''The Rebel'' (US title: ''Call Me Genius'') is a 1961 British

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming or ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

about the clash between bourgeois and bohemian cultures. Starring

Tony Hancock Anthony John Hancock (12 May 1924 – 25 June 1968) was an English comedian and actor. High-profile during the 1950s and early 1960s, he had a major success with his BBC series ''Hancock's Half Hour'', first broadcast on radio from 1954, ...

, it was written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The film was made by

Associated British Picture Corporation Associated British Picture Corporation (ABPC), originally British International Pictures (BIP), was a British film production, distribution and exhibition company active from 1927 until 1970 when it was absorbed into EMI. ABPC also owned appr ...

and distributed by Warner-Pathé (ABPC's distribution arm).

Plot

Tony, a disaffected

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

office clerk (Hancock) catches the train to

Waterloo Station Waterloo station (), also known as London Waterloo, is a central London terminus on the National Rail network in the United Kingdom, in the Waterloo area of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is connected to a London Underground station of t ...

each morning as he has done for 14 years. In the city he sits as one of many identical clerks in a dull office. Each worker wears a

bowler hat The bowler hat, also known as a billycock, bob hat, bombín (Spanish) or derby (United States), is a hard felt hat with a rounded crown, originally created by the London hat-makers Thomas and William Bowler in 1849. It has traditionally been worn ...

and carries an umbrella. One day his boss (

John Le Mesurier John Le Mesurier (, born John Elton Le Mesurier Halliley; 5 April 191215 November 1983) was an English actor. He is perhaps best remembered for his comedic role as Sergeant Arthur Wilson in the BBC television situation c ...

) catches him drawing faces instead of working, and he is asked to step into his office. His ledgers are full of poor quality caricatures of fellow workers. He is told to take the afternoon off but does not. He leaves at exactly 5.30pm as does everyone else. Back at his lodgings, in a mid-terraced brick Victorian house, somewhere in outer London, Tony dons his artist's smock, and resumes work on his masterpiece, "

Aphrodite Aphrodite ( ; grc-gre, Ἀφροδίτη, Aphrodítē; , , ) is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation. She was syncretized with the Roman goddess . Aphrodite's major symbols incl ...

at the Waterhole"... a truly horrendous but huge sculpture. His landlady Mrs Cravat (

Irene Handl Irene Handl (27 December 1901 – 29 November 1987) was a British author and character actress who appeared in more than 100 British films. Life Irene Handl was born in Maida Vale, London, the younger of two daughters of an Austria-born father ...

) complains about the hammering noise. He explains he cannot afford a model and it represents "women as he sees them". She threatens to evict him if he does not remove the statue. As he remonstrates with his copy of

Van Gogh Vincent Willem van Gogh (; 30 March 185329 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who posthumously became one of the most famous and influential figures in Western art history. In a decade, he created about 2,100 artworks, inc ...

's self-portrait on his wall, the floor creaks and the statue falls through, luckily missing his landlady below. In his office attire he goes to a local cafe seeking a coffee "with no froth". This annoys the owner, who tells Tony he has just bought an expensive froth-making machine. Inspired by a poster on the wall Tony decides to go to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

. He takes a train to

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maids ...

with his Aphrodite on a flat-bed wagon to the rear. She loses her head as the train goes through a tunnel. When, on arrival at the port, Tony sees the headless statue he is furious, but worse is to follow. While being loaded onto a ship it proves too heavy for its net, bursts through the bottom and is lost in the sea. Forced to accept the inevitable, he resolves to start again in Paris. On the ferry he throws his bowler hat and umbrella into the sea. Unfortunately it is raining heavily when he arrives in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Arriving in Paris, Tony walks along the

River Seine ) , mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur , mouth_coordinates = , mouth_elevation = , progression = , river_system = Seine basin , basin_size = , tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle , tributari ...

and looks at the artists. In the evening he goes to a cafe in

Montmartre Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...

and meets a group of English-speaking artists. Here he meets Paul, who speaks passionately about art. He orders a half litre of vin ordinaire and they drink together. Paul invites Tony to share his studio and flat, just up the road. The landlady Madame Laurent hears them enter and demands the rent. Tony loves the atmosphere in the studio. Tony is asked to critique Paul's paintings ... "Your colours are the wrong shape" he says. Paul admires the childlike style of Tony's work: "infantile art". Josey, a red-haired, blue-lipped beatnik visits and invites Tony and Paul to a very large mansion, filled with artwork. Here the Dalí-esque owner, Jim Smith, is sleeping on the bookcase (because he is writing a book). At a party a group of young people all dressed alike hang on Tony's every word. They all think he is fantastic. Inspired by Jim Smith, Tony starts sleeping on top of the wardrobe and brings a cow to live in the flat. He then tries his first

Action painting Action painting, sometimes called "gestural abstraction", is a style of painting in which paint is spontaneously dribbled, splashed or smeared onto the canvas, rather than being carefully applied. The resulting work often emphasizes the physical a ...

. Paul decides to leave, and gifts Tony his art. As his reputation spreads he is visited by Sir Charles Broward, an art collector and buyer who is attracted to Paul's work. Sir Charles asks Tony if Paul's works are his and Tony says they were "a gift". This is misinterpreted. Tony's own work is labelled awful. After the first exhibition he goes to a posh restaurant with Sir Charles. He orders egg and chips... when pushed to choose something more he orders snails, egg and chips and a cup of tea. Sir Charles takes Tony to

Monte Carlo Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...

, where he goes to dinner with a number of rich guests. One wife, Mrs Carreras, wishes to be painted by Tony. Her husband, after some debate, commissions a sculpture. Tony injures his fingers while hammering and later at dinner the wife hand feeds him, much to the embarrassment of all. Carreras offers to buy Tony's entire art collection for £50,000. On the Carreras yacht, Tony dresses as a bird for the fancy dress party. Mrs Carreras dresses as a cat. She tells him she loves him. He rejects her and she threatens to shoot him. On deck, he unveils the statue to the horror of all - it turns out to be a copy of his Aphrodite - and Mrs Carreras accuses him of assaulting her. The statue drops through the ship and Tony escapes on the yacht's launch. Still dressed as a bird, Tony goes to the airport and says he wants to fly to Britain. "Wouldn't you rather take a plane?" the attendant quips. He returns to Mrs Cravat's, now finding Paul living with her and working in an office, though still painting as a hobby. Tony persuades Paul to lend him some new paintings, promising to explain later. Showing these paintings at the London exhibition, Tony reveals that Paul is the true artist and "the rubbish" is Tony's work. Leaving Paul to enjoy his newfound fame and fortune Tony returns to Mrs Cravat's and resumes work on his Aphrodite - with Mrs Cravat as the model.

Cast

...Anthony Hancock *

George Sanders George Henry Sanders (3 July 1906 – 25 April 1972) was a British actor and singer whose career spanned over 40 years. His heavy, upper-class English accent and smooth, bass voice often led him to be cast as sophisticated but villainous chara ...

...Sir Charles Broward * Paul Massie...Paul *

Margit Saad Margit Saad (born 30 May 1929) is a German actress who has worked largely in German film and television, with occasional English language appearances. Biography She was born in Munich, Bavaria, the daughter of a Lebanese linguist father and a ...

...Margot *

Grégoire Aslan Grégoire Aslan (born Krikor Kaloust Aslanian; 28 March 1908 – 8 January 1982) was a Swiss-Armenian actor and musician. Early life Krikor Kaloust Aslanian ( hy, Գրիգոր Գալուստի Ասլանյան) was born in Switzerland or in Con ...

...Carreras *

Dennis Price Dennistoun Franklyn John Rose Price (23 June 1915 – 6 October 1973) was an English actor, best remembered for his role as Louis Mazzini in the film '' Kind Hearts and Coronets'' (1949) and for his portrayal of the omnicompetent valet Jeeve ...

...Jim Smith *

...Mrs. Crevatte *

...Office manager *

Liz Fraser Elizabeth Joan Winch (14 August 1930 – 6 September 2018), known professionally as Liz Fraser, was a British film actress, best known for being cast in provocative comedy roles. Early life Fraser was born in Southwark, London. Her year of bi ...

...Waitress *

Mervyn Johns Mervyn Johns (born David Mervyn John; 18 February 18996 September 1992) was a Welsh stage, film and television character actor who became a star of British films during the Second World War. Johns was known for his "mostly mild-mannered, lugubri ...

...Manager of Art Gallery *

Peter Bull Peter Cecil Bull, (21 March 1912 – 20 May 1984) was a British character actor who appeared in supporting roles in such films as '' The African Queen'', ''Tom Jones'', and ''Dr. Strangelove''. Biography He was the fourth and youngest son o ...

...Manager of Art Gallery *

Nanette Newman Nanette Newman (born 29 May 1934) is an English actress and author. She appeared in nine films directed by her husband Bryan Forbes, including ''Séance on a Wet Afternoon'' (1964), '' The Whisperers'' (1967), '' Deadfall'' (1968), '' The Stepf ...

...Josey *

Marie Burke Marie Burke (born Marie Rosa Altfuldisch, later Holt, 18 October 189421 March 1988) was an English actress of stage, cinema and television. She appeared in over 40 films between 1917 and 1971, and appeared in TV series between 1953 and 1969. B ...

...Madame Laurent *

Oliver Reed Robert Oliver Reed (13 February 1938 – 2 May 1999) was an English actor known for his well-to-do, macho image and "hellraiser" lifestyle. After making his first significant screen appearances in Hammer Horror films in the early 1960s, his ...

...Artist in Cafe * Mario Fabrizi...Coffee Bar attendant *

Bernard Rebel Bernard Rebel (6 October 1901, Poland – 30 September 1964, London, England) was a Polish-born British actor. His work included the role of Wormtongue in the 1955-56 BBC radio version of ''The Lord of the Rings''. Selected filmography * ' ...

...Art dealer * John Wood...Poet * Victor Platt...Dockside Official

Production and themes

''The Rebel'' attempts to transfer Hancock's radio and television comedy persona to the big screen, and several regular supporting cast members of ''

Hancock's Half Hour ''Hancock's Half Hour'' was a BBC radio comedy, and later television comedy series, broadcast from 1954 to 1961 and written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The series starred Tony Hancock, with Sidney James; the radio version also co-starr ...

'' also appeared, including

and Mario Fabrizi. The since-demolished railway station used at the beginning of the film, was Bingham Road in the Croydon suburb of

Addiscombe Addiscombe is an area of south London, England, within the London Borough of Croydon. It is located south of Charing Cross, and is situated north of Coombe and Selsdon, east of Croydon town centre, south of Woodside, and west of Shirley. E ...

, named Fortune Green South in the film. The dress-code and regimentation at the railway station had been depicted earlier in 1952's ''

Something Money Can't Buy ''Something Money Can't Buy'' is a 1952 British comedy drama film directed by Pat Jackson and starring Patricia Roc, Anthony Steel and Moira Lister. The film was made with backing from the NFFC as part of its British Film-Makers project with ...

'', during Anthony Steel's daydreaming reverie sequence, working at the local government office. In ''The Rebel'',

existentialist Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and value ...

themes are explored by mocking Parisian intellectual life and portraying the pretensions of the English middle class. Galton and Simpson had previously satirised pseudo-intellectuals in the ''

'' radio episode "The Poetry Society" (1959), in which Hancock attempts to imitate the style of the pretentious poets and fails, and is infuriated when his idiot friend Bill does the same and wins their enthusiastic approval. The film also includes scenes parodying modern art. The scene showing Hancock splashing paint onto a canvas and riding a bike over it is a lampoon of the work of Action Painter William Green, while the childlike paintings of Hancock, referred to as the 'infantile school' or the 'shapeist school', parody the

naive Naivety (also spelled naïvety), naiveness, or naïveté is the state of being naive. It refers to an apparent or actual lack of experience and sophistication, often describing a neglect of pragmatism in favor of moral idealism. A ''naïve'' may ...

style. In 2002, the

London Institute of 'Pataphysics London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...

organised an exhibition consisting of recreations of all the art works seen in the film. There is still dispute whether the drawings and paintings, attributed to Hancock and his roommate, were all produced by the same artist, Alistair Grant (1925–1997). or whether Hancock's poor quality 'Infantilist School' artworks were actually produced as a joke by the British modernist painter,

John Bratby John Randall Bratby RA (19 July 1928 – 20 July 1992) was an English painter who founded the kitchen sink realism style of art that was influential in the late 1950s. He made portraits of his family and celebrities. His works were seen i ...

Release and reception

''The Rebel''s British premiere was at the Plaza Cinema in London's West End on 2 March 1961, following a screening at the Beirut Film Festival. An anonymous reviewer (most likely

Dudley Carew Dudley Charles Carew (3 July 1903 – 22 March 1981) was an English journalist, writer, poet and film critic. Life and career Carew was educated at Lancing College, where he was the best friend of Evelyn Waugh. Later in life, Waugh spurned Car ...

) in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'', at the time of the film's British release, said Hancock had "made the transition from small to large screen" in this film "with gratifying success". According to the ''Motion Picture Herald'', the film was the 6th most popular movie at the UK box office in 1961. Hancock was nominated for the

BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles The British Academy Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles is a discontinued award that was presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts until 1984. The category had several name changes: * 1952–1959: Most Promi ...

in 1962. On its release in the US, under the title ''Call Me Genius'' (retitled as there was an existing TV series with the same name), the film was not well received.

Bosley Crowther Francis Bosley Crowther Jr. (July 13, 1905 – March 7, 1981) was an American journalist, writer, and film critic for ''The New York Times'' for 27 years. His work helped shape the careers of many actors, directors and screenwriters, though his ...

in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' wrote: "Norman Wisdom can move over. The British have found a low comedian who is every bit as low as he is and even less comical". He thought it was derivative. A reviewer writing for the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves film-making and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

Screenonline Screenonline is a website about the history of British film, television and social history as documented by film and television. The project has been developed by the British Film Institute and funded by a £1.2 million grant from the National Lo ...

website commented: "In this film, comic rebellion places artists as the antithesis of workers and there is a kind of lazy shorthand at work that conflates artists with Paris, existentialism, angry young men, beatniks and beat poets. Cod philosophical discussions of what art is about permeate the film, but this reflects the times accurately". Galton and Simpson wrote in January 2012 that the best review they ever received was from artist

Lucian Freud Lucian Michael Freud (; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, and is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists. He was born in Berlin, the son of Jewis ...

who reportedly described it as the best film made about modern art.

Quotes

On Mrs. Crevatte seeing one of Hancock's pictures on the wall: * Mrs. Crevatte: ''What's this 'orrible thing?'' * Hancock: ''That, is a self-portrait.'' * Mrs. Crevatte: ''ooh ov?'' * Hancock: ''Laurel and Hardy!!'' On Mrs. Crevatte first encountering Hancock's ''

at the Waterhole'' * Mrs. Crevatte: ''Here, have you been having models up here - have there been naked women in my establishment?'' * Hancock: ''Of course there haven't. I can't afford thirty- bob an hour. I did that from memory. That is women as I see them.'' * Mrs. Crevatte: ''Oh! ... You poor man!'' The abstract expressionist painting scene: * Hancock: ''It's worth 2000 quid of anybody's money that is!'' A definition of

Existentialism Existentialism ( ) is a form of philosophical inquiry that explores the problem of human existence and centers on human thinking, feeling, and acting. Existentialist thinkers frequently explore issues related to the meaning, purpose, and val ...

* Josey: ''We only live in the present; there is no future. Why kill time when you can kill yourself?'' * Upon seeing a young Clerk (a 'Reginald', he pejoratively conjectures), on the opposite railway carriage seat: '' If this train’s still running in 1980, he'll still be on it.'' As he takes his leave of the Paris Art World at his final exhibition: * Hancock: ''Ladies and gentlemen, I shall now bid you all good day. I'm off! I know what I was cut out to do and I should have done it long ago. YOU'RE ALL RAVING MAD!! None of you know what you're looking at. You wait 'til I'm dead, you'll see I was right!''

Bibliography

*Brotchie, Alistair & Irvin, Magnus - ''Encomia for Anthony Hancock: the Rebel'' (London Institute of 'Pataphysics), 2002 ()

DVD release

Using new high definition transfer the film was released on DVD in 2019 by Network Distributing Limited." Best Of British" magazine; November 2019 issue; page 70

Novelization

Concurrent with the opening of the film,

May Fair Books May is the fifth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is the third of seven months to have a length of 31 days. May is a month of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. Therefore, May ...

released a paperback novelization of the screenplay. By-lined "Alan Holmes" was a pseudonym for Piccadilly Western novelist

Gordon Landsborough Gordon Holmes Landsborough, (1913–1983), English publisher, author and bookseller, was in the forefront of change in the paperback publishing and bookselling industries in England during the 1950s to 1980s. Considered a "maverick publishing ge ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rebel, The (1961 film) 1961 films 1961 comedy films British comedy films British satirical films Films shot at Associated British Studios Films about rebels Films directed by Robert Day Films based on television series Films about fictional painters Films about the visual arts 1960s satirical films Films set in London Films set in Paris 1960s English-language films 1960s British films