The pupils return after the summer for a new Michaelmas term at a traditional British public school for boys in the late 1960s. Mick Travis arrives hiding his moustache, which he quickly shaves off. He, Wallace, and Knightly are three non-conformist boys in the lower sixth form, their penultimate year. They are watched and persecuted by the "Whips", upper sixth-formers given authority as prefects over the other boys. The junior boys are made to act as personal servants for the Whips, who discuss them as sex objects.
The headmaster is remote from the boys and the housemasters. The protagonists' housemaster, Mr. Kemp, is easily manipulated by the Whips into giving them free rein in enforcing discipline. Some schoolmasters are shown behaving bizarrely.
Mick and Johnny sneak off the school grounds and steal a motorbike from a showroom. They ride to a café staffed by an unnamed girl, about whom Mick fantasizes wrestling naked. Meanwhile, Wallace spends time with a younger boy, Bobby Philips, and later shares his bed.
The three boys drink vodka in their study and consider how one man holds the potential to "change the world with a bullet in the right place." Their clashes with school authorities become increasingly contentious. Eventually, a brutal caning by the Whips spurs them to action.
During a school Combined Cadet Force military drill, Mick acquires live ammunition, which he, Wallace, and Knightly use to open fire on a group of boys and masters, including Kemp and the school chaplain. When the latter orders the boys to drop their weapons, Mick assaults him and cows him into submission.
As punishment for their actions, the trio are ordered by the headmaster to clean out a large storeroom beneath the main school hall. They discover a cache of firearms, including automatic weapons and mortars. Joined by Philips and the girl from the café, they commit to revolt against the establishment.
On Founders' Day, when parents are visiting the school, the group starts a fire under the hall, smoking everyone out of the building. They then open fire on them from the rooftop. Led by a visiting General who had been giving a speech, the staff, students, and parents break open the Combined Cadet Force armoury and begin firing back. The headmaster tries to stop the fight, imploring the group to listen to reason. The girl shoots him between the eyes. The battle continues, and the camera closes in on Mick's face as he keeps firing.
David Sherwin's original title for the screenplay was Crusaders, during the writing of which he drew heavily from his experiences at Tonbridge School in Kent. In 1960, he and his friend and co-writer John Howlett took it to director Seth Holt. Holt felt unqualified to direct, but offered to produce the film. 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 Lindsay Anderson in a Soho pub.[4]
The school used for the early filming on location was Anderson's alma mater, Cheltenham College, Gloucestershire, but this was not made public at the time under the agreement needed to shoot there. The then headmaster, David Ashcroft, persuaded the school governors to agree that the film could be made.
Aldenham School in Elstree, Hertfordshire, was used for later scenes filmed after previous summer commitments prevented further shooting at Cheltenham.
The sweat room scenes were filmed in the School Room in School House at Aldenham School (though they were redesigned for the film). The dormitory scenes were also at Aldenham—specifically The Long Room for the junior boys, and the room with the wooden partitions called Lower Cubs (short for cubicles). The shower scene and toilets were in School House changing rooms.
The transport cafe was the (now demolished) Packhorse Cafe on the A5/Watling Street in Kensworth, Dunstable, Bedfordshire, close to the Packhorse Pub.
The painting in the dining hall is of Aldenham School's founder, Richard Platt. The Hall scene was an amalgamation of the school halls at Cheltenham and Aldenham.
Carew Manor, in Beddington, Surrey, was used for the opening staircase scene and for several other scenes. It was filmed during the summer when the school had closed for holidays.
Anderson originally approached Charterhouse School and later Cranleigh School for permission to shoot the film: negotiations were going well until the schools discovered the content of the film and pulled out.
The outside shots of the school including the final showdown on the roof were filmed at Cheltenham College after term ended.
The Speech Day interior was filmed inside St John's Church on Albion Street, Cheltenham. The church was later demolished.
The motorbike shop was filmed at the Broadway Motor Company on Gladstone Road, Wimbledon.[5]
The film makes 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 have taken much longer than for black and white.[6] The time they could use the school chapel was limited, so Anderson opted to not shoot those scenes 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.[7]
The black and white sequence featuring Mrs. Kemp (Mary MacLeod) walking naked through the school was allowed by the then Secretary of the Board of the British Board of Film Censors, John Trevelyan, on the condition that shots of male genitalia from the shower scene were removed.[8]
Stephen Frears is credited as an assistant to the director, while Chris Menges is credited as a cameraman.
Music featured in the film includes the 'Sanctus', from the Missa Luba, a rendering of the Roman Latin mass sung to African beat by a Congolese choir.
Sources and influence
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 that film with his screenwriters, Sherwin and 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."[9]
McDowell's performance in If.... caught the attention of Stanley Kubrick, who subsequently cast him in his 1971 film adaptation of Anthony Burgess's A Clockwork Orange.[10] Additionally, McDowell used his performance in If.... in his inspiration for the Clockwork Orange protagonist, Alexander DeLarge. Having been given the script by Kubrick, McDowell was unsure how he should play the part of Alex, and so he contacted Lindsay Anderson, asking for advice. McDowell relates the story:[11]
Anyway, he said 'Malcolm, this is how you play the part: there is a scene of you, a close-up in If...., where you open the doors to the gymnasium, to be beaten. You get a close-up.' I said 'that's right.' He said 'do you remember...' I said 'yes. I smiled.' He said 'that's right. You gave them that smile. That sort of ironic smile,' he said 'and that's how you play Alex.' And I went 'my god, that's brilliant. That's brilliant.' That's all I needed and that was enough, and that is a brilliant piece of direction for an actor.
The movie also had influence in the popular Japanese Megami Tensei series, specifically with the game Shin Megami Tensei If... which references the movie not only in the title but the basic plot of a bullied kid revolting against his high-school bullies.
Critical reception
Time Out wrote: "A modern classic in which Anderson minutely captures both the particular ethos of a public school and the general flavour of any structured community, thus achieving a clear allegorical force without sacrificing a whit of his exploration of an essentially British institution. The impeccable logic of the conclusion is in no way diminished by having been lifted from Vigo's Zéro de Conduite [1933], made thirty-five years earlier. If... was also a timely film – shooting began two months before the events of May 1968 in Paris. Along with The White Bus [1967], it put Anderson into a pretty high league."[12]
Variety wrote: "Timely and timeless, this is a punchy, poetic pic that delves into the epic theme of youthful revolt....The script has the expert blend of heightened reality and lyricism enforced by the brilliant direction and the playing of a cast of unknowns."[13]
The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 4/5 stars, writing: "With its surrealistic elements, it was something of a departure for This Sporting Life [1963] director Lindsay Anderson, but he succeeds in both capturing the atmosphere and absurdities of public school life and investing the satire with plenty of venom. Malcolm McDowell gives a blistering performance in what is a key film in British cinema history."[14]
Leslie Halliwell said: "Allegorical treatment of school life with much fashionable emphasis on obscure narrative, clever cutting, variety of pace, even an unaccountable changing from colour to monochrome and vice versa. Intelligence is clearly at work, but it seems to have suffered from undigested gobs of Pinter, and the film as a whole makes no discernible point."[15]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 90% approval rating based on 49 reviews, with an average score of 7.9/10. According to the site's critical consensus, "Incendiary, subversive, and darkly humorous, If.... is a landmark of British countercultural cinema."[16]
Those two movies do not follow the same continuity of the first film, and have little in common other than the main character of Mick Travis and several identically named characters in similar roles (on the commentary track for O Lucky Man!, Malcolm McDowell refers to it as a "so-called trilogy"). At the time of Anderson's death he had completed a final draft of a proper sequel to If...., but it was never made. The sequel takes place during a Founders' Day celebration at which many of the characters reunite. Mick Travis is now an Oscar-nominated movie star, eschewing England for Hollywood. Wallace is a military major who has lost his arm, Johnny is a clergyman, and Rowntree is the Minister of War. In the script, Rowntree is kidnapped by a group of anti-war students and saved by Mick and his gang, though not before Mick crucifies Rowntree with a large nail through his palm.[19]
Lindsay Gordon Anderson was a British feature-film, theatre and documentary director, film critic, and leading-light of the Free Cinema movement and of the British New Wave. He is most widely remembered for his 1968 film if...., which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes Film Festival in 1969 and marked Malcolm McDowell's cinematic debut. He is also notable, though not a professional actor, for playing a minor role in the Academy Award-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire. McDowell produced a 2007 documentary about his experiences with Anderson, Never Apologize.
Malcolm McDowell is an English actor. He is known for portraying Alex DeLarge in A Clockwork Orange (1971), and as the central character in Lindsay Anderson's Mick Travis trilogy: if.... (1968), O Lucky Man! (1973), and Britannia Hospital (1982). It was his performance as a rebel schoolboy in if.... that prompted Stanley Kubrick to cast him in A Clockwork Orange.
O Lucky Man! is a 1973 British comedy-drama fantasy film directed by Lindsay Anderson, and starring Malcolm McDowell as Mick Travis, whom McDowell had first played as a disaffected public schoolboy in his first film performance in Anderson's film if.... (1968). The film was entered into the 1973 Cannes Film Festival.
Cheltenham College is a public school in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school opened in 1841 as a Church of England foundation and is known for its linguistic, military, and sporting traditions.
Aces High is a 1976 war film starring Malcolm McDowell, Peter Firth, Christopher Plummer and Simon Ward. The film, which is an Anglo-French production, is based on the 1928 play Journey's End by R. C. Sherriff with additional material from the memoir Sagittarius Rising by Cecil Lewis. It was directed by Jack Gold. The screenplay was written by Howard Barker.
The Trinity School of John Whitgift, usually referred to as Trinity School, is a British private boys' day school with a co-educational Sixth Form, located in Shirley Park, Croydon. Part of the Whitgift Foundation, it was established in 1882 as Whitgift Middle School and was a direct grant grammar school from 1945 until 1968, when it left the scheme. The present name was adopted in 1954, to avoid confusion with Whitgift School. The school's head is now a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference (HMC).
Whitgift School is an Independent day school with limited boarding in South Croydon, London. Along with Trinity School of John Whitgift and Old Palace School it is owned by the Whitgift Foundation, a charitable trust. The school was previously a grammar school and direct grant grammar school, but the school's headmaster is now a member of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference.
The History Boys is a play by British playwright Alan Bennett. The play premiered at the Royal National Theatre in London on 18 May 2004. Its Broadway debut was on 23 April 2006 at the Broadhurst Theatre where 185 performances were staged before it closed on 1 October 2006.
Britannia Hospital is a 1982 British black comedy film, directed by Lindsay Anderson, which targets the National Health Service and contemporary British society. It was entered into the 1982 Cannes Film Festival and Fantasporto.
Royal Flash is a 1975 British adventure comedy film based on the second Flashman novel by George MacDonald Fraser. It stars Malcolm McDowell as Flashman. Additionally, Oliver Reed appeared in the role of Otto von Bismarck, Alan Bates as Rudi von Sternberg, and Florinda Bolkan played Lola Montez. Fraser wrote the screenplay and the film was directed by Richard Lester.
Aldenham School is a co-educational private boarding and day school for pupils aged eleven to eighteen, located between Elstree and the village of Aldenham in Hertfordshire, England. There is also a preparatory school for pupils from the ages of five to eleven. It was founded in the late sixteenth century by Richard Platt.
Free Cinema was a documentary film movement that emerged in the United Kingdom in the mid-1950s. The term referred to an absence of propagandised intent or deliberate box office appeal. Co-founded by Lindsay Anderson with Karel Reisz, Tony Richardson and Lorenza Mazzetti, the movement began with a programme of three short films at the National Film Theatre, London on 5 February 1956. The programme was such a success that five more programmes appeared under the ‘Free Cinema’ banner before the founders decided to end the series. The last event was held in March 1959. Three of the screenings consisted of work from overseas filmmakers.
À propos de Nice is a 1930 silent short documentary film directed by Jean Vigo and photographed by Boris Kaufman. The film depicts life in Nice, France by documenting the people in the city, their daily routines, a carnival and social inequalities. Vigo described the film in an address to the Groupement des Spectateurs d'Avant-Garde: "In this film, by showing certain basic aspects of a city, a way of life is put on trial... the last gasps of a society so lost in its escapism that it sickens you and makes you sympathetic to a revolutionary solution."
Sequence was a short-lived but influential British film journal founded in 1947 by Lindsay Anderson, Peter Ericsson, Gavin Lambert and Karel Reisz.
Michael Arnold "Mick" Travis is a fictional character played by Malcolm McDowell in three films directed by British film director Lindsay Anderson and written by David Sherwin. Travis features not so much as a single character with a character arc, but as an everyman character whose role changes according to the needs of the storyteller.
David Sherwin-White was a British screenwriter best known for his collaborations with director Lindsay Anderson and actor Malcolm McDowell on the films if.... (1968), O Lucky Man! (1973) and Britannia Hospital (1982).
Look Back in Anger is a 1980 British film starring Malcolm McDowell, Lisa Banes and Fran Brill, and directed by Lindsay Anderson and David Hugh Jones. The film is based on John Osborne's play Look Back in Anger.
Fear in the Night is a 1972 British psychological horror film directed, produced, and co-written by Jimmy Sangster and produced by Hammer Film Productions. The film stars Judy Geeson as a psychologically-fragile woman who, upon relocating to a rural boarding school where her husband has taken a job, finds herself being tormented by a mysterious figure with a prosthetic arm. Peter Cushing and Joan Collins, respectively, also star as the school's mysterious headmaster and his wife.
Zero for Conduct is a 1933 French featurette directed by Jean Vigo. It was first shown on 7 April 1933 and was subsequently banned in France until November 1945.
Mary Katrina Anne MacLeod was an English-born Scottish actress who performed on the stage and in film and television productions of the United Kingdom. Born in the Midlands market town of Wednesbury to Scottish parents, she debuted in theatre in 1956 and had her first British cinema role in the Lindsay Anderson film if.... (1968). MacLeod continued to feature in minor roles until her career was ended early by a stroke in 2003.
References
↑ Alexander Walker, Hollywood, England, Stein and Day, 1974 p402
↑ "Big Rental Films of 1969", Variety, 7 January 1970 p 15
↑ "If..."British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
Sherwin, David (1969). if.... A film by Lindsay Anderson and David Sherwin. [Screenplay by David Sherwin]. New York: Simon and Schuster. p.167. ISBN978-0-671-20451-8.
Anderson, Lindsay (2004). Ryan, Paul (ed.). Never Apologise: The Collected Writings of Lindsay Anderson. London: Plexus Publishing Ltd. ISBN978-0-85965-317-6.
Sutton, Paul (2005). if....: Turner Classic Movies British Film Guide (Turner Classic Movies British Film Guides). London: I. B. Tauris. ISBN978-1-85043-672-0.
Further reading
Catterall, Ali; and Wells, Simon (2001). Your Face Here: British Cult Movies Since The Sixties. London: Fourth Estate. ISBN978-0-00-714554-6
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