Child's Play (1954 film)

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Child's Play
Child's Play film Opening titles (1954).png
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 [1]
CinematographyDenny Densham
Edited by John Legard
Music by Antony Hopkins
Production
company
Distributed by British Lion Film Corporation
Release date
  • October 1954 (1954-10)(UK)
Running time
68 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Child's Play is a 1954 British science fiction film directed by Margaret Thomson and starring Mona Washbourne and Christopher Beeny. [2] The script was by Don Sharp, who also worked on the film as an assistant. [3] [4]

Contents

Plot

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

Cast

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. [5]

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." [6]

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References

  1. ↑ "Child's Play (1954)".
  2. ↑ "Child's Play". British Film Institute Collections Search. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  3. ↑ "Comedy is child's play to former actor". The Australian Women's Weekly . National Library of Australia. 5 November 1952. p. 54. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
  4. ↑ Vagg, Stephen (27 July 2019). "Unsung Aussie Filmmakers: Don Sharp – A Top 25". Filmink.
  5. ↑ Sharp, Don (2 November 1993). "Don Sharp Side 2" (Interview). Interviewed by Teddy Darvas and Alan Lawson. London: History Project. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  6. ↑ "Child's Play". The Monthly Film Bulletin . 21 (240): 177. 1 January 1954 – via ProQuest.


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