To Sir, with Love – 1967 | 105mins | Drama | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Ground breaking classroom drama starring Sidney Poitier, who had earlier played a New York student in The Blackboard Jungle, here he portrays a teacher. Based on the E.R. Braithwaite novel To Sir, with Love.

Mark Thackery (Sidney Poitier), an out-of-work engineer, turns to teaching at a secondary school in London’s tough East End. The novice teacher faces a class of disruptive, undisciplined, working-class teenagers who set out to destroy him just as they had his predecessor, by breaking his spirit. But the idealistic Thackeray, no stranger to racism and hostility, meets the challenge by treating the students as young adults who will soon be entering the workplace. Frustrated by his pupil’s lack of manners, he disposes of conventional teaching methods, puts away the textbooks, in favour of conversing with his students on varying subjects using his own real-life experiences. His students eventually learn to respect and even appreciate him; referring to him as ‘Sir’, as the teacher-student bond develops one lovelorn female, Pamela (Judy Geeson), acquires a crush on him. When offered an engineering job, Thackeray must decide if he wants to stay.