Se.... (1968) watch online HD

Mick and the Girl rolling on the café floor naked and making love was Malcolm McDowell's idea (because he wanted to see his attractive co-star, Christine Noonan, for whom he admitted having a crush, in the nude.) However, when Lindsay Anderson accepted his star's suggestion, the director required McDowell to ask Noonan if she was willing to do so. (Her reply, according to McDowell, was "I don't mind.")

Contrary to the story that says some scenes of the film are in black-and-white instead of color because the production company was running short of money and saved money by having some scenes processed in monochrome, according to interviews with Malcolm McDowell, Lindsay Anderson and the cameraman, they first shot the scenes in the school chapel in monochrome because they had to use natural light that came in through the big stained-glass window, requiring high-speed film. The high-speed color stock they tested was very grainy and the constantly-shifting color values due to the angle of the light through the stained glass made it impossible to color-correct, as well. So they decided to shoot those scenes in monochrome, and, when he saw the dailies, Anderson liked the way that it "broke up the surface of the film", and decided to insert other monochrome scenes more or less at random, to help disorient the viewer as the film slipped from realism to fantasy.

A British ambassador called the film "an insult to the nation". The then Lord John Brabourne read an early draft and called it "the most evil and perverted script I've ever read. It must never see the light of day".

Malcolm McDowell's film debut.

Paramount hated the film when they saw it and tried to dump it from cinemas. However, one of their tentpole films, Barbarella (1968), turned out to be a spectacular flop so they needed to replace it in cinemas with something else. Reluctantly, they wheeled out "If..." and were astonished to see it turn into a big critical and commercial success.

Features the first instance of a full-frontal female nude passed by the British Board of Film Classification. Previously there had been instances of flashes of nakedness - notably in Michelangelo Antonioni's Blowup (1966) - but "If..." had a prolonged shot of featured nudity.

Malcolm McDowell was reportedly paid £90 a week for this role.

The final shot actually repeats the same short bit of action backward and forward several times (smoke can be seen rising and then going back down, for instance) before finally going to a freeze frame

Widely regarded as one of the films that captured the great counterculture movement of the late 60s, shooting actually began several months before one of the most significant events of that movement - the student riots in Paris in May 1968.

The scene of the beating in the gym was completely adlibbed.

The film was shot at director Lindsay Anderson's actual old school in Cheltenham, as well as Aldenham School, England.

Although the film was shot at Cheltenham Boys' College, the script "Crusaders" was based on the authors' old school Tonbridge School. Tonbridge was the original choice for the outdoor shots, but the school declined believing it would bring bad publicity. All-boys boarding schools were receiving quite unfavourable press at the time, which might explain Tonbridge's decision.

One of the provisions that Paramount made about the film was that it should be shot in a UK studio with a wholly British cast and crew. To keep costs down, Lindsay Anderson largely recruited from the theatrical world.

Earned Malcom McDowell the part of Alex in 'A Clockwork Orange' (1971)

Based on Jean Vigo's short film, Zéro de conduite: Jeunes diables au collège (1933)

In order for the full-frontal nude scene of Mrs Kemp to be passed in the UK chief censor John Trevelyan asked Lindsay Anderson to remove shots of male genitals in the shower scene. Anderson agreed to this and the film was released uncut with an X certificate. For its 1971 cinema re-release a 'AA' (no under 14) certificate was given after some trims to nudity during the coffee shop sex scene, though all later 15-rated video and DVD releases have featured the original uncut cinema print.

One of the photos in Travis' study is a portrait of V.I. Lenin in makeup and wig. The photo was made for a fake document in August 1917 when Lenin was hiding from the police.

The driver of the red car stopped by Mick on the roundabout in Cheltenham was Michael Medwin, the film's producer.

The title of the film was suggested by the secretary of Memorial Films when she overheard Lindsay Anderson and David Sherwin endlessly debating possible titles.

Very early in the film the viewer is given a hint of the counter-cultural themes the film revolves around when in the young boys' dormitory there are posters of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara (man of revolution) and Geronimo a.k.a. Goyathlay (man of rebellion).

The female nude whose magazine picture Mick and his friends admire early in the film is Victoria Vetri (aka Angela Dorian) in her Playmate of the Year pictorial from the May 1968 issue of Playboy magazine.

The Packhorse Cafe doesn't exist anymore. It was on the Tewkesbury Road about four miles outside Cheltenham. The road in the film is lined with Elm trees and most of them vanished in the mid-70s because of an outbreak of Dutch elm disease, they've been replaced by another type of tree.

The BFI voted this the 12th greatest British film of all time.

Lindsay Anderson and Malcolm McDowell would revisit the character of Mick Travis in two later films in - O Lucky Man! (1973) and Britannia Hospital (1982). Although he has the same name, he is a different character in the films.

At the time of Lindsay Anderson's death he had completed a final draft of a proper sequel to the film, but it was never made. The sequel takes place during a Founders' Day celebration where many of the characters reunite. Mick Travis is now an Oscar-nominated movie star, eschewing England for Hollywood. Wallace is a military major who has lost his arm. Johnny is a clergyman. Rowntree is the Minister of War. In the script Rowntree is kidnapped by a group of anti-war students and saved by Mick and his gang, though not before Mick crucifies Rowntree with a large nail through his palm.

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

Malcolm McDowell, David Wood, Richard Warwick, Robert Swann and Christine Noonan all receive "introducing" credits

The painting in the dining hall is Richard Platt from Aldenham School. The Hall scene was an amalgamation of the school halls at Cheltenham and Aldenham.

David Sherwin's original title for the screenplay was "Crusaders", during the writing of which he drew heavily from his experiences at Tonbridge School in Kent. In 1960, he and his friend and co-writer John Howlett took it to director Seth Holt. Holt felt unqualified to direct but offered to produce the film. They also took it to Sherwin's hero, Nicholas Ray, who liked it but had a nervous breakdown before anything came of it. Holt introduced Sherwin to Anderson in a Soho pub.

The motorbike shop was filmed at the Broadway Motor Company on Gladstone Road, Merton, London SW19. The garage is now a Wetherspoons pub.

The Speech Day interior was filmed inside St John's Church on Albion Street, Cheltenham. The church was later demolished.

The motorcycle stolen by Mick is a 1968 BSA A65L Lightning (654cc parallel twin).

The Packhorse café doesn't exist any more. It was on the A5, a few miles south of Dunstable near Kensworth. The white railings just before they pull into the café are still there. Where J&H Packhorse café was is now a petrol station.

The first film of Simon Ward.

The jukebox in The Packhorse Cafe is a 1958 Rock-Ola 1464 Music Vendor which was the first ever wall mounted jukebox, although here it is seen as a floor standing version. Unfortunately it is not clear which selection number plays "Sanctus".

Some scenes were shot at the former Trinity School of John Whitgift in central Croydon before it was demolished to make way for the Whitgift Centre; pupil extras from Whitgift School were engaged at £5 per day.

Rupert Webster was dubbed by Robert Langley.

David Wood, who played Johnny, has written an insightful book entitled FILMING IF.... in which he documents the pleasures and challenges of working as a young actor on the film, and includes lots of personal anecdotes, plus previously unpublished exclusive photographs. It is available to purchase via Amazon. There is also a digital download version.

This film is part of the Criterion Collection, spine #391.

The filmmakers sent the school a fake script omitting the students turning on the staff and parents with guns.