The Rebel (1961 film)

The Rebel
Company type	Film
Industry	Entertainment
Founded	1961
Founder	Robert Day (director), Ray Galton and Alan Simpson (screenwriters)
Headquarters	United Kingdom
Products	Satirical comedy film

The Rebel (released in the US as Call Me Genius) is a 1961 British satirical comedy directed by Robert Day and featuring Tony Hancock in the lead role. The screenplay was crafted by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The narrative examines the tension between bourgeois values and bohemian lifestyles.

Plot

Tony, a disenchanted office clerk from London, endures a monotonous daily commute alongside countless identical coworkers to a dreary workplace. When discovered sketching caricatures instead of performing his duties, he receives a reprimand. At home, he devotes time to sculpting a large, rough piece titled "Aphrodite at the Waterhole," which provokes complaints from his landlady, Mrs Crevatte, due to its noise and the space it occupies.

Motivated by an advertisement spotted in a café, Tony resolves to pursue art earnestly and travels to Paris with his sculpture. Unfortunately, the piece is damaged and eventually lost during transit. In Paris, he becomes part of an English-speaking artists’ community, sharing a studio with Paul, who appreciates Tony’s "infantile art" approach. They encounter Jim Smith, an eccentric figure reminiscent of Dalí, whose flamboyant behavior inspires Tony’s own unconventional antics, including bringing a cow into their apartment and experimenting with action painting techniques.

Tony’s profile rises when art collector Sir Charles Broward visits, initially interested in Paul’s creations but mistakenly attributing them to Tony. Following an exhibition, Sir Charles invites Tony to Monte Carlo, where affluent patrons commission his work. Despite lacking sophistication, Tony secures a £50,000 offer for his collection from Mr. Carreras.

During a yacht gathering, Tony unveils a replica of his Aphrodite sculpture to widespread dismay and faces accusations of assault from Mrs Carreras after rebuffing her advances. He escapes disguised as a bird and returns to London. At an exhibition there, Tony reveals that Paul is the genuine artist behind the celebrated pieces while dismissing his own work as "rubbish." He leaves Paul to enjoy the acclaim and resumes crafting Aphrodite with Mrs Crevatte as his model.

Cast

Tony Hancock as Anthony Hancock
George Sanders as Sir Charles Broward
Paul Massie as Paul
Margit Saad as Margot
Grégoire Aslan as Carreras
Dennis Price as Jim Smith
Irene Handl as Mrs Crevatte
John Le Mesurier as office manager
Liz Fraser as waitress
Mervyn Johns as manager of art gallery
Peter Bull as manager of art gallery
Nanette Newman as Josey
Marie Burke as Madame Laurent
Oliver Reed as Artist in cafe
Mario Fabrizi as coffee Bar attendant
Bernard Rebel as art dealer
John Wood as poet
Victor Platt as dockside official
Neville Becker as artist

Production and themes

Produced by Associated British Picture Corporation and distributed through Warner-Pathé, The Rebel sought to translate Tony Hancock’s popular radio and television comedic persona onto the big screen. Several familiar faces from Hancock's Half Hour appeared in supporting roles, including John Le Mesurier, Liz Fraser, and Mario Fabrizi. The film’s opening sequences were filmed at Bingham Road railway station in Croydon’s Addiscombe area—now demolished—and renamed Fortune Green South for the production.

The movie critiques the conformity of commuters through imagery such as uniform attire, echoing literary precedents like Joseph Conrad’s 1898 novella The Return. Hancock’s character embodies existential rebellion against this standardized existence. Comparable themes were explored earlier in 1952’s Something Money Can't Buy, which also highlighted bureaucratic dullness.

The Rebel lampoons Parisian intellectual circles along with English middle-class affectations, continuing writers Galton and Simpson’s satire of pseudo-intellectualism previously seen in the Hancock's Half Hour radio episode "The Poetry Society" (1959). The film also mocks contemporary art trends: Hancock’s erratic paint splashing and cycling over canvases parody Action Painter William Green, while his childlike 'infantile school' paintings ridicule naive artistic styles.

In 2002, the London Institute of 'Pataphysics recreated all artworks featured within the film for an exhibition. There remains ongoing discussion over whether the sketches attributed to Hancock and his roommate were created by artist Alistair Grant (1925–1997) or if Hancock’s intentionally poor 'Infantilist School' pieces were a humorous contribution by British modernist painter John Bratby.

Release and reception

The Rebel had its UK debut at the Plaza Cinema in London's West End on 2 March 1961, following an earlier showing at the Beirut Film Festival.

Box office

The Motion Picture Herald ranked the film as the sixth most successful title at the United Kingdom box office in 1961. Meanwhile, Kinematograph Weekly described it as a "money maker" within the British market.

Critical

A reviewer from The Times, who remained unnamed, remarked that Hancock had successfully transitioned from television to cinema with notable accomplishment.

In America, where it was retitled Call Me Genius to avoid confusion with an existing TV show of the same name, the film met with unfavorable reviews. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times dismissed it as unoriginal and lacking humor.

A critic from the British Film Institute commented that while the film portrayed the tension between artists and laborers in a manner reflecting cultural discussions of the time, it also leaned heavily on stereotypes related to existentialism and beatnik culture.

Galton and Simpson recounted that the artist Lucian Freud regarded the movie as the finest cinematic depiction of contemporary art.

Accolades

In 1962, Hancock received a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles.

Quotes

Regarding Mrs. Crevatte's reaction to one of Hancock’s paintings on her wall:

Mrs. Crevatte: What’s this dreadful thing?
Hancock: That’s a self-portrait.
Mrs. Crevatte: Oh dear.
Hancock: Laurel and Hardy!!

On Mrs. Crevatte discovering Hancock’s Aphrodite at the Waterhole:

Mrs. Crevatte: Have you been entertaining models here—naked women in my place?
Hancock: Certainly not. I can’t afford thirty-bob an hour. I painted that from memory—women as I perceive them.
Mrs. Crevatte: Oh! You poor man!

During the scene featuring abstract expressionist art:

Hancock: It’s worth 2000 quid by anyone’s standards!

On defining Existentialism:

Josey: We only exist in the present; there’s no future. Why pass time when you could end it?
Observing a young Clerk across the train seat: If this train’s still running in 1980, he’ll still be on board.

At his concluding exhibition, bidding adieu to the Parisian art scene:

Hancock: Ladies and gentlemen, I now take my leave. I’m off! I finally understand my true calling and should have pursued it long ago. YOU’RE ALL INSANE!! None of you grasp what you’re seeing. Wait until I’m gone—you’ll realize I was right!

DVD release

Network Distributing Limited issued a DVD edition of the film in 2019, utilizing a newly created high-definition transfer.

Novelization

Coinciding with the movie’s premiere, May Fair Books released a paperback novelization attributed to "Alan Holmes," a pen name for Gordon Landsborough, known for his Piccadilly Western series.

External links

The Rebel – comparative location photos at ReelStreets
Bingham Road Halt featured as Fortune Green South in The Rebel on the British Railway Movie Database