Spare the Rod (1961)

It is London in the year 1960 and John Saunders enthusiastically begins his new teaching career at a tough slum-area school. His class are bored pupils in their last term before leaving. Will he handle the grave problems that lie ahead?

Director:

Leslie Norman

Writers:

John Cresswell, Michael Croft (novel)

Stars:

Max Bygraves, Geoffrey Keen, Donald Pleasence

Cast

Credited cast:
Max Bygraves	...	John Saunders
Geoffrey Keen	...	Arthur Gregory
Donald Pleasence	...	Mr. Jenkins
Betty McDowall	...	Ann Collins
Peter Reynolds	...	Alec Murray
Jean Anderson	...	Mrs. Pond
Eleanor Summerfield	...	Mrs. Harkness
Mary Merrall	...	Miss Fogg
Aubrey Woods	...	Mr. Bickerstaff
Rory MacDermot	...	Mr. Richards
Richard O'Sullivan	...	Fred Harkness
Claire Marshall	...	Margaret (as Diane Marshall)
Jeremy Bulloch	...	Angell
Annette Robertson	...	Doris
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
June Archer	...	Gladys Weekes

Storyline

John Saunders is a teacher, just out of training college, who takes over a class of badly behaved children in an inner city school. The general rule amongst the other teachers is to enforce discipline with the cane, but Saunders has other ideas, but he has to fight against another teacher, who has a vicious streak.

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Plot Keywords:

school | beating | teenager | dinner | chisel | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

23 May 1961 (UK)

Also Known As:

Versuchung auf der Schulbank

Company Credits

Production Co:

Weyland Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

93 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

In his auto-biography, Max Bygraves considered this to be the film he was most proud of and was pleased with the praise given to his performance.

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Quotes

Doris: Whispering to her friend, Margaret in class and stealing glances at Mister.Saunders who Margaret has a crush on."I reckon those specs makes him look like Gregory.Peck.Don't you Marge?"
Margaret: Yeah, he does a bit, he looks real posh with them on.

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Connections

Featured in Timeshift: Crime and Punishment: A Good Flogging / The Story of Corporal Punishment (2011)

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Soundtracks

TV Times Jingle
(uncredited)
Written by Cliff Adams

User Reviews

IYou Need Hands

This is actually a fairly decent film ,made at a time when films about schools were very popular,eg St Trinians,Carry On Teacher,Bottoms Up.Maybe because there were so many of us at school at that time.I was at a grammar school but I recognised some of my old teachers in the characters shown here.On the one hand the disciplinarian and on the other the friendly teacher who made lessons interesting.There were many schools just like that shown in the film.Kids could leave at age 14 so some of them were just waiting till they could get their freedom.Bygraves,Keen and Pleasance all give first rate performances in an underrated film which is now available on video.