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| Images courtesy of Paramount Pictures |
Nine years before directing arguably the greatest British
gangster film of all time with the Bob Hoskins starring The Long Good Friday,
Scottish assistant director turned indie auteur John Mackenzie in his third
feature directed this searing psychological thriller based on Irish playwright
Giles Cooper’s 1958 radio play of the same name Unman, Wittering and Zigo. Adapted by Simon Ravne and produced by and
prominently starring Blow Up actor David Hemmings, the British drama is
another thriller about a new schoolteacher up against a rebellious juvenile
delinquent classroom and the steadily rising tensions threatening to spill over
into violent confrontation. Somewhere
between Richard Brooks’ Blackboard Jungle and Lindsay Anderson’s If…,
the film opened to critical acclaim and modest commercial success but possibly
due to contractual disputes with the leading actor brought on by Hemdale the
film never saw a home video release of any kind. Thankfully however the good folks at Arrow
Video have cooked up a new digital restoration and limited-edition release of
the film in its home video debut.
Optimistic schoolmaster John Ebony (David Hemmings) arrives
at British private boarding Chantrey School for Boys assigned to take over the
position of former teacher Pelham who reportedly took his own life by leaping
off of the edge of a local cliff. Taking
up residence in a cottage located on the school grounds with his young wife
Sylvia (Carolyn Seymour), John’s first day in class immediately sours when disobedient
and rowdy boys of class Lower 5b begin implying to the schoolmaster they were
in fact responsible for the previous teacher Pelham’s death and threaten to do
the same with him. Upping the ante, some of the students even plant Pelham's bloodstained wallet and shoe on the teacher's property. Trying to put his
best foot forward, John persists in trying to control the classroom which draws
further ire from the unruly students who begin setting their sights on the worst
possible way to get under the teacher’s skin: his wife Sylvia.
A blistering critique of the British education system which
gives rise to youthful mob rebellion, a visually stunning thriller echoing The
Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea in terms of location photography beset
by dangerous little monsters, Unman, Wittering and Zigo is an elegantly
constructed exercise in tension between one adult against a classroom of
youths. Shot gracefully in Wales by 2001:
A Space Odyssey and Zardoz cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth and
beset by a subtle score by Michael J. Lewis, the film looks and sounds glorious
with the school grounds never looking more beautiful.
Where it really shines is with David Hemmings
who remarked at the time it was a considerably heavier, more important piece in
his filmography that dared to take on the British education system. Playing off of the threatening and cultish
group of students brilliantly, comprised of quite the cast of supporting actors
including but not limited to Michael Kitchen, Michael Howe and Colin Barrie, Hemmings
who is ordinarily adversarial onscreen takes on the unlikely role of a heroic
figure.
At times harrowing and confrontational, including a
terrifying episode involving the students paying the teacher’s wife Sylvia a
little visit, Unman, Wittering and Zigo is scathing stuff that
unfortunately got lost in the shuffle in the ensuing years. But that didn’t stop sketch comedy shows such
as Little Britain and Rowan Atkinson from making fun of the film’s
difficult to pronounce title. Arresting
and occasionally heart stopping, this British drama invariably forecasted things
to come with John Mackenzie’s eventual crime epic The Long Good Friday in
terms of how it handles paranoia, the ensemble cast of characters and maintaining
a sense of order amid chaos. One of
Hemmings’ best yet least seen leading male roles, the once clandestine and hard
to obtain feature now has a chance to be seen by modern moviegoers. While not nearly as good as Good Friday,
it nevertheless packs a punch and leaves the viewer with a lot to process long
after the end credits finish rolling.
--Andrew Kotwicki
