''Child's Play'' is a 1954 British science fiction film directed by Margaret Thomson and starring

Mona Washbourne Mona Lee Washbourne (27 November 1903 – 15 November 1988) was an English people, English actress of stage, film, and television. Her most critically acclaimed role was in the film ''Stevie (1978 film), Stevie'' (1978), late in her career, for ...

and

Christopher Beeny Christopher Winton Beeny (7 July 1941 – 3 January 2020) was an English actor and dancer. He had a career as a child actor, but was best known for his work as the footman Edward Barnes on the 1970s television series '' Upstairs, Downstairs'', ...

. The script was by

Don Sharp Donald Herman Sharp (19 April 192114 December 2011) was an Australian film director. His best known films were made for Hammer Film Productions, Hammer in the 1960s, and included ''Kiss of the Vampire (film), Kiss of the Vampire'' (1963) and ' ...

, who also worked on the film as an assistant.

Plot

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

Cast

as Miss Emily Goslett * Patrick Wells as Han 'Einstein' Boltz * Ian Smith as Tom Chizzler *

as Horatio Flynn (the holy terrors) * Wendy Westcott as Mary Huxley (the holy terrors) * Ian Smith as Tom Chizzler (the holy terrors) *

Anneke Wills Anneke Wills (; born Anna Katarina Willys, 20 October 1941) is an English actress, best known for her role as the companion Polly in the long-running BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. Biography Wills's father, Alaric Willy ...

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 Dorothy Alison (4 April 1925 – 17 January 1992) was an Australian stage, film and television actress. Biography Dorothy Alison was born in the New South Wales mining city of Broken Hill and educated at Sydney Girls High School. She moved ...

as Margery Chappell * Ingeborg von Kusserow as Lea Blotz (as Ingeborg Wells) *

Carl Jaffe Carl Jaffe (21 March 1902 – 12 April 1974) was a German actor. Jaffe trained on the stage in his native Hamburg, Kassel and Wiesbaden before moving to Berlin, where his career began to develop. In 1933 Jaffe changed his stage name to Fran ...

as Carl Blotz *

Ballard Berkeley Ballard Blascheck (6 August 1904 – 16 January 1988), known professionally as Ballard Berkeley, was an English actor of stage and screen. He is best remembered for playing Major Gowen in the British television sitcom ''Fawlty Towers''. Life a ...

as Dr. Nightingale * Joan Young as Mrs. Chizzler *

Robert Raglan Robert Raglan (7 April 1909 – 18 July 1985) was a British actor best known for his semi-regular role in ''Dad's Army'' as Colonel Pritchard. He also starred in a number of other television series and films such as ''Fabian of the Yard'' (1954 ...

as Police Superintendent *

Barbara Hicks Barbara Hicks (12 August 1924 – 6 September 2013) was an English film actress. She appeared in Terry Gilliam's 1985 cult film ''Brazil'' and Merchant Ivory Productions's 1992 Bafta award-winning ''Howards End''. Biography Hicks was born in ...

as policewoman *

Jack May Jack Wynne May (23 April 1922 – 19 September 1997) was an English actor. Early life and education May was born in 1922 in Henley-on-Thames, and was educated at Forest School in Walthamstow. After war service with the Royal Indian Navy in Br ...

as Bob Crouch * John Sharp as Police Sergeant Butler *

Wyndham Goldie Frank Wyndham Goldie (5 July 1897 – 26 September 1957) was an English actor. World War I During World War I, Goldie was a lieutenant in the Royal Marine Light Infantry. His elder brother Maurice also held a commission in the same Corps during ...

as Director Atomic Research * Mai Bacon as Mrs Briggs *

Molly Raynor Molly Raynor (June 5, 1905 – 12 March 1976) was a New Zealand and Australia, Australian actress. Raynor was born 5 June 1905 in Dunedin, New Zealand. She left New Zealand as a school girl to study music, elocution, and singing at the Sydney ...

as Mrs Cannon *

Peter Sallis Peter John Sallis (1 February 1921 – 2 June 2017) was an English actor. He was the original voice of Wallace in the Academy Award-winning '' Wallace & Gromit'' films and played Norman "Cleggy" Clegg in ''Last of the Summer Wine'' from its 1 ...

as Bill (van driver) * Robert Lankasheer 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 Group 3 Films was a short lived British film production company that operated from 1951 to 1955. Background It was set up by the National Film Finance Corporation (NFFC) to help finance movies from newer filmmakers. Its films were to be distribu ...

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.

Critical reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' was a periodical of the British Film Institute published monthly from February 1934 until April 1991, when it merged with '' Sight & Sound''. It reviewed all films on release in the United Kingdom, including those wi ...

'' 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."

References

External links

*
''Child's Play''
at

BFI The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, d ...

''Child's Play''
at

AllMovie AllMovie (previously All Movie Guide) is an online database with information about films, television programs, television series, and screen actors. , AllMovie.com and the AllMovie consumer brand are owned by RhythmOne. History AllMovie was ...

1954 films British comedy films Films produced by Herbert Mason British science fiction films 1950s science fiction comedy films 1954 comedy films Films scored by Antony Hopkins 1950s English-language films British black-and-white films 1950s British films English-language science fiction comedy films {{1950s-UK-comedy-film-stub