Unman, Wittering and Zigo

[giallihaydw]

Anyone know why this never gets shown anymore? I think Channel 4 had it last,and why no DVD release,i think Paramount own it...For Hemmings sake!!!

[Diane Blackwell]

Hi - I'm new to this forum, but amazed to see people talking about a film that I didn't think anyone else had ever heard of! Bizzarely enough, one of the actors from the film (known as Paul Aston) is a friend of mine, who admitted he had been one of the teachers in the film and said he thought it was an awful film and was glad it was never screened!

[summerisle]

Originally posted by Diane Blackwell@May 18 2005, 12:29 PM

Apparently, it does have some cult status, although it must be a pretty select cult the only people who've heard of it seem to be us!

Its one of my favourites too Diane. David Hemmings was a much under-rated actor. It was on BBC not all that long ago (within 5 years).



Something which baffles me is that Halliwell's Film Guide says that to find out the killer you have to watch the closing credits. But in the version I saw the killer was "unmasked" before the credits. I take it that this was the case when it originally came out but it has since been re-edited??



Any ideas?

[Darling]

I'm going to have to have another dig in that video cupboard. I recorded UW&Z from the TV a few years ago and I didn't realise when I first watched it, but a very young Michael Kitchen plays one of the kids, an actor I really admire (Foyle's War is a favourite). David Hemmings was still very recognisable, unlike his astonishing transformation not too many years later.

[Bilmo]

http://www.mtv.com/movies/movie/78146/plot.jhtml



I remember seeing the film only once when I was younger. The above link isn't much of a detailed "plot" synopsis, but it gives you an idea. I vaguely remember a female teacher being involved, but perhaps I am wrong. I must admit, I am interested in seeing the film again, as it was pretty good.

[batman]

http://www.mtv.com/movies/movie/78146/plot.jhtml



I remember seeing the film only once when I was younger. The above link isn't much of a detailed "plot" synopsis, but it gives you an idea. I vaguely remember a female teacher being involved, but perhaps I am wrong. I must admit, I am interested in seeing the film again, as it was pretty good.

You are dead right, the lady in question was Carolyn Seymour ...









... if you enjoyed this, try and track down the similarly themed Aussie film 'Summerfield'.



Bats.

[penfold]

You are dead right, the lady in question was Carolyn Seymour ...




... if you enjoyed this, try and track down the similarly themed Aussie film 'Summerfield'.



Bats.

Not a teacher, the teacher's wife....David Hemmings was the teacher in question.

[A Pemberton]

Thanks to Jack Gurney for his excellent essay on Unman...... ,I recently got the chance to see Unman again after 15 years or so and his critique on the film was balanced and fair

There are more essays on this forum(in the contribution to Britmovie thread) that have rekindled and opened my eyes to long lost classics



certainly recommended reading

[DB7]

I tend to agree, it's griipping yet somehow flawed. It seems to gather pace and slowly build up to a climax but unlike The Wicker Man the final scene is something of a letdown.



I suppose the earlier tv adaptation is 'lost'?

[Grey Wyler]

Yes, a key Hemmings film. One of my favourites. He was so cool back in the early 70's.

[icetorch]

I saw this film back in the early 1970s (on TV, I believe), and I was probably much the same age as the schoolboys in it who attempted to (or possibly did, I can't remember) murder their schoolteacher. At the time I was much taken with it, but I have never seen it since.

It's the only film I'm aware of that intrigued me greatly but which I have never seen since. Now you know how it is with these films that you see when you were young - when (if) you see them again, they either entrance you all over again, or you realise that you must have been very young and immature to have been so taken with it. It did have David Hemmings as the school teacher, which would have made it quite watchable in those days.

I wonder, has anyone else seen it, and what did they think of it?

One film I used to adore as a youngster was Visconti's The Damned, made in 1969, and showing the Nazis' takeover of power as seen through the eyes of a rich family. These days I think it's a load of melodramatic tosh and wonder why I ever liked it. Maybe I would think the same of Unman... if I ever saw it again. Do any of the members have similar films that they loved but grew to loathe?

[TomDaws]

I saw it when it was released ; particularly remember a scene in a gymnasium where Hemmings's wife (Caroline Seymour maybe ?) was being intimidated by a couple of the pupils. I believe Hemmings directed as well as starred. It was originally a radio play by Giles Cooper. I think I'd find it just as intriguing if I were to see it again. At the daily roll-call Zigo was always absent, wasn't he ? - Never actually appeared in the film.

[icetorch]

At the daily roll-call Zigo was always absent, wasn't he ? - Never actually appeared in the film.

Ah yes - I remember now! Pity I only got to see it the once. One of those films that never or rarely gets repeated, for some reason.

[DB7]

Haven't seen it for some time but it's almost like Straw Dogs transferred to the classroom with the upstanding young couple terrorised by pupils rather than the locals.

[HUGHJAMPTON]

They used to have the whole film up on YT, albeit with Swedish subtitles but it's been pulled.

[DB7]

Seem to recall there was a tv play from the 1960s but I'm not sure if it survived.

[icetorch]

Haven't seen it for some time but it's almost like Straw Dogs transferred to the classroom with the upstanding young couple terrorised by pupils rather than the locals.

Both films were released in 1972, apparently.

[dpgmel]

One of my favourite Mr Hemmings films

[icetorch]

One of my favourite Mr Hemmings films

Interesting to see how saturnine he looked in his latter years.

[Wolfgang]

It is probably my favourite Hemmings film. I only saw it 3/4 years ago and found it chilling and utterly compelling. Bar some dodgy hairstyles I was struck by how modern it seemed in its outlook, although I guess these days we have Ritalin for kids like that.