The Scamp [Strange Affection] *** (1957, Richard Attenborough, Dorothy Alison, Colin Petersen) – Classic Movie Review 10,861

Director Wolf Rilla’s drama 1957 The Scamp [Strange Affection] is an appealing small-time drama, with Richard Attenborough as kindly school teacher Stephen Leigh, who befriends the eponymous wild character Tod, played by 11-year-old child star Colin Petersen, from Smiley.

The is living with his father in a bedsit. Leigh, whose doctor wife refuses to have children till she is established in her career, helps the kid out after he has stolen a fiver from his father’s wallet, and later offers to take care of the lad, giving him a home when the father goes on tour.

Among the famous 50s faces, Dorothy Alison plays the teacher’s wife, Terence Morgan plays the boy’s drunken, ne’er-do-well out-of-work actor father Mike Dawson, Jill Adams plays Julie Dawson, and Geoffrey Keen is the the headmaster, with Maureen Delaney as Mrs Perryman and Margaretta Scott as Mrs Blundell.

The film is very well and convincingly acted, especially by Attenborough and Petersen, and imaginatively handled by Rilla, who makes it filmic and atmospheric, even though his screenplay is based on a play called Uncertain Joy by Charlotte Hasting, and much of it is filmed in the studio.

Also in the cast are David Franks, Charles Lloyd Pack, June Cunningham, Sam Kydd, Victor Brooks, Cyril Wheeler, and Kenneth Edwards.

The Scamp [Strange Affection] is directed by Wolf Rilla, runs 87 minutes, is made by Lawrie Productions, released by Renown Pictures Corporation (1957) (UK) and Joseph Brenner Associates (1959) (US), is written by Wolf Rilla, is shot in black and white by Freddie Francis, is produced by James H Lawrie, is scored by Francis Chagrin and is designed by Elwen Webb.

It is shot at National Studios, Elstree, Hertfordshire, England, and Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, London (uncredited).

The Bee Gees in 1967, with Colin Petersen on the right.

Petersen attended the Humpybong State School, Queensland, Australia, at the same time as Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb. While at school he developed an interest in music, starting on piano but switching to drums, having shown himself a talented drummer in The Scamp. The Bee Gees recruited Petersen as their permanent drummer in 1966 – the first non-Gibb brother to become an official member of the Bee Gees.

Wolf Rilla also made Noose for a Lady (1953), Glad Tidings (1953), Marilyn (1953), The Large Rope (1953), The Black Rider (1954), The End of the Road (1954), Stock Car (1955), The Blue Peter (1955), Pacific Destiny (1956), Bachelor of Hearts (1958), Witness in the Dark (1959), Village of the Damned (1960), Piccadilly Third Stop (1960), Watch it, Sailor! (1961), Cairo (1963), The World Ten Times Over (1963), Secrets of a Door-to-Door Salesman (1973) and Bedtime with Rosie (1975).

Wolf Rilla was born in Berlin in 1920, the son of German actor Walter Rilla, who moved his Jewish family to London when Adolf Hitler came to power.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 10,861

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