Search

Child's Play

1972, Movie, PG, 100 mins

Child's Play: Review

starstarstarstar
Plodding adaptation of Marasco's semihit play. Bridges returns to St. Charles, a Catholic boys' school. He is going to be the sports instructor, and Preston welcomes him with open arms. Soon enough, Bridges senses some evil-doings in the school, and the evil seems to be coming from the direction of Mason, who planned to retire a while ago but has decided to stay on until God calls him. Mason denies responsibility for any wrongdoing and accuses Preston of inciting the students against him. It was always presumed that Preston would take over the Latin department when Mason left. Now there are some outcroppings of violence here and there in the school. Bridges finds a young man being whacked soundly about the head and shoulders by some other students; but when he attempts to get the reasons why from this boy and others, he runs into a wall of silence. Weyand, the cleric-headmaster of the school, says that Mason is suffering from a persecution complex, heightened by his aged mother's approaching death. Weyand urges Mason to loosen his strict codes. Violence continues, and the viewer cannot understand why. A young man almost loses his sight, and still it continues. Weyand is certain that it's all Mason's fault and orders him to stop teaching. Mason is stunned, claims total innocence, but it falls on deaf ears. In desperation, Mason provides the ultimate proof of his innocence by leaping to his death from the roof of the school. Bridges uncovers the fact that Preston has been the instigator all along, the person who was needling Mason, and confronts him. Preston makes some lame excuses; but the students, who are listening in another room, now understand how they have been used by Preston. Bridges leaves the room in disgust, and his place is quickly filled by Preston's students--the same ones in whom he instilled the love of violence. They raise their arms and clench them into fists as the picture ends. The stage-bound history of the piece is evident all the way through. Lumet does his best to give the picture some "air," but it remains stuffy and "interior." Merrick produced both the play and the picture and made some serious errors. On the stage, Fritz Weaver was a first-rate star and should have been kept for the film, but Merrick or the studio evidently felt that this marquee had more value. The play wasn't that great anyhow and reminded just one of many of its ilk: crazed schoolmaster, nut-case students, young hero trying to ferret out the truth. We've seen it all before. leave a comment
Advertisement

Shop

Child's Play 3
Buy Child's Play 3 from Amazon.com
From Universal Studios (DVD)
Average Customer Review: nostarnostarnostarhalfstarstar
Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy New: $10.99
Child's Play [Blu-ray]
Buy Child's Play [Blu-ray] from Amazon.com
From MGM (Video & DVD) (Blu-ray)
Average Customer Review: nostarnostarnostarnostarstar
Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy New: $14.49

more Child's Play products

Advertisement

Related Websites

You might be also interested in the following websites:

Most Popular TV Shows

  1. Dancing with the Stars
  2. The Game
  3. NCIS
  4. American Idol
  5. Wife Swap
more popular tv shows

Most Popular Celebrities

  1. Adam Lambert
  2. Jon Gosselin
  3. Kate Gosselin
  4. Courteney Cox
  5. Shakira
more popular celebrities

Most Popular Movies

  1. The Twilight Saga: New Moon
  2. The Blind Side
  3. 2012
  4. Planet 51
  5. A Christmas Carol
more popular movies

Top Videos

  1. Robert Pattinson
  2. Family Guy
  3. House
  4. Project Runway
  5. Dancing with the Stars
more top videos