Child's Play

A Dark, Forgotten Gem
I have long loved this little known and underrated study of the pervasive influence of evil within a Catholic boys school. Suspenseful, subtle and eerie, the film is primarily a showcase for the superb performance of Robert Preston, in fine form as the much loved teacher of English and Athletics, and the magnificent, Oscar worthy performance of James Mason as the very much UNloved teacher of Latin. But things are not neccesarily as they seem within the shadowy walls of this school or within this screenplay, adapted from the hit Broadway play by Robert Marasco. And if mood and atmosphere rather than blood-and-thunder-horror are your cup of hemlock then you should find 'Child's Play', beautifully directed by Sidney Lumet, a very satisfying brew indeed, at long last available on DVD. Unfortunately, unlike one of the other reviewers here, I never had the pleaseure of seeing the play, and with its original cast, to boot. But I, too, am an admirer of Fritz Weaver and Pat Hingle, and having...

Mystery? Horror? Drama? Lumet!
The late, great, prolific Sidney Lumet was nothing if not full of surprises. He mastered nearly every genre he chanced through pure tenchnique, making smart storytelling and psychologically mature performances his hallmarks, and in the process produced a hatful of late-20th century classics: 'Network,' 'Serpico,' 'Dog Day Afternoon,' '12 Angry Men,' 'The Pawnbroker' and 'Murder on the Orient Express,' to name a few. 1972's 'Child's Play' falls comfortably in the second tier of his body of work, a notch below the aforementioned films, but well above his most famous misfires ('The Wiz,' 'Equus,' 'Critical Care'). The mood and photography are subtle and darkly alluring, and the script (based on the successful Broadway play) is properly enigmatic and astute given the subject and setting. What doesn't quite take hold is the overall tone of the thing: it teeters precariously between high (academic/theistic) drama-- as embodied by the wonderful scenery-chewing of James Mason and Robert...

In The Labyrinth Of Evil
"Child's Play" was one of the most extraordinary mystery thrillers produced on Broadway in 1970. Since mine is the only review of this movie, produced as was the play by David Merrick, but directed by Sidney Lumet of film fame and not Joseph Hardy, who won the Tony for Best Director on Broadway. The play starred Fritz Weaver, Pat Hingle, and Ken Howard in roles taken in the film by James Mason, Robert Preston and Beau Bridges. In addition to director Joe Hardy, Fritz Weaver won the tony for Best Actor and Ken Howard for Best Supporting Actor. Curiously and unfairly in my opinion, based on seeing the play nearly a dozen times, Pat Hingle crafted a magnificently open, fiendishly sly characterization without which Fritz Weaver would have had nothing to play off. Their stage chemistry is the stuff of legend.

Unfortunately, movies want stars; movies expect rewrites to dumb down intellect, to objectify evil as violence, and to play to an audience with television attention span...

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