Why School for Scoundrels (1950 something) is a BAD FILM
It is always painful to condemn a film as bad, especially when it’s mostly good, but alas your merciless critic cannot spare himself for the sake of his emotions.
School for Scoundrels is a film from 1950 something based on the series of books by Stephen Potter which begin with Gamesmanship and evolved into Lifemanship, One-upmanship and the generally disappointing (at least to the average punter) Supermanship. The premise of these books is that you can win games (later life) without cheating and without being particularly good at them through a series of psychological tricks. For example (indeed he ur-example) by asking your tennis opponent to “kindly say if the ball was in or out” a minute after you hit it directly into the back fence of the court. One should also suggest that whatever sport one is playing is “not one’s game” and that you would be much more at home with the more gentlemanly game of [something that is almost exactly the opposite]. Even if you lose the game you can always win the losing of it by suggesting you only truly shine in competitions (if playing a friendly) or friendlies (if playing a competition). Later volumes extend this to life in general and suggest ways to get one-up on the rest of mankind, for example by giving gifts in a manner particularly intended to cause offence, such as a very expensive present to someone who you owe money to. You can even get one up on children at Christmas by pretending that there is a very sick relative upstairs and that their noise is pushing them to the brink of death.
Anyway, this film takes this premise and applies it to an unfortunate fellow. He is the boss of a company, but his employees disrespect him. He is unable to woo a woman who is also pursued by a more caddish fellow. After attending the Gamesmanship college he learns some tricks and applies them to his life. He gets one over on the Cad, his employees and the girl. It is this latter part where the film falls down. In the books, the chapter devoted to “Woomanship” gives various tips of how you can woo a lady — wear odd socks to activate her caring instincts, fill your car’s ashtray with cigarette butts coated in various lipsticks to make her jealous — but each of these tips is subtly implied to be totally ineffective at wooing a woman, instead the whole point is to participate in the rituals of gamesmanship which impress your fellow gamesman. The whole series is shot through with this irony, that the whole point of it’s tips and tricks is to impress your fellow gamesman and indeed publish a paper in a reputable journal on the subject.
Overall a disappointing film, but you should nevertheless watch it and read all the books and re-arrange your life around its tips.