If
if... is very much a film of its time: 1968, the year of student rebellion when the establishment seemed about to fall. It didn’t. The film stars Malcolm McDowell in his first screen role. As with A Clockwork Orange in which he starred three years later, if... has the power still to shock. Director Lindsay Anderson, himself the child of privilege, attacks the complacent and exclusive world of upper class Britain through the lens of a top public school; first by showing the corruption, violence and abuse within it, then through a totally over-the-top ending in which the rebels and the rebelled against engage in a bloody battle. The ritual and bloody corporal punishment is as sickening as the gunfight; the exploitation of young boys by arrogant ‘whips’ (prefects) and perverted masters accepted as normal or politely ignored. New faces like McDowell and David Wood are contrasted with the old guard of Arthur Lowe (worth seeing any film for) and Graham Crowden. Likewise the rebellion of the new faces is all the more dramatic for the world they inhabit. A myth or legend attaches to the film, concerning the switch to black and white near the end. Is it for artistic effect? Is it because lighting for colour in certain scenes would have taken too long? Or did the production run out of money for colour stock? Whatever, it works; once seen never forgotten.
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