"If..." is coming

email this story
read comments (11)
post a comment

Praise God a bit more: critic David Ehrenstein confirmed on the Criterion forums a week and a half ago that Criterion will be issuing a DVD of Lindsay Anderson's If...., which I'm been pushing for since the turn of the century, sometime in June. If... isn't mentioned on the Criteron Co. site, but Ehrenstein said he's written the notes and that they're putting it out -- good enough for me.

A '60s rebellion allegory that brilliantly captures the rage and excitement of a revolution in poetic fantasy terms, If... begins as a relatively straightforward story of a few teenaged malcontents -- Malcolm McDowell's Mick Travis being the ringleader -- coping with the routine humiliations imposed upon students by the priggish staff of a military-minded British private school.

But this 1969 film (based on a script called "Crusaders," by David Sherwin and John Howlett) gradually becomes more and more surreal, and not just in a political vein.

That look of fierce concentrated rage in McDowell's eyes as he and his friends fire their automatic weapons from a rooftop at their public-school enemies....that's the whole '60s up-against-the-wall mania in a nutshell. Stanley Kubrick hired McDowell to portray "Alex" in A Clockwork Orange because of how thoroughly he rocked as If...'s romantic-anarchic hero.

Was If... the first mainstream commercial drama to mix color and black-and-white footage in an impressionist vein? Something tells me another film or two did it first, but no titles are coming to mind.

Supposedly McDowell recorded a commentary about the film years ago -- let's hope it turns up on the DVD. Reader Max Evry has written than "in a perfect world [the Criterion If...disc] would include a doc pointing out the distinct influence of Jean Vigo's Zero For Conduct as well as one about director Lindsay Anderson.

"Made" crashers<< previous | next >>Final Oscar Calls

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on February 23, 2007 at 11:07 AM

comment #1

otakuhouse says ...

Oh please please please please let this mean that O Lucky Man! will be coming in a Criterion edition. I think it's an even better film and maybe one of the best 10 films from England ever.

Posted by otakuhouse at February 23, 2007 11:50 AM

comment #2

sardine says ...

BOTH if and o lucky man are bad movies.....basically. had the pleasure of tell Malcomb....he is a v. nice guy.

Posted by sardine at February 23, 2007 11:55 AM

comment #3

corey3rd says ...

I was just wondering if If... was coming to DVD soon. When the hell is Fearless Frank seeing the shiny disc action?

Posted by corey3rd at February 23, 2007 12:16 PM

comment #4

Joshua Mooney says ...

And what was Malcolb's response say? Pray tell.

"BOTH if and o lucky man are bad movies.....basically. had the pleasure of tell Malcomb....he is a v. nice guy.
Posted by: sardine at February 23, 2007 11:55 AM"

Posted by Joshua Mooney at February 23, 2007 12:49 PM

comment #5

Craig Kennedy says ...

Maybe he had a head cold.

Posted by Craig Kennedy at February 23, 2007 1:07 PM

comment #6

JD says ...

O Lucky Man is a great movie, but don't expect a Criterion release. As far as I know, Warner has never licensed one of their titles to Criterion, but with 60s British movies like Performance and Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner hitting DVD recently, OLM might not be far behind.

Posted by JD at February 23, 2007 1:18 PM

comment #7

Terry McCarty says ...

I remember reading ages ago (perhaps it was in one of Steven Scheuer's MOVIES ON TV books), that IF's switches from color to black-and-white was more from practicality (budget problems forcing the use of black-and-white film stock) than artistry.

Posted by Terry McCarty at February 23, 2007 3:25 PM

comment #8

anti-sardine says ...

Sardine,
Do you do anything but come into threads and say movies are terrible, bad, etc.?
You sound like you are high on expired cough syrup. Hopefully "Malcob" popped you one right on the chin.

Posted by anti-sardine at February 23, 2007 7:07 PM

comment #9