If - which was made at the same time as the May riots in Paris - gave voice to a generation of British armchair revolutionaries who never got as far as taking to the streets.

Britain, as Victoria Wood so memorably explained, will never go through a civil war - people would write to Points of View instead.

Anderson's anti-authoritarian message with an oppressive public school as a metaphor for contemporary society, may look dated now but still packs a fearful punch.

McDowell is Mick Travis, a thoughtful maverick who doesn't bother to disguise his contempt for the outdated rules and regulations of the college.

Together with Wallace (Warwick) and Johnny (Wood), his dumb insolence goads the prefects, led by head of house, the oily Rowntree (Robert Swann).

The prefects - or whips - protect the ineffectual masters such as Kemp (Arthur Lowe) from getting their hands dirty - but Travis succeeds in winding them up.

Breaking point comes when the rebellious trio are beaten by Rowntree - not for a specific breach of regulations but for their general attitude.

Together with Britannia Hospital and O Lucky Man, If forms Anderson's "state of the nation" trilogy at a time when revolution appeared to be in the air.

Even if some of the movie's more surreal flights of fancy sit a bit oddly, there's no denying the raw spirit of this backlash against the establishment's systematic brutality.

And in Peter Jeffrey's performance as the self-styled "liberal" headmaster, Stephen Fry has managed to base a whole comedy career.

Tim Evans