New teacher John Ebony arrives at a school and begins to suspect his predecessor was murdered by the pupils, though his suspicions are written off as paranoia. He sets out to prevent the same fate from befalling him.
Film rights were bought by Mediarts, a new company established in London and Hollywood in 1969 by Gareth Wigan, Richard Gregson and Alan Livingston.[10]Unman was to be the first of four pictures from the company, the others being the directorial debut of Frederic Raphael, a screenplay (On My Way to Where) by Dory Previn and a script by Odie Hawkins.[11] However Unman was the company's only film. It was distributed by Paramount.[12]
"This is a more powerful film, a more direct film than any I've done recently," said Hemmings at the time. "It has a slight gothic flavour, a kind of raw edge to it."[13]
David Hemmings made the film without telling Hemdale, the company who had exclusive call on his services. This led to a lawsuit.[14]
The film was set in Cornwall. Some outdoor scenes were filmed at St David's College Llandudno, Wales, and nearby St. Tudno's churchyard, Great Orme, but others and interior scenes were mostly filmed in the buildings of Reading Blue Coat School, Sonning, Berkshire, using some of its pupils as extras during the summer holidays.[16]
Hemmings' then wife Gayle Hunnicut gave birth to their child during filming.
David Mcgillivray wrote in The Monthly Film Bulletin: "Giles Cooper's TV play was in turn adapted from his 1957 radio production, and no doubt the nightmare fantasy of Lower Five B was most convincing when suggested only in sound. The trouble with the film version is that Ebony's improbable boys, devoid of individuality and bristling with Lord of the Flies-style menace, now clash disconcertingly with their surroundings, a very real establishment in Llandudno. To go with the genuine locations, there is a genuine-looking, crumpled-collared staff and an array of ink-stained pupils who are not patently fresh from the stage school. Ebony himself is easily recognisable as a teacher struggling hopelessly to discipline a class of delinquents, and David Hemmings' performance succeeds in communicating the feeling of desperation that inexperience fosters. But while John Mackenzie's capable direction suggests a greater involvement with his material than in his earlier One Brief Summer (1971) (although an inclination towards fussy camerawork – in the contrived linking shots – is still present), the nightmare violence is never entirely persuasive. One is more inclined at the close to echo Ebony's dismayed "Why did they do it?" than to ponder on the sinister significance of absence. "[18]
The BFI's Screenonline called it "a finely wrought psychological suspense drama."[19] Mackenzie later said he was "proud" of the film.[20]
Variety said "The viewer may be both intrigued and puzzled, for while film is a compelling piece of dramatics about innocent-looking terrorists, it asks a great deal of credence."[21]
Leslie Halliwell said: "Macabre school story which overreaches itself and peters out."[22]
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