To sir with love

By: Maghan Das

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Indus college of Nursing

Maghan Das

Maghan Das

Directed by James Clavell

Produced by James Clavell

Screenplay by James Clavell

Based on To Sir, With Love

1959 novel

by E. R. Braithwaite

Starring Sidney Poitier

Maghan Das

Plot

Mark Thackeray (Sidney Poitier), an unemployed man, applies for an engineering job but it will be a long time before a decision is made. He also applies for, and is awarded, a teaching position at the North Quay Secondary School in the tough East End of London. He comes from British Guiana via California.

Maghan Das

Maghan Das

Characters

13

Maghan Das

•Mark Thackeray

• comes from British Guiana

• holds a degree in Communication Engineering

• no prior teaching experience

Maghan Das

15

• look down to the students in North Quay,

• doesn’t care about students at all

• discourage Thackeray from being a teacher at North Quay

Theo Weston

Maghan Das

Gillian Blanchard

16

• was scared by the students

• support Thackeray on outings

Maghan Das

Denham

17

• student of Thackeray’s class

• troublemaker

• against Thackeray

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Pamela Dare

18

• Student of Thackeray’s class

• has a crush on Thackeray

Maghan Das

Bert Denham (Christian Roberts)

Maghan Das

Pamela Dare (Judy Geeson)

Maghan Das

One student, Williams, casually wears sunglasses right in the classroom

Maghan Das

Maghan Das

Thackeray wins the class over, except for Denham, who continues to bait him.

Maghan Das

He starts to win the students back after he beats Denham in a boxing match

Maghan Das

Thackeray wins back their respect and is invited to the class dance.

Maghan Das

Thackeray's search for an engineering position has continued throughout the movie, and at this low point in his relationship with his students, he is ecstatic to receive a job offer.

Maghan Das

Maghan Das

What subject(s) was Thackeray teaching?

No particular subject was mentioned. Thackeray had a degree in engineering, and it seemed like he was required to teach all subjects, such as English, history, math, sociology, even P.T..

Maghan Das

Maghan Das

Maghan Das

What are the classroom rules that Thackeray lays down for his students?

As his students will be graduating at the end of the term, Thackeray intends, first and foremost, to teach them about the adult world that is waiting out there for them. His rules are these

(1) Students will address him as either "Sir" or "Mr Thackeray“

(2) when he is talking, students will listen without interruption, and the same respect must be shown to any student who has been given the floor;

Maghan Das

(3) girls will be addressed as "Miss" and boys by their surnames

(4) girls will learn to behave with dignity as adult men do not want to marry sluts

(5) boys will bathe and dress in clean clothes as it will make them more appealing to adult girls.

Maghan Das

How does the movie end?

Mark is finally offered a job as an engineer and is looking forward to leaving. The students invite him to the passing out dance. Pamela asks him to dance during a ladies' choice while Babs (Lulu) sings the theme song, To Sir, with Love.

Maghan Das

When the students give him a present, Mark is so touched that tears well up in his eyes,

Maghan Das

and he has to leave the dance. As he sits at his desk looking at the pewter mug that was his present, two rowdy students enter the classroom and announce that they will be in his class next term. When they leave the room, Mark stands up, pulls the job offer from his pocket, and tears it up.

Maghan Das

Two youths rush into the classroom, and upon seeing Thackeray they begin mocking his gift and joking that they will be in his class next year.

Maghan Das

Thackeray realizes that he has a job to do and he tears up the job offer letter, signifying that he is going to stay on at the school. He realizes how affectionate he feels towards the children and understands he can never part from them

Maghan Das

What is the meaning behind the song ‘To Sir With Love’ by Lulu?

• One of the sub-plots in the movie, To Sir With Love, is the “sexual tension” that exists between the teacher and one of his students. So the song also deals with the idea that the student could only “give” herself to him in a platonic sense. Lulu is singing on behalf of all the students who “grew up” under the teacher’s supervision, but could not express it any other way.

Maghan Das

Maghan Das

Cast

• Sidney Poitier as Mark Thackeray

• Christian Roberts as Bert Denham

• Judy Geeson as Pamela Dare

• Suzy Kendall as Gillian Blanchard

• Lulu as Barbara "Babs" Pegg

• Ann Bell as Mrs. Dare

• Geoffrey Bayldon as Theo Weston

• Faith Brook as Grace Evans

Maghan Das

Ending Scene of To sir with Love 1967

Maghan Das