bkoganbing Apparently at this exclusive Catholic prep school even the civilian teachers have to be officially celibate. In Child's Play the focus of the film is on an intense rivalry between a pair of civilian teachers who have no outside attachments, save for James Mason and his dying mother. So they indulge in this rivalry for the approval of the students. And Robert Preston who dusts off a bit of his Harold Hill persona from The Music Man is winning hands down.Child's Play, a David Merrick Production on stage ran 342 performances during the 1970 season and starred Pat Hingle and Fritz Weaver in the roles that Preston and Mason essay here. Preston is a charmer as Professor Harold Hill was, but his charm is laced with malevolence. For reasons I'm not sure whether for money or prestige Preston turns the students against Mason, he wants Mason out to move up in some kind of seniority system.Mason makes it real easy. A stiff demanding pedagogue he's Mr. Chips before Robert Donat's marriage to Greer Garson humanized him. He's way past the age of retirement, but other than a terminally ill mother this guy has no life. Going to teach gives him an excuse to get up in the morning. Both these guys are a pair of real closet cases. Both are obsessed with the young male preppy kids they teach, Mason just does not know how to relate to them. Preston does and he uses his influence with them to produce some terrible consequences. Caught in the middle of all this is new gym teacher Beau Bridges who once went to this school. He knows both men from his years there, but learns a whole lot more once he becomes a faculty member and learns disturbing stuff about both.Child's Play is smartly directed and photographed by Sidney Lumet. Pay attention to some of the deep focus cinematography involving all three of the players I've named in joint scenes. All three register facial expressions that help move the story along immensely.I think a lot was left out of the play coming over from Broadway, but still Child's Play is a fine film with great performances from the leads.

annalbin-1 Chances are you will never have an opportunity to see this film as it hasn't been on TV for ages. However, I wouldn't say it is as bad as some of the comments. I thought it was well acted, but the ending left the viewer confused about exactly what had happened with the boys. The fates of two of the three major characters are also left to the viewer's imagination. Robert Preston and James Mason made interesting foils. Mason managed to make his character a man to be despised and pitied. Preston was also quite capable in his role - all sweetness and light with increasingly malevolent undertones.If it had been as dull as described in some of the other comments, I probably wouldn't have been able to stay awake since I watched it in the wee hours of the AM.

preppy-3 I haven't seen this in years but here's what I remember.Dull horror film about the strange behavior of students at an all boys school. James Mason as a teacher thinks Robert Preston (another teacher) is trying to drive him out (or crazy). Beau Bridges tries to figure it all out.You think that a film which has young students attacked (one is blinded, another is tied up and hung from a statue) might at least be disturbing...but it's not. It's dull, slow and it's pretty obvious who the villain is (he's always lit to look evil). Also, for a PG film, this is pretty grim stuff. It all leads to an unsatisfying ending which never truly explains what's going on. Also Preston, Mason and Bridges are at their worst. I caught this on TV years ago and had trouble staying awake! A rightfully forgotten horror film. Skip it.

grybop *minor spoiler*Boring so-called thriller about a seemingly possessed bunch of students.The direction is totally unimaginative, while most of the characters are paper-thin. The students are like muppets with no personality at all during the second half of the film, despite signs at the beginning that they would play a significant role in the story - which unfortunately never happens. Beau Bridges is at his most unconvincing, but then again, the script doesn't help him much.I'd say you better avoid this.3