If...

Lindsay Anderson captured the fancy of a generation of British youth and the revolutionary spirit of the late '60s with his savage satire of the regimented British education system and its bullying social order. Malcolm McDowell is alternately cocky and brooding as the nonconformist Mick, a student whose constant defiance of the ossified power structure incurs the wrath of the "prefects," the seniors who lord their power over the junior classes like slavemasters. As the measures become more oppressive, Mick and his mates rebel in increasingly provocative acts, culminating in an armed revolt that plays like Jean Vigo's "Zero for Conduct" reinterpreted by Jean-Luc Godard. Anderson's mix of realistic detail and absurdist elements creates a surreal quality to the film, which is only heightened by the arbitrary jumps between black-and-white and color (reportedly a result of a budget crisis but a surprisingly effective technique regardless). Although the picture stands as a rallying cry for a generation, the restless energy and creative exuberance makes this anarchic classic timeless.

Criterion's two-disc edition features the original British version of the film (it was cut down to get an R rating in the United States) in a transfer supervised by cinematography Miroslav Ondrícek and assistant editor Ian Rakoff. Malcolm McDowell joins film critic and historian David Robinson on the commentary track. The second disc features Anderson's Academy Award-winning 1954 documentary short, "Thursday's Children," narrated by Richard Burton, and the 2003 episode from BBC Scotland's TV series "Cast and Crew" about "If....," featuring interviews with McDowell, Ondrícek, Rakoff, director's assistant Stephen Frears, producer Michael Medwin and screenwriter David Sherwin. It also features an original interview with actor Graham Crowden (the History Master). The accompanying booklet features essays by critic David Ehrenstein and screenwriter Sherwin and an interview with director Anderson conducted by ... Anderson.

Also out on Criterion this week is a pair of even more revolutionary films, at least in terms of controversy: Dusan Makavejev's "W.R.: Mysteries of the Organism" and "Sweet Movie," both featuring sexually explicit and socially daring material.