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      The Guinea Pig

      1948 1h 37m Drama List
      Reviews 82% 100+ Ratings Audience Score Working-class boy Jack Read (Richard Attenborough) gains entry into an upper-class public school as part of a social experiment by the British government to integrate boys of different backgrounds. He struggles to fit in and has to endure ridicule at the hands of his classmates and house master because of his Cockney manner. It takes the sympathetic nurturing of teacher Nigel Lorraine (Robert Flemyng) to help him adjust to this unfamiliar environment and ultimately thrive. Read More Read Less

      Audience Reviews

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      Audience Member Ridiculous to cast a 24-year old actor as a 14-year old schoolboy, but if you can ignore this, then this film is a masterful triumph which I rate 9/10. I would have given it 10/10 but the ending was slightly feeble, I felt, not quite convincing as a leading character suddenly reversed his long-term entrenched posturing and position. All roles are brilliantly executed, even the tiniest. Be on the lookout for a very young Anthony Newley ! Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Audience Member Rather obvious, routine drama around issues of social-class, this is nevertheless interesting historically; it shows how the class system worked. Tobacconist's son Attenborough alights at a snobbish public-school in early scenes where the films treads the line between archetypal and cliched. He adapts and wins favour on *their terms*, with help from an idealistic, 'modernising' teacher (Robert Flemyng) who acts as mediator. Three years on, much is still bound up with the experience of WW2; Read's father extolling the virtues of sergeant majors, indeed comparing their role to that of the public-school house master. Flemying's liberal partially wins Read over by stressing the amount of Great Men the school has produced. Inevitably, we also see how sport (in this case, rugger) unites. It is a deeply conservative film, stressing that to better one's self you adapt within the system; this embodies what Lindsay Anderson and "If..." were up against. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/18/23 Full Review Audience Member This is such a nice, good, old movie. From the beginning I found it enjoyable to watch, and although the night scenes were hard to see, due to it being a black & white movie, it was such an easy and good film to watch. Really enjoyable. I loved it! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member wow just seen this movie 4 the 1st time n think that this is a good movie 2 watch,,,its got a good cast of actors/actressess throughout this movie..its filmed in black & white...i think that richard attenborough plays a good part throughout this movie,..i think that the director of this Drama, Classics movie had done a good job of directing this movie because you never know what 2 expect throughout this movie...its a good 1940's movie 2 watch n is enjoyable Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member A film that certainly needs to be viewed from the time it emerged, a post-war changing Britain and it's values. Attenborough well into his 20's did well depicting a school boy! Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      The Guinea Pig

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      Movie Info

      Synopsis Working-class boy Jack Read (Richard Attenborough) gains entry into an upper-class public school as part of a social experiment by the British government to integrate boys of different backgrounds. He struggles to fit in and has to endure ridicule at the hands of his classmates and house master because of his Cockney manner. It takes the sympathetic nurturing of teacher Nigel Lorraine (Robert Flemyng) to help him adjust to this unfamiliar environment and ultimately thrive.
      Director
      Roy Boulting
      Screenwriter
      Mike Riddell
      Production Co
      Pilgrim Pictures, Boulting Brothers
      Genre
      Drama
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (Streaming)
      Sep 21, 2017
      Runtime
      1h 37m