Child’s Play * (1972, James Mason, Robert Preston, Beau Bridges) – Classic Movie Review 7810

The 1972 drama Child’s Play is the film version of a Broadway play written by Robert Marasco about rivalry and violence in an exclusive Catholic boys’ school. It is a rare misfire from director Sidney Lumet, usually a reliably clever hand at adapting plays to screen (Equus, Deathtrap).

James Mason and Robert Preston are fine as clashing professors, but Leon Prochnik’s screenplay just does not gel and Lumet seems strangely at a loss. Perhaps he was discouraged when Marlon Brando (in Preston’s role) quit during filming. Mason’s good work here was rewarded by Lumet when he cast him for The Verdict (1982).

Also in the cast are Beau Bridges, Ronald Weyand, Charles White, David Rounds, Kate Harrington, Jane Alexander, Brian Chapin, Bryant Fraser, Mark Hall, Tom Leopold, Christopher Man, Paul Alessi and Christopher Hoag.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7810

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