Customer Reviews

To Sir, With Love

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This dvd did not indicate to me at the time of purchase that it can only be used on european dvd;s- it was a waste of money time and effort to get this.
It should have alerted me at time of check out to confirm if I could use it or not as I ordered and it was being sent to canada.
very unhappy.

This is an awesome movie. Loved it 20 years ago and still love it. It really shows the problems for teachers in inner city schools. Not alot has changed.

This movie, based on E.R. Braithwaite's book, was one of the outstanding movies of Sidney Poitier. I am a sucker of such movies, especially as I can relate to them. I was in a difficult school during my teenage years with bad schoolmates and some good teachers set me straight, otherwise, I would have been in trouble. This movie inspired many other movies but did not do such a splendid job. The main difference was the script and the actors.

Sidney plays the part of Mark Thackerey who is an engineer who does not get a job as an engineer and decides to become a teacher as an intermediate job. In the East End school he sees how bad the standards of the students are and realizes that he is not making any difference. Finally one day he loses his cool, and then hits on an idea to change the students attitude. Gradually, the students warm up to him. Though some of the ideas might be dated (language, customs etc) for the present day, the ideas of racism, generation difference, teacher-student trust and problems are well brought out. This is still a timeless classic and for anyone who has worked with schools, teachers and problem students.

The DVD quality is excellent. Both video and sound transfer are good. Sidney is Sidney, what can I say, his quiet, dignified style of acting and the way he handles all the situations by showing his emotions is fantastic. The theme song of this movie is also special. Do not miss this movie.

Hello This is a wonderful movie. However it was a disappointment when it arrived in the mail because as a new borrower of dvds online i did not realize that because it was coming from the UK i could not play it.

I really love this movie and was put out i couldn't watch it. The performances, story and music is great.

However I will try to get another copy in the near future because it is a great movie to have in my collection.

So for new on line shoppers be very careful where you the dvds are coming from so you aren ot disappointed.

Great movie, but more warnings should have been in place before I chose it from the company shipping from the UK.

a timeless classic. you know a true classic when despite the time that has lapsed since the movie was first produced, it can bridge the space of time and still after all these years move the heart with the telling of a story that is even more relevant for the time we live in today!

Tensions between racial groups. Teenage sexuality. Frustrating job markets. Passion. Bullying. How to maintain integrity in a disintegrating time. Sound like a movie for 2011? You bet it does, except that it was made about 50 years ago. "To Sir With Love" is still eminenetly watchable, focused on Sidney Poitier's dignified engineer turned reluctant teacher in a low-income neighbourhood. The interaction between him and the adolescents as they grope towards maturity and teach each other is believable, not facile, and very touching.

Sidney Poitier had three films released in 1967, in my opinion this was the best of them. "In the Heat of the Night" might have been more socially relevant when seen today, and "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" might have been more conventionally entertaining, but "To Sir, With Love" was to me more intelligent, sensitive and emotional that the other two. I am amazed that Sidney was not nominated for the Oscar in 1967, but given his performances in all three films, it's obvious the voters were torn. Sidney Poitier had a year in 1967 that, due to the length of time it takes to make a film these days, may not be repeated now, that is 3 starring roles in three extremely profitable films which does not happen that quite often.

That said and done, I would like to say that is a film is excellent. Poitier gives an outstanding performance as Thackeray, the new school teacher, and the kids, for the most part, were really from the East End. Aided by an excellent supporting cast including Judy Geeson as Lulu which I believe, is Scottish; and Michael Des Barres "Gypsy," the kid with the ubiquitous sunglasses -- is of French aristocracy/English descent; otherwise, what you're seeing is what you get: kids from the East End.

True, the script and some of the cinematography are dated, but what do you expect? The film was made towards the end 1966 and released in 1967; in many ways, it was ahead of itself. The main point, however, is not cinematic technique but character development and storyline. "To Sir, With Love" does portray strong characters, and does develop in a logical, positive way resulting it to be an excellent film.

Poitier is a stunning actor.

This is a heartwarming film. This is a good feel-good movie for anyone who may be feeling down!

Jeffrey C. McAndrew
author of "Our Brown-Eyed Boy"

"To Sir With Love" was a beautiful story about a black teacher, Sidney Poitier, who overcomes racial barriers to teach West London toughs and toughettes the meaning of life. It was, literally, banned in Alabama, which was ruled entirely by...the Democrat party. In 1967, Poitier again stirred the red-necks with "In the Heat of the Night", where he plays Virgil Tibbs, a competent Philadelphia cop stuck overnight in a Mississippi town. It must be 110 degrees at night. The white boys sweat like stuck pigs while Virgil is as cool as a cucumber in a Savoy Row suit. The sheriff, Rod Steiger, is discomfited by circumstances in which Tibbs is "lent" to him to solve a murder that happens to occur when he is there. In working together, layer after layer of characterization is stripped away in marvelous fashion, through the skill of director Norman Jewison (who tells everybody he is not a Jew, he is Methodist), until understanding between the two men become a metaphor for the healing of a divided America. Very good stuff.

STEVEN TRAVERS
AUTHOR OF "BARRY BONDS: BASEBALL'S SUPERMAN"
STWRITES@AOL.COM

I just wanted to say i read your review and was alright with it until i read your sentence which read along the lines of "some viewers believe that the teacher should have lost his cool just once for it to be a believable movie." If you had actually watched the film, you would have discovered in the first hour that he does, in fact, lose his cool 'just once' and calls the girls in his class some rude names. Please do not comment on films you do not care to watch the entire length through. Thank you.