There's a long history, particularly in Europe, of boarding school thrillers, like Lindsay Anderson's scandalous 1968 If... with Malcolm McDowell, in which students take armed revenge on everyone who ever abused them.
Giles Cooper's Unman, Wittering and Zigo, which debuted as a 1958 radio play, proved so popular in Britain that it inspired a 1965 stage play and a 1967 TV version. Unlike If..., however, John Mackenzie's film, which features a screenplay from novelist Simon Raven, didn't make much of a splash outside of the UK. Arrow's stacked release should help to turn the tide.
David Hemmings (Blowup, Deep Red) plays former ad man John Ebony, who feels like he won the lottery when he lands his dream job as master, or homeroom teacher, at Chantry, a seaside boys academy. "I want to teach more than anything in the world," he tells his wife, Silvia (The Ruling Class's Carolyn Seymour). The post became available when Mr. Pelham, the previous master, fell off a cliff and died, a glaring sign that something wasn't right with this picture. Then, on the first day, the students of Lower Five B claim they killed Mr. Pelham--describing it as "the perfect crime"--but Ebony doesn't believe them.
After they leave clues, though, Ebony changes his tune, but neither the headmaster (Douglas Wilmer, Cooper's Sherlock Holmes) nor Silvia believes him. Knowing they have him over a barrel, the students, who consider the master their inferior, set the terms: Ebony will gamble for them (since they're underage), they'll cheat, and he'll pass the lot of them. If the situation leaves him miserable, Ebony refuses to go down without a fight and sets out to identify the ringleader before the end of the term.
The battle of wills only escalates when the boys go after Silvia in a harrowing sequence thick with dread and sexual menace. By the end, Ebony solves the mystery. Still, it's a pyrrhic victory in this cynical metaphor about 20th-century Britain since workers like him will never have the unearned power of those with inherited wealth, especially when they band together against a foe.
Though John Mackenzie remains best known for the 1980 gangster classic The Long Good Friday, he gave his all to Unman, Wittering and Zigo, an odd title from the roll call with which Ebony starts each class (Zigo remains absent throughout the entire film). Both the cinematography from Oscar-winning DP Geoffrey Unsworth (Cabaret, Tess) and the acting is first-rate. That includes the boys, whose overly deferential manner conveys their contempt more than raised voices ever would.
This Arrow release includes interviews with several of the principals, including Carolyn Seymour and Michael Howe ("Unman"), in addition to the original radio play. In his commentary track with filmmaker Sean Hogan, film historian Kim Newman describes Mackenzie's second feature as "an astonishing film," proclaiming it as superior to If...in its depiction of class conflict. It's a bold claim, but Unman, Wittering and Zigo, which is more discomforting than most horror films, deserves similar renown.
Where does this title belong on public library shelves?
Unman, Wittering and Zigo belongs on Drama and British Film shelves in public libraries.
What kind of film series could use this film?
Film series on the work of Scottish director John Mackenzie and British actor/producer David Hemmings would do well to include this title. It's also a must for series about psychological thrillers involving boarding school masters and students, like Jean Vigo's Zéro de Conduite (which inspired the name "Zigo"), Sidney Lumet's Child's Play, and Lindsay Anderson's If...