Unman, Wittering and Zigo (Blu-ray)(1971)

Boys will be boys in this scathing psychological thriller set within the hidebound but testosterone-charged confines of a remote coastal British private school, produced by and starring David Hemmings (Blow Up, Deep Red). John Ebony is the idealistic young schoolmaster who arrives at Chantrey School for Boys on his first assignment, employed to fill the shoes of his predecessor Pelham who has recently been found dead at the bottom of a nearby cliff. Taking up residence in a cottage in the school's grounds with his restless young wife Sylvia (Carolyn Seymour), Ebony is eager to make a good impression, but immediately gets off on the wrong foot with his assigned pupils, discovering the boys of class Lower 5B, minus the perpetually absent Zigo, to be unruly and defiant. However, they might possibly know more about Pelham's demise than the school's headmaster and his fellow staff are letting on. Masterfully shot by cinematographer Geoffrey Unsworth (2001: A Space Odyssey) and directed by John Mackenzie (The Long Good Friday), this film adaptation of Giles Cooper's classic play is presented on home video for the first time ever. Unman, Wittering and Zigo presents a scathing exposé of the kind of environment from which brutish empires are born.