This movie is about many things – teen angst, race relations, and poverty. But what it's *really* about is teased hair, heavy eyeliner and miniskirts. And the title song, of course. Who could ever forget the gushing sentimentality of Lulu warbling about crayons and perfume? It is a charmer of a movie with life breathed into it by a fresh cast of young Brits. Released at a time when the world was captivated by all things British, it was relatively daring at the time it was made. A low-budget film that raked it in at the box office, Poitier, as in *Lilies of the Field*, wisely accepted a low salary in exchange for a share of the profits. But the biggest profit of all is his portrayal of the East End school teacher, Mark Thackery, who quickly learns that his students need a different kind of education than that of a textbook. It has been, unfairly or not, relentlessly compared to *The Blackboard Jungle*, and it is a blood-relation to *Up the Down Staircase* and *Dangerous Minds*. But none of them have the sweetness of Judy Geeson, as Thackery's irrepressible student Pamela Dare. At the end of the movie, when Thackery and Dare dance together, racial, social and philosophical barriers are smashed, and hope springs eternal.

1. To sir with love
By: Maghan Das
GBSN SEM-V
Indus college of Nursing
Maghan Das

2. Maghan Das

3. 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

4. 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

5. Maghan Das

6. Characters
13
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7. •Mark Thackeray
• comes from British
Guiana
• holds a degree in
Communication
Engineering
• no prior teaching
experience
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8. 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
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9. Gillian Blanchard
16
• was scared by the students
• support Thackeray on
outings
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10. Denham
17
• student of
Thackeray’s class
• troublemaker
• against Thackeray
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11. Pamela Dare
18
• Student of
Thackeray’s class
• has a crush on
Thackeray
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12. Bert Denham (Christian Roberts)
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13. Pamela Dare (Judy Geeson)
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14. One student, Williams, casually
wears sunglasses right in the classroom
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15. Maghan Das

16. Thackeray wins the class over, except for
Denham, who continues to bait him.
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17. He starts to win the students back after he
beats Denham in a boxing match
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18. Thackeray wins back their respect and is
invited to the class dance.
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19. 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.
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20. Maghan Das

21. 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

22. Maghan Das

23. Maghan Das

24. 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

25. (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

26. 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.
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27. When the students give him a present, Mark is so
touched that tears well up in his eyes,
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28. 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.
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29. 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.
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30. 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

31. 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

32. Maghan Das

33. 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
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