Child's Play

Paul Reis (Beau Bridges, The Landlord) returns to his almamatter, St. Charles, an exclusive Catholic boarding school for male adolescents, as the new physical education teacher. When he arrives, he finds two of his new colleagues, English teacher Joseph Dobbs (Robert Preston, Victor/Victoria) and Latin teacher Jerome Malley (James Mason, Lolita), engaged in a bitter rivalry. As tensions rise, and anonymous threatening phone calls disrupt the usually tranquil environs of St. Charles, Reis finds himself embroiled in an unpredictable cycle of violence which begins to reflect in the increasingly aggressive behavior of the students.

Sidney Lumet’s (Serpico, Network) often overlooked marriage of coming-of-age angst and subtle thriller dynamics is a deft adaptation of Robert Marasco’s (Burnt Offerings) play of the same name. Featuring claustrophobic photography by Gerald Hirschfeld (Fail-Safe) accompanied by a paranoia-inducing score from Michael Small (Klute, The Stepford Wives), CHILD’S PLAY is vintage Lumet. Cinématographe is proud to present this beguiling entry in the career of America’s most treasured auteurs in a brand new 2K restoration from its original camera negative.