = | id =ISBN 0-413-77397-3 | url =
*cite book | first =Mark | last =Sinker | authorlink = | coauthors = | year =2004 | month = November| title =if.... | chapter = | editor = | others = | edition = | pages = | publisher = British Film Institute| location = | id =ISBN 1-84457-040-1 | url =
*cite book | first =Paul | last =Sutton | authorlink = | coauthors = | year =2005 | month = October| title =If...: Turner Classic Movies British Film Guide (Turner Classic Movies British Film Guides) | chapter = | editor = | others = | edition = | pages = | publisher = I. B. Tauris | location =London | id =ISBN 1-85043-672-X | url =

Notes

Further reading

*Ali Catterall and Simon Wells, "Your Face Here: British Cult Movies Since The Sixties" (Fourth Estate, 2001) ISBN 0-00-714554-3

External links

*imdb title|id=0063850|title=If....
* [http://www.geocities.com/malcolmtribute/if.html Covering every aspect of the film]
* [http://film.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4355845-103408,00.html Guardian Review]
* [http://www.ukcritic.com/if_68_retro_03.html UK Critic review]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/films/2002/02/26/if_1968_review.shtml BBC article]
* [http://www.is.stir.ac.uk/libraries/collections/anderson/index.php Lindsay Anderson Archive] , Stirling University
* [http://www.lindsayanderson.com/lamf.html Lindsay Anderson Memorial Foundation]
* [http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDReviews31/if.htm DVD Beaver review]

###@@@KEY@@@###succession box
title="Grand Prix", Cannes Film Festival
years=1969
before="Blowup"
after="MASH"