Child's Play (1954 film)

Child's Play is a 1954 British science fiction film directed by Margaret Thomson and starring Mona Washbourne and Christopher Beeny. The script was by Don Sharp, who also worked on the film as an assistant.

Child's Play
Opening titles
Directed by	Margaret Thomson
Written by	Don Sharp
Produced by	Herbert Mason
Starring	Mona Washbourne Peter Martyn Dorothy Alison Ingeborg von Kusserow Carl Jaffe Ballard Berkeley Peter Sallis Christopher Beeny
Cinematography	Denny Densham
Edited by	John Legard
Music by	Antony Hopkins
Production company	Group Three Productions
Distributed by	British Lion Film Corporation
Release date	October 1954 (1954-10) (UK)
Running time	68 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Plot

A group of children ("the holy terrors") manage to split the atom and thereby create a new form of popcorn.

Cast

• Mona Washbourne as Miss Emily Goslett
• Christopher Beeny as Horatio Flynn (the holy terrors)
• Wendy Westcott as Mary Huxley (the holy terrors)
• Ian Smith as Tom Chizzler (the holy terrors)
• Anneke Wills as Alice Nightingale (the holy terrors)
• Ernest Scott as Ernest Chappell (the holy terrors)
• Patrick Wells as Hans Blotz (the holy terrors)
• Elain Sykes as Linda Cappel (the holy terrors)
• Peter Martyn as P.C. Parker
• Dorothy Alison as Margery Chappell
• Ingeborg von Kusserow as Lea Blotz (as Ingeborg Wells)
• Carl Jaffe as Carl Blotz
• Ballard Berkeley as Dr. Nightingale
• Joan Young as Mrs. Chizzler
• Robert Raglan as Police Superintendent
• Barbara Hicks as policewoman
• Jack May as Bob Crouch
• John Sharp as Police Sergeant Butler
• Wyndham Goldie as Director Atomic Research
• Mae Bacon as Mrs Briggs
• Molly Raynor as Mrs Cannon
• Peter Sallis as Bill (van driver)
• Robert Lankesheer as Prof. Chappel

Production

Don Sharp had been in hospital for nearly two years with tuberculosis. When he came out, executives at Group 3 Films invited him to see if he had any ideas for a film and he pitched them Child's Play. He said Group 3's practice was to team an experienced producer with an inexperienced director so Herbert Mason was teamed with Margaret Thomson. Sharp called it "a good little picture" and he would work with Group 3 on several more occasions.

Peter Sallis later recalled:

"I thought that was very nice of him, and very kind, and I must have reported back to Kenneth Carten, because before I knew where I was, I was cast in this film. It was called Child's Play, and the essence of the story was that there was a bunch of children, six or seven of them, who had discovered the secret of atomic energy, and they had concentrated their efforts on making popcorn. The popcorn had to be delivered and the young man who drove the van with the popcorn in the back was to be played by Peter Sallis. If you think that sounds a pretty daft idea for a film, well, so would I in the normal way, but if you look in your Halliwell you will find that it gets a very good notice, considering the type of film that it was. I presented myself on the day of shooting, which was quite quickly after I'd had the conversation with Gerry Campion, and Hal Mason was the producer, Margaret Thomson was the lady director, who had also partly written the script. Hal Mason regarded me with suspicion right from the word go. What little he had heard about me led him to believe that I was a theatre actor, and that my experience of films was very limited, and he was absolutely right. His main concern was that as a theatre actor I would be waving my arms about and bellowing, and generally carrying on in order to be heard at the back of the stalls. Well even I, beginner as I was, knew well enough to avoid that trap. My real problem was being cast as the young man who owned the van, and who drove the children and their popcorn about. But I couldn't drive. I had never driven in my life, I had once had a children's bicycle, but that was about as far as I had got. Nobody thought to ask me this when they were casting me, but there I was on the set, and here was the van, and they expected me to leap into it and drive off. They were not going to recast it at that stage, the timing was too important, so they managed it somehow, they got somebody to lie, crouch or sit behind me, somehow or other, and work the controls. I knew enough about driving that if you wanted to go right you turned the wheel in a right direction, if you wanted to go left you turned it to the left, and somehow we overcame that obstacle. As I say, the film had quite a nice reception. I actually saw it and I thought it was quite charming".

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "An engaging fantasy, done with good humour and a freshness that atones for the roughness of some of the edges. One could, perhaps, have wished a little more satire and a little less obvious farce; but the film is likeable, and will be enjoyed by adults as well as children."

Picturegoer wrote: "Director Margaret Thomson gets child performances that are touchingly real and diabolically funny. It's the child's world of make-believe that pokes sly fun at the adult world of hard fact. Mona Washbourne, as a fun-loving shopkeeper, Peter Martyn as a harassed policeman, and Dorothy Alison a bewildered mother, pitch in for the grown-ups with equal skill."

The Daily Film Renter wrote: "Carefree fun and games making hearty appeal to the youngsters. Group 3 pokes gentle fun at the atom bomb in this pleasantly characterised little comedy. ... The prevailing gaiety is a matter of unrestrained youthful high spirits, unabashed tiltings with the village policeman, and adolescent frolics with the prim owner of the local sweet shop."

External links

• Child's Play at IMDb
• Child's Play at BFI
• Child's Play at AllMovie