RHammann42

This is an excellent film. Unfortunately the word subtle, which applies to this film, is used as a negative by the only (at this date) other comment on "Child's Play." Subtle it is, and those who like character studies and evocative camera work, a sustained mood and a finely wrought battle between good and evil will be delighted. If you like the garbage that passes for horror in most of today's bloodfests and loud, non-stop, effects-driven films, well - don't bother.

Robert Preston and James Mason, two A-list actors, knew good material and both give performances that rank highly with the best of their careers. This film was directed by the great Sidney Lumet, and reveals what is usually best about Lumet's work: great acting, sustained mood, the ability to confine the action to one setting and exploit it for all it is worth, attention to detail and precise pacing that builds exactly as it should. This unheralded gem deserves a DVD release soon!

The remarks by Camera Obscura do an injustice to this film and reveal a true absence of aesthetics governing the writer's appreciation for camera technique, acting, directing and pace. While I am an enormous fan of the subsequent remake, "His Girl Friday," by Howard Hawks, Lewis Milestone's direction of the original is invigorating and sets a pace that Hawks had to match before he began to trump it with his own use of crackling overlapping dialog. Way ahead of its time, the camera explores the set, and Milestone and his editor know how to use editing to create pace. This is not merely a filmed play. It is faithful to the play and excellently exploits the camera's ability to go to closeups, long shots, etc. The acting, particularly by Adolphe Menjou, is as good as in any version. I am also distressed by the comments of Eye 3 who agrees with Obscura that the dialog is shouted in order to be picked up by the microphones! The actors are shouting because their characters are excited - the rapid fire dialog coupled with shouting is an element of farce and is beautifully done, and in the televised version I just watched on TCM, entirely understandable! I do wish someone would restore this early gem to a print with a cleaned up picture and sound, but given its age, it is a remarkable treasure of early sound cinema.