Figure 1.--This Belgian film was set at a boarding school during World War II. The boys wear smocks, short pants, and kneesocks. |
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Quite a number of films have dealt with school life. Often these provide useful images as to what boys wore to school in different countries. These productions vary, but they often provide useful insights as to school uniform and dress. Many of these films are English or French, as well as Belgian. Many but not all are set in private schools, often boarding schools. Some good examples are Au revoir les enfants, Kipperbang, 0 de de conduite. I can recall relatively few American films with school themes. One example is Toy Tiger. The American folms tend to be less serious than the European school films.
A Russian reader has mentioned the Soviet film The Adventures of Elektronik to us. We know virtually nothing about the movie. It was made at Odesskaya Kinostudiya, Odessa, USSR, 1979. A reader tells us that it was an extremely popular movie. Apparently much of it is set at a school. Hopefully our Russian readers will tell us more about th film. The children wear school uniforms. Our Russian reader tells us that for two decades (1970s-80s) that the Soviet school uniform was virtually unchanged. So it was available in any shop selling goods for children. But in very warm days the official uniform was optional.
The movie “Adventures of Petrov and Vasechkin: Usual and Incredible” (“Priklucheniya Petrova I Vasechkina, obyknovennye I neeroyatnye”) was made in 1982. This is another film about 4th graders. Children play, sing, write love notes to girls, make a school preformance (in French) on the “Little Rrd Riding Hood", have a rest on the sea shore and so on. Here there is no heavy-handed ideology. The children are realistically depicted. They wear Pioneer Scarfs, but this is just a uniform item, nothing more. There are scenes at school and at a Pioneer camp. The film is essentially a children's comedy about school life, without Communism, Party and other such things. I am sure, you will notice the difference between movies during the Stalinist years (1930s-50s) and later movies. Just look at faces. Since the late- 60s most of educated people, writers (for example – Vladislav Krapivin, Anatoly Alexin, Edward Uspensky), actors and other progressive people of USSR began to openly criticize the Young Pioneer Organization for its formalizm, old-fashioned military style, stupid “marching in rows” and so on.
This is another British film about a public school. Set at Eton and deals primarily with teenage boys, but some junior boys are pictured fleetingly. Dramatization of Soviet master spies Burgess and McLean during their school days. "Another Country" (1985) starring Rupert Everett (Guy Bennett), Colin Firth (Tommy Judd), and Cary Elwes (Harcourt). Guy Bennett is a fictionalization of the Soviet spy Guy Burgess who defected to Moscow and Tommy Judd of the idealistic Communist John
Carnford, who died fighting for the Republic in the Spanish Civil War. The screenplay was by Julian Mitchell who adapted his very successful play with the same title for filming. Both boys are rebels against the authoritarian conservatism of the school.
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The movie “Attention, the Turtle!” (“Vnimanie, Cherepaha!”) was made in 1971. In this marvelous movie there is no ideolgy at all. Children and adults are real, alive people. There is not a single word about USSR, party, communism and so on. The movie is basically a school film. It begins with a scene, where a young school teacher goes on Moscow street dressed in a fashionable mini-skirt and bright short raincoat. On some distance she is followed by two small girls (1st or 2nd grade), who’s dresses are also very short. But when the teacher comes to school, she hides and rolls down her skirt, takes off a bright raincoat, then puts on glasses to become a “true” teacher. This would have been and inconceivable sceen in a Stalinist era film. Children following her also hide and rolls down their skirts, after that run to their teacher and greet her. This film is very touching. It teaches a love of animals. Even more, it openly rejects some traditional Communist principles. When a teacher says a ritual phrase “There are no indispencable people!” (one of communist ideas, that “one person is nobody, a zero”) a small boy askes her “But who are dispenable people?” and stuns her with this question. More in this movie authors smile about the Soviet obsession with war. Another small boy, the main character's antagonist, is obsessed with war and always paints war pictures. In the plot he steals from a “Corner of live nature” a turtle (who’s name is “Rocket”) and tries to put it under a tank “to check if its shell (armor) is "solid” or not. Another boy, the main character, knowing that Rocket is in danger, runs away from a children hospital where he is being treated. A girl from his class also concerned about rocket helps him by changing clothes with him and replacing him in the hospital. In the climatic scene, he manages to draw the tank commander's attention to Rocket and the tanks turn to avoid Rocket.
This wonderful, but tragic film is based on the prsonal experiences of Director Louis Malle's tragic "Au Revoir. Malle is a gifted craftsman who directed another film illustrating French boyhood fashions, Murmer of the Heart. The conclusion of the movie is hear breaking. Until the end it was a rather ordinary film describing boyhood conflict and friendships at a French boarding school. The conclusion is shocking, especially as it actually occured and the director Louis Malle witnessed it.
We have not yet had a chance to prepare a review of this important English film, but plan to do so. The book was written by the same author as The Winslow Boy.
A teacher finds himself in a rural school. The children have no interest in their studies and are planning careers as gangsters.
"Ferris Bueller's Day Off" is a good look at dress trends and life styles in an American high school. Ferris plays hookey, but he is no ordinary truant. The point of his exercise is not to waste the day, but to spend it wisely. He devises a series of elaborate deceptions to ensure that he and two friends can spend a care free day away from school. A reader reports, "I absolutely love this movie. Everytime my history teacher asks a question, she usually says,"Anyone, Anyone." It usually makes me laugh, because I think of this movie." A reader writes, "Gawd I loved this movie! Every time I hear 'Twist and Shout' by the Beatles I remember this movie. All the tricks Matthew Broderick had up his sleeve to get his girlfriend and Cameron out of school for the day, getting a hold of Cameron's dad's classic Ferrari, whooping it up in Chicago, going to the Cubs' game at Wrigley Field, everyone thinking that Ferris was dying of some horrible disease and how he was able to fool everyone with his computer and stereo set up in his room, just priceless stuff!" This film is developing cult status. One boy wears a T-shirt and suspenders, distinctive clothing feature.
"Die Feuerzangenbowle" (The Flaming Punch Bowl) was made in NAZI Germany during 1944. This is a comic film set in Germany about 1910 in which a group of male friends gather at a restaurant, the "Feuerzangenbowle", to enjoy each other's company and reminisce about their school days in a gymnasium or secondary school. They find that Hans never attended a regular school and they agree that he has missed an important childhood experience. On a bet one of the men disguises himself as a student and is sent to the school. He then causees all sorts of amusing difficulties for the schoolmasters. He gets involved with all sorts of schoolboy pranks. The scene here looks to depict a scool in the 1910s, probably before the War (figure 1). Notice the caps. Boys commonly wore caps like this to school through the 1930s. For some reason they were no longer worn after Workd War II. The older students wear suits with long trousers in the school, but the younger boys (up to about age 13 or 14) wear short trousers with long stockings. Some of the boys wear sailor suits. All of the boys regardless of age wear the peaked school cap. The costuming seems to be historically accurate except that the boys' stockings tend to be of various colors (brown, gray, beige, and black) whereas most boys of the time stuck mostly to black stockings.
The English film Goodbye Mr. Chips is perhaps the most well known of all school accounts. Interestingly, the plot is about a public (exclusive private school) which even few English boys are able to attend. A much loved master at a public school decides to retire. The story opens in the 1930s, hence the more modern' school uniforms in some scenes. Then flashbacks tke us back to the late Victorian era when Arthur Chipping begins teaching and Eton suits are de rigeur for pupils. Chips moves from an idealistic young master who cannot control the boys to crabbed old retired beak who knows every nook nd cranney of theadolescentt mind. The various filmed productions are based on the novel by James Hilton.
A prestigious public school decides to offer scholarships to bright boys from humble families. The boy chosen to try the experiment has a difficult time. The boy, played by the now famous director -- Sir Richard Attenboro was I did not think was a particularly good choice for the role. He was really to old for the part. He wore longs. Also features a teenage Anthony Newley.
A boy's boarding school hires a female master played by Greer Garson. Neither the boys or the head teacher like the idea of a lady teacher. The boys at first make life difficult for her but soon of course come to like her. The boys wear blacked peaked caps and blazers with long grey pants. The school is called "The Oaks" and the younger boys are the "Acorns" who are a class 10 year olds. Interestingly, Tim Considine plays the snooty boy who has trouble fitting in with the others. Interestingly in his more mafous role as Spin in "Spin and Marty" he rejected the Marty role and insisted on playing Spin the "cool" boy. Some reviewers call this a "flat commedy". It was Garson's last film on her MGM contract.
Het Verdriet van Belgie ("The Sorrow of Belgium") is set during World War II (1939-45) at a Catholic boarding school. It is a school for younger boys and nuns are very much present and they wear the traditional habit. The boys look to be about 8 to 12 years of age. I'm not sure what kind of school is depicted. While English boys commonly went to boarding school beginning about age 8 years, I do not think it was nearly as common for younger boys to attend boarding school in Belgium and other continental countries. Perhaps this is an orphanage for displaced children, but the boys look too well dressed for that. I do not have any details on the plot line at this time. The film is set in Flanders, the Dutch speaking part of Belgium. The boys wear short pants and smocks. Both front and back opening
smock styles can be seen, although the front buttoning ones appear most prevalent. This would date the film after World War II which suggests an error in the costuming. The back buttoning smocks would have been more common durin the War. The smocks are all the same blue color even though they are styled differently.
This film begins as a rather interesting look at a repressive British public (exclusive private) school, but ends rather rediculosly. Some film critics consider this to be a very poweful film. The boys wear blazers, ties, and long trousers. Surrealistic drama set in an oppressive British boy's public school. A lot of the junior boys are depicted, focusing on
their efforts to teach a new boy all the correct responses and school lingo and their experiences as fags. The school has a long trouser uniform. This was Malcomb McDowell's first film. Has a surrealistic end when the boys rebel and take over the school. Pity it has such a ridiculous ending as some of the various scenes are quite well done--although
rather outdated by the late 1960s. A British reader reports, "The reason the film cuts from colour to black and white was lack of finances for colour film. The PE uniform is worn in the fencing scene, involving McDowell, with Bobby Fisher looking down from the gallery. The
school, like so many has its own Army Training Corps (ATC) and the uniform is typical of the time.
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This classic French film show the uniform worn by boys in a private French college (secondary school). Much of the film takes place away from school. At the beginning of the folm. howevr, the boys are shown in their school uniforms. Most French boys did not wear school uniforms, but they were adopted at many private schools in France. While uniforms varied from school to school, blue short pants and white kneesocks was a commom choice. One noticeable development was the disappearance of berets. Boys in Romance is on the minds of students and teachers at British secondary school set in the 1950s. A boy's travails at home and at school where he is punished for constant tardiness. The thrashing scene is played for humor. The hero and his friends still wear short pants to school, but the one suave boy they all dislike wears longs. Apparently boys are allowed to option of wearing long or short pants with their uniform. John Albasiny An English reader was particularly impressed with this film, "This was a delightful movie, and was the first one shown on Britain's Channel 4. There is some fine period (50s) costume in the film and
well-worth seeing if you have the chance. The boy's development is observed by metaphor through the voice-over of a cricket commentary."
"Les Quatre Cents Coups" is a film about school life in 1950. It is quite a famous film in France.
A HBC reader reports that another school film that he liked for the music, the
setting, and time period details is "A Separate Peace" (1972). This film was Parker Stevenson's film debut. He was about 19 at the time, playing a 16/17 years old. "Separate Peace" took a drubbing from the critics(an understatement). Poor acting and
ineffective plot were the charges. I didn't think the lead actors were that bad, though the minor characters were clearly newcomers. The novel, written by John Knowles, was called a "modern classic' when I was in high school, though the storyline and resolution are
blurred and a letdown.
La sixieme classique was produced in 1995. It takes place in 1952 in the Dordogne. For Aurelien (Clement van den Bergh), who enters le lycee of Bergerac in the 6th
form ("La 6ieme classique") a new life begins. At the same time his father leaves. The new live is terrible exciting. He soon discovers, that he can alter his identitiy in every way he likes, just by imagination. He invents for his classmates a thrilling live that is made better through small pranks, just as he likes and depending on the circumstances.
The main character wears different shirts and a long dark coat. He wears a beret
and short trousers.
The film stars Francis Lascombrade and Didier Haudepin. Hauntingly beautiful movie about a friendship between a younger (Alexandre) and older (George) boy at a strict Jesuit boarding school. The brothers sharply censure "impure" friendship and the movie has a predictably sad ending. The younger boy appears often in shorts and knee socks.
This film is based on aclassic in English literature. It focused on a fictional boy at Rugby College at the same time a famous headmaster is introducing reforms.
I can recall relatively few American films with school themes. One example is Toy Tiger. The American films tend to be less serious than the European school films. Tim Hovey goes to an American boarding run by two kind-heated, but dottery head masters--in fact the only masters. The uniform is proper gray short pants, black knee socks, and black blazers with caps. He is only seven, but most of the other boys look to be about 10-13. Most of the film is set at the schools with the boys in their uniforms. This is one of the best films with American boys in school uniform. The school is depicted rather unrealistically. The boys are referred to as "Mister" so and so. For punishment they write lines such as "Young gentlemen do not fight." Staff stand around to serve dinner. Interestingly when the boys go camping they switch to scout uniforms with long pants and their school cap. An advertising man substitutes for his imaginary father.
A HBC reader reports, "Looking through your site, particularly the section on school uniforms. I finished up at the section where school uniforms are depicted in movies. After looking through the movies you have listed, I realised that a new movie just released some months back, deserves a place in this section. The movie is called "Thunderpants" It looks like it is based on a comic strip, but is brought to life with real actors. It shows
the typical english school uniform of blazer and shorts. It is based around a primary school age group, although, some of the students look old enough to be in high school."
The cast included: Rupert Grint, Bruce Cook, Devon Anderson, Ned Beatty, and Nigel Betts. Rupert Grint is the the boy who plays Ronald Weasly in Harry Potter movies. The plot seems focused at rather juvenile humor. An 11-year-old boy has an unmatched ability to break wind. He becomes famous, but winds up on death row, but finally helps him become an astronaut.
The novel by Giles Cooper, Unman, Wittering and Zigo was first produced by BBC TV in the 1960s. It is in the tradition of a British writer who disliked his schooldays. David Hemmings plays a new teacher in a classroom where the boys seem, as one reviewer phrases it, "demonically recalcitrant". The title is derived from Unman, Wittering and Zigo who are the last names on the class roll. The boys advise Hemmings that he'd
better leave them alone or else. His predecessor had not heeded this warning and, as a result, took a fatal fall down a flight of stairs.
This film is not precisely a movie about school life. It is more a children's film, but because quite a number of scenes are shot at school it provides an interesting glimpse of East German school children during the 1980s. We believe the clothes worn by the children are not costumes, but the actual clothes they wore to school.
The movie “Vasyok Trubachev and His Class-mates” (“Vasyok Trubacherv I yego tovarischi”) was made in 1956 and is a standard Stalinist era film. The main heroes were three boys from 4th grade, very good friends. Vasya is the true leader of the Pioneer squad. He is very responsible, athletic, learns good, can use instruments (like axe, saw etc.) and dreams to be a train locomotive driver like his father. (Note the choice of a working-class biy.) Kolya is very disciplined, principle, active, learns good. He is an older brother in a big family, so he can to make a dinner, care for children and even sew. Sasha is the smallest and weakest boy in the class. He is depicted as the only boy in the class still wearing short pants with long stockings, but he learns good (again), knows a lot about sciences, communications and so on. All the children in the movie are depicted schematically, they are so serious and in my opinion are more like small adults or even a small robots. They all tell long and boring speeches about “duty of a Soviet pioneer”, “being a true Soviet pioneer” and so on. Adults, the class teacher and the school Pioneer leader are depicted as “true communist” and “true comsomol member”. The plot of the movie is very primitive and liveless. This reflects Soviet film making during the Stalinist era. Imagination and complexity were not characteriztics that were highly prised in film making and literature. In fact they could get you in a lot of trouble. Stalin died in 1953 and Khruchev denounced him at the 20th Party Congress (1956). It took longer for the impact of Stalin to loosen his grip on Soviet film making.
Anders Agenso, Peter Bjerg. The movie is set against a student strike at a Danish school and centers on the developing relationship between 15 year old Bo and Kim, the younger son of the stern boarding school headmaster. Includes a lovely scene in the shower between Kim and Bo.
This powerful allegorical German film is based the novel (Die Verwirrungen des Zoglings Torless written by Robert Musil in 1906. (Musil at age 12 entered an Austrian boarding school. He served in World War I and was decorated for valor. He mairred a Jewish woman and fled to SWitzerland after the Anchlus. His books were banned by the NAZIs.) Young Torless is set at an Austrian military school and is based on the author's own experieces. This penetrating study of young cadets offers a preview of coming power of Facist movements. Mathieu Carriere plays Torless, a student in a prestigious boarding school during the waning, but still proud days of the Hapsburg empire. Torless witnesses the sadistic behavior of fellow students Alfred Dietz and Bernd. He at first watches with fascination, but does not intervene or to assisst the hapless victims. When Torless does finally report his former friends, it is he who has to leave the school. There may have been a remake in 1996. One reviewer writes, "Young Torless has gone down in film history as a seminal work that announced a new German cinema of international stature."
This French black and white movie from Jean Vigo was released in 1933. It was a short film only 43 minutes. It depicts life in a French boys' college. There are boarders and day-pupils, I would say between 9 and 14 years old. It is not a religious college but I cannot say whether it is private or public, but the fact that it had boarders suggest that it was a private sdchool. The movie finishes with the revolt of four boys throwing things to the guests from the roofs during the college fęte. A precursor of the British public school movie If.
Navigate the Boys' Historical Clothing Web Site:
P'Tang Yang Kipperbang - (England, 1982 or 83)
Les Quatre Cents Coups (France, 1950)
Separate Peace - (United States, 1972)
(La) Sixieme Classique - (France, 1995)
This Special Friendship - (France, 1963)
Tom Brown's Schooldays - (England, 1951)
Toy Tiger - (U.S., 1956)
Thunderpants - (England, 2002)
Unman, Wittering and Zigo - (England, 1971)
Figure 3.--"Der Untergang der Emma" is not precisely a movie about school life. It is more a children's film, but because quite a number of scenes are shot at school it provides an interesting glimpse of East German school children during the 1980s.
(Der) Untergang der Emma - (East Germany, 1986)
Vasyok Trubachev and His Class-mates (Soviet Union, 1956)
You Are Not Alone - (Denmark, 1980/82?)
Young Toorless - (France/Germany, 1966)
0 de de conduite - (France (19??)
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Created: August 13, 2000
Last updated: 5:47 AM 12/8/2008
