Spare the Rod (1961)

Directed by

Leslie Norman

Genre

drama film, coming-of-age film

Country

United Kingdom

Runtime

1h 33m

Rating

6.2 of 10 from 5 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A new teacher arrives at a neglected secondary modern school in East London to educate students who have been written off by the system. He faces the challenges of disheartened colleagues and a lack of resources while trying to reach his pupils.

idealisticgrittyearnestrestrainedserioussocially consciousmodest

What happens

Spare the Rod is a 1961 British social drama directed by Leslie Norman and starring Max Bygraves, Geoffrey Keen, Donald Pleasence and Richard O'Sullivan. The film was based on the 1954 novel by Michael Croft and deals with an idealistic schoolteacher coming to a tough area of East London to teach in a secondary modern school at a time when such establishments were largely starved of attention and resources from education authorities and were widely regarded as dumping grounds with sub-par teaching standards, for the containment of non-academically inclined children until they reached the school-leaving age. The film was likened on its release to a British Blackboard Jungle, and later as a precursor in theme to To Sir, with Love (1967). A contemporary reviewer described the film as "a courageous portrayal of the unhappier side of British education...an honest, honourable piece, which recognises that there are good teachers, discouraged teachers and some that are not fit for the job." (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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