The Scamp | |
---|---|
Directed by | Wolf Rilla |
Written by | Wolf Rilla |
Based on | play Uncertain Joy by Charlotte Hastings |
Produced by | James Lawrie |
Starring | Richard Attenborough Terence Morgan Colin Petersen Dorothy Alison Jill Adams |
Cinematography | Freddie Francis |
Edited by | Bernard Gribble |
Music by | Francis Chagrin |
Production company | A James Lawrie Production |
Distributed by | Renown Pictures Corporation (UK) |
Release dates |
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Running time | 87 mins |
Country | United Kingdom |
Language | English |
The Scamp is a 1957 British drama film directed by Wolf Rilla and starring Richard Attenborough, Terence Morgan, Colin Petersen and Dorothy Alison. [1] It was based on the play Uncertain Joy by Charlotte Hastings. It was released in the U.S. as Strange Affection. [2]
A schoolteacher and his wife take in the tempestuous child of an abusive drifter. When the father returns, their lives become complicated by issues of corporal punishment, physical abuse, strained relations and various crimes.
The film was based on the play Uncertain Joy by Charlotte Hastings which premiered in 1953 starring Jean Kent.
The film was produced by James Lawrie, former head of the NFFC. The role of the boy was offered to Colin Petersen the Australian star of Smiley. [3]
Variety called it "run of the mill". [4]
The Radio Times Guide to Films gave the film 2/5 stars, writing: "Having made his name in the Australian-set drama Smiley [1956], contemporary critics had high hopes for ten-year-old Colin Petersen. He tries hard in this well intentioned story of a delinquent given a second chance, but he never convinces either as the urchin son of alcoholic music-hall actor Terence Morgan or as the confused kid cajoled by teacher Richard Attenborough and his wife Dorothy Alison. Attenborough overdoes the bourgeois benevolence." [5]
TV Guide wrote, "Shaky direction and a cliche-ridden script mar any possibilities for this human interest story"; [2] whereas Leonard Maltin called it a "Decent British drama." [6]
Kine Weekly called it "a smoothly balanced job". [7]
Filmink wrote the film " isn’t as good as Smiley – it’s not as fun, and Attenborough’s character has this weird vibe that isn’t really explored – but there are good moments and Petersen is marvellous once again: energetic, cheeky, natural. Director Wolf Rilla was smart enough to let the actor use his Australian accent and he devised several scenes where Petersen shows off his real-life drumming skills." [3]
According to Kinematograph Weekly the film was "in the money" at the British box office in 1957 and Renown "ran into the big money" with a shrewwd double bill" of The Scmp and Our Girl Friday. [8]
The Shiralee is a 1957 British film directed by Leslie Norman and starring Peter Finch. It is in the Australian Western genre, based on the 1955 novel by D'Arcy Niland. It was made by Ealing Studios, and although all exterior scenes were filmed in Sydney, Scone and Binnaway, New South Wales and Australian actors Charles Tingwell, Bill Kerr and Ed Devereaux played in supporting roles, the film is really a British film made in Australia, rather than an Australian film.
Poor Cow is a 1967 British kitchen sink drama film directed by Ken Loach and starring Carol White and Terence Stamp. It was written by Loach and Nell Dunn based on Dunn's 1967 novel of the same name. It was Loach's first feature film, after a series of TV productions. The film was re-released in the UK in 2016.
Smiley is a 1956 British-American comedy film directed by Anthony Kimmins and starring Colin Petersen. It was based on the 1945 novel of the same name by Moore Raymond who co-wrote the film with Kimmins. It tells the story of a young Australian boy who is determined to buy a bicycle for four pounds, and along the way he gets into many misadventures.
A Kid For Two Farthings is a 1955 British comedy-drama film directed by Carol Reed. The screenplay was adapted by Wolf Mankowitz from his 1953 novel of the same name. The title is a reference to the traditional Passover song, "Chad Gadya", which begins "One little goat which my father bought for two zuzim". At the end of the film, Mr. Kandinsky softly sings fragments of an English translation of the song.
Only Two Can Play is a 1962 British comedy film directed by Sidney Gilliat starring Peter Sellers, Mai Zetterling and Virginia Maskell. The screenplay was by Bryan Forbes, based on the 1955 novel That Uncertain Feeling by Kingsley Amis.
Tiger Bay is a 1959 British crime drama film directed by J. Lee Thompson. It stars John Mills as a police superintendent investigating a murder; his real-life daughter Hayley Mills, in her first major film role, as a girl who witnesses the murder; and Horst Buchholz as a young sailor who commits the murder in a moment of passion. The title refers to the Tiger Bay district of Cardiff, where much of the film was shot.
The Deep Blue Sea is a 1955 British drama film directed by Anatole Litvak, starring Vivien Leigh and Kenneth More, and produced by London Films and released by Twentieth Century Fox. The picture was based on the 1952 play of the same name by Terence Rattigan.
Dorothy Alison was an Australian stage, film and television actress.
Frederick Colin Petersen was an Australian musician and actor. He played as a member of the bands Steve and the Board, the Bee Gees and Humpy Bong. In August 1969, he left the Bee Gees and he was replaced by Pentangle drummer Terry Cox to record the songs for their 1970 album Cucumber Castle. His scenes from the film of the same name were cut, and he is not credited on the accompanying album soundtrack, even though he does play on some songs.
Dance, Little Lady is a 1954 British drama film directed by Val Guest and starring Terence Morgan, Mai Zetterling, Guy Rolfe and Mandy Miller. The screenplay was by Guest and Doreen Montgomery from a story by R. Howard Alexander and Alfred Dunning.
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Eight O'Clock Walk is a 1954 British drama film directed by Lance Comfort and starring Richard Attenborough, Cathy O'Donnell, Derek Farr and Maurice Denham.
A Cry from the Streets is a 1958 British drama film directed by Lewis Gilbert, starring Max Bygraves and Barbara Murray. It was written by Vernon Harris based on the 1957 novel The Friend in Need by Elizabeth Coxhead.
The Flesh Is Weak is a 1957 British film directed by Don Chaffey and starring John Derek and Milly Vitale. It was written by Leigh Vance and Roger Falconer based on an original story by Deborah Bedford. Distributors Corporation of America released the film in the USA as a double feature with Blonde in Bondage (1957).
Tread Softly Stranger is a 1958 British crime drama film directed by Gordon Parry and starring Diana Dors, George Baker and Terence Morgan. The screenplay was written by George Minter adapted from the stage play Blind Alley (1953) by Jack Popplewell. The film was shot in black-and-white in film noir style, and its setting in an industrial town in northern England mirrors the kitchen sink realism movement coming into vogue in English drama and film at the time.
The World Ten Times Over is a 1963 British drama film written and directed by Wolf Rilla, and starring Sylvia Syms, June Ritchie, Edward Judd and William Hartnell. Donald Sutherland makes a brief appearance, in one of his earliest roles. The British Film Institute has described it as the first British film to deal with an implicitly lesbian relationship.
No Time for Tears is a 1957 British drama film directed by Cyril Frankel in CinemaScope and Eastman Color and starring Anna Neagle, George Baker, Sylvia Syms and Anthony Quayle. It was written by Anne Burnaby and Frederix Gotfurt. The staff at a children's hospital struggle with their workload.
Brothers in Law is a 1957 British comedy film directed by Roy Boulting and starring Richard Attenborough, Ian Carmichael, Terry-Thomas and Jill Adams. The film is one of the Boulting brothers successful series of institutional satires that begun with Private's Progress in 1956. It is an adaptation of the 1955 novel Brothers in Law by Henry Cecil, a comedy set in the legal profession.
Smiley Gets a Gun is a 1958 Australian comedy-drama film in CinemaScope directed by Anthony Kimmins and starring Sybil Thorndike and Chips Rafferty. It is the sequel to the 1956 film Smiley.
Dana Wilson was an Australian actress best known for playing Peter Finch's daughter in the 1957 fim The Shiralee.