“Growing up hurts. Pimples, bulges, nonsense, girls, secrets, anxiety, inadequacy.
Nobody ever forgets puberty – it’s a special kind of hell. For 13-year-old
Tom Allen, growing up was even more painful than usual.”
“Takes one behind the walls of a catholic seminary where students and priestsalike are struggling to resist the temptation of the flesh… and succeeds inconveying the sexual tension.” - Kathleen Carroll
(New York Daily News) |
“A film of all-embracing compassion and rueful humour… lingers
in the memory, haunting and disturbing.” - Kevin Thomas (Los Angeles Times) |
Film Information
Cast and Crew:
| Director: | Fred Schepisi | |
| Producer: | Fred Schepisi | |
| Production Manager: | Greg Tepper | |
| Production Secretary: | Jenny Woods | |
| Cinematography: | Ian Baker | |
| Continuity: | Jan Tyrrell | |
| Producer’s Secretary: | Elizabeth Larkham | |
| 1st Assistant Director: | Mat Bryning | |
| 2nd Assistant Director: | Rhonda Schepisi | |
| Film Editor: | Margaret Cardin | |
| Sound Editors: | E. McQueen-Mason, Peter Burgess | |
| Screenwriter: | Fred Schepisi | |
| Director of Photography: | John and Kate Goldings | |
| Casting: | Rhonda Schepisi | |
| Tom Allen: | Simon Burke | |
| Brother Sebastian: | Charles Mcallum | |
| Brother Celian: | John Frawley | |
| Brother Francine: | Arthur Dignam | |
| Brother Victor: | Nick Tate | |
| Brother James: | Peter Cox | |
| Brother Arnold: | Jonathan Hardy | |
| Father Hanrahan: | Gerry Duggan | |
| Father Marshal: | Thomas Keneally | |
| Mrs. Sullivan: | Sheila Florance |
Other Information:
| Genre: | Drama | |
| Year of Production: | 1976 | |
| Running Time: | 107 minutes | |
| MPAA Rating: | Not Rated | |
| Production Company: | Film House | |
| Video Release: | November 15, 1988 | |
| Video Distributor: | Thorn EMI Video | |
| DVD Release: | December 03, 2002 | |
| DVD Distributor: | Allied Artists |
Because of the lack of available information on the internet and other sources, I was unable to find any details regarding the budget that “The Devil’s Playground” had, or the box office figures for the film. The only information I could find on funding was from O’Regan’s “Australian National Cinema.” He explains that because the Australian Film Commission was funding movies of a similar style such as “The Devil’s Playground”, “Picnic At Hanging Rock” and “The Chant Of Jimmie Blacksmith”, a new pseudo genre was created called the AFC genre. No detail as to the circumstances of the funding was presented in the text.
Awards:
“The Devil’s Playground” is advertised to be “The winner of every major Australian film award” on the cover of the DVD. Unfortunately I could not find a list of all of the awards that the film was nominated for and won. I did discover, however, that it was the winner of the 1976 Australian Film Institute Award for best actor (Simon Burke as Tom Allen) and also the 1976 Australian Film Institute Award for Best Film.
On-line Presence
Because of the fact that “The Devil’s Playground” was produced in1976 there isn’t a huge amount of available information on the internet or otherwise. I searched for any literature or magazines that contained any useful information on the film, and found next to nothing. Tom O’Regan’s “Australian National Cinema” had the most in depth information on the film that I could find. The internet turned up almost nothing on the film, which was quite surprising. Most of the sites I found were selling the DVD and therefore only had very basic information. Most of the sites that I did find were quite similar to the links below in the information that they contained on the movie, although the links below went a little bit more in depth into the previous works of Fred Schepisi as well as other information on cast and crew.
Movies.com -
http://movies.go.com/movies/D/devilsplaygroundthe_1976/
Rotten Tomatoes -
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/TheDevilsPlayground-1005779/preview.php
Of all of the information I could find on “The Devil’s Playground”,
Reviews were the most common. This was no doubt because the DVD is still
being sold and reviews are available for the consumer. This did not help
me a great deal, because a review written for sales purposes does not seem
to be as in depth as a review that was written to critique a movie. The links
to the best reviews I could find are below.
Review Index -
http://dvd.reviewindex.com/reviews/B00007G1SW.html
Efilmcritic.com -
http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=8031&reviewer=104
I found no interviews with Fred Schepisi on the topic of “The Devil’s
Playground” at all. There was, however, a fairly large number of sites
on the internet that were related to Schepisi and his works to date. The
following links are related to Fred Schepisi and contain short biographies
and other information.
Yahoo Movies -
http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hc&id=1800031958&cf=biog&intl=us
IMDb -
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0770961/
Critical Review
Set some time during the fifties, “The Devil’s Playground” explores one boys (Tom Allen) existence in a catholic seminary in Australia. Battling puberty and its unsettling effects, Tom also has to endure just about every sexual conundrum that a young man could imagine. The film not only follows the life of Tom, but also explores the problems of other members of the seminary. From semi-alcoholic priests to sexually-perverted students, the film explores many subjects that are taboo in the world of Catholicism and therefore make for great topics of conflict for the characters involved.
“ The Devil’s Playground” deals almost totally with sexuality and its very restrictive boundaries in the catholic faith. When confronted with a movie that is set in a catholic seminary and deals almost entirely with the topic of sexuality and it’s associated problems, one instantly jumps to the conclusion that priests preying on boys and rampant homosexuality will be major factors in the storyline. The title “The Devil’s Playground” also lends itself to a fairly dark interpretation. None of this, however, is the case. The movie actually deals with fairly standard, everyday pubescent problems. The only homosexuality that the movie presents is that between two students and is more exploratory than full-frontal. The theme of the film is not focused on any specific sexual exploitations, but rather on the ongoing battle between the staunch traditions of Catholicism and the bubbling male libido.
For all concerned, the situation is fairly helpless. The fight against puberty is a losing battle for the students. They look at rude magazines, they play sadomasochistic games, they flirt with girls, all the while trying to maintain the rigid solidity of the catholic faith and the lust for their vocation. The priests as well face the daily struggle between the desires of the flesh and faith. While one priest spends his day off from the seminary at the local pool ogling at the women and then cowering in the changing rooms shaking with self-loathing, another priest spends his day off at the local tavern drinking liberally and flirting with the local girls until he almost has a one night stand, and swears off the pub forever. The fact that Fred Schepisi grew up in, and dropped out of, a catholic school means that the movie could almost be autobiographical. Without knowing the circumstances of Schepisi’s fall-out with his school it would only be speculation, but perhaps an educated guess, to say that “The Devil’s Playground” could almost be a jibe at catholic schools and maybe Catholicism as a whole. There seems to be a lot of emphasis on the hypocrisy of the strict control that the teachers exert over the children, when in fact the teachers are no better, if not worse than the students, in their own heads. Schepisi masterfully portrays the sexual animosity and exasperating struggles that both teachers and students alike must endure without letting you forget where he stands in the war between Catholicism and the desires of the flesh. "The body will not be denied."
Critical Uptake
Upon its release “The Devil’s Playground” must have been a fairly popular film in the circles of the film industry. The fact that the movie won every major Australian film award indicates that it must have been of a standard that impressed the film industry sufficiently. The only critical reviews that were available on the internet and in any literature, that I could find, were all fairly modern. I was unable to locate any from around the time of the movies release and therefore don’t know exactly how the critics took to the movie. I can imagine that because of the nature of the film and the subjects it focuses on, there was no doubt a fair bit of negative feedback from critics and viewers alike. The lack of box office figures or any other related information makes it fairly difficult to make an estimate at how popular it may have been amongst the general viewing public. The fact that Schepisi was relatively new to the role of movie producer, with “The Devil’s Playground” being his first major film, meant that perhaps his popularity was not as high as it would later become. This may also have impacted on the popularity of the film, especially amongst the general public. Of the recent reviews that I did find whilst researching, there was a fairly solid reception to the film. Because the majority of the reviews that I did find were written for sites on which the DVD was being sold, they are not necessarily all critiquing the movie itself, but also the quality of the DVD, which has no real relevance to this review, however of those sales reviews, the movie itself got a big thumbs up, whereas the quality of the DVD got a big thumbs down. My estimation, with a lack of hard evidence, is that the film, since its release in 1976, would have had a fairly positive overall response from the viewing public and film industry alike.
Circumstances Of Production
From a very young age, Fred Schepisi began pursuing a life as a catholic priest. He began attending a strict Roman Catholic school. This life quickly lost its appeal, and by the age of fifteen Schepisi had left the seminary and decided to follow the path of television advertising. Following a stint in advertising, in which he produced several advertisements, and began to build a name for himself, Schepisi set up his own production company, The Film House. By the time he was 36, Schepisi had begun to direct his first full scale movie, “The Devil’s Playground.” Reflecting on his childhood, and the time he spent in the catholic seminary, he wrote, produced and directed a film that many have called a semi-autobiographical masterpiece. I could not find any information at all, regarding the circumstances of the release of the film or any box office information.
Previous Work
Fred Schepisi (the director):
Fred Schepisi dropped out of Catholic school and drifted into a professional
career directing television commercials. He made his mark in the late 1970s
and early 80s producing sensitively handled dramas which defied easy categorization
and were therefore somewhat underrated.
A list of Fred Schepisi’s other works include:
- Levity (2003)
- It Runs In The Family (2003)
- Last Orders (2002)
- Fierce Creatures (1997)
- I.Q. (1994)
- Six Degrees Of Separation (1993)
- Mr. Baseball (1992)
- The Russia House (1990)
- A Cry In The Dark (1988)
- Roxanne (1987)
- Plenty (1985)
- Iceman (1984)
- Barbarosa (1982)
- The Chant Of Jimmie Blacksmith (1980)
- The Devil’s Playground (1976)
- Libido (1973)
Of the films listed above, Fred Schepisi was also the screenwriter for Last
Orders (2001), A Cry In The Dark (1988), The Chant Of Jimmie Blacksmith
(1980) and The Devil’s Playground (1976).
Simon Burke (Main Character: Tom Allen)
Simon Burke has been acting in Australia from a very young age. “The
Devil’s Playground” was among his first productions, and since
then he has put together a huge list of accomplishments. Burke has starred
in more than 37 television productions, including Blue Heelers, Murder Call,
Water Rats, Playschool, Brides Of Christ, Flying Doctors, A Country Practice
and Matlock. His presence in the theatre has been just as impressive with
more than 34 productions to his name. Some of these include Chicago, Phantom
Of The Opera, Cabaret, Les Miserables, The Merchant Of Venice and Romeo And
Juliet. The list of films Burke has appeared in is not quite as extensive
as his other appearances, however, from the short list, he has won the 1976
Australian Film Institute Award for best actor in “The Devil’s Playground.” The list of
Burke’s film appearances is below.
- Travelling Light (2003)
- Pitch Black (2000)
- Passion (1999)
- Slate, Wyn and Me (1987)
- The Clinic (1985)
- The Irishman (1978)
- The Devil’s Playground (1976)
The Position Of Australian Film And Its Value
Australian films have come a long way over the past two decades, yet we are still, and will be for a long time, seen as less credible than the vastly superior industry of Hollywood. While Australia’s film industry is very independent and produces films that are characteristically it’s own, it is still constantly compared to that of America. For this reason the Australian film industry is constantly striving to create an image for itself that is totally unique. One that cannot be compared to Hollywood because of its differences. (O'Regan 1996, pp. 112-113)
Fred Schepisi does not seem to fit the norm of Australian
cinema. In the case of “The Devil’s Playground” and the
majority of his other films, his style does not seem to be particularly Australian,
nor does it seem very Hollywood. If anything, it could be said that Schepisi
has a style that is uniquely his own. This is perhaps one of the reasons that
he has become such an acclaimed producer, the fact that he stands out from
any standards. This could perhaps be frowned upon by some. Not the fact that
he has his own style, but the fact that having had his first two major movies
funded by the Australian Film Commission, he did not create films that were
uniquely Australian in style. Not only this, but following his successes with
his first two films, he left to pursue a career in Hollywood.
Despite the style of the first two movies he did in Australia, Fred Schepisi
deals with topics that viewers can easily identify with. Like the majority
of his movies, “The Devil’s Playground” and “The Chant Of Jimmy
Blacksmith” deal with a minority struggling against the oppression of
a greater force and the rejection of the oppressive body. Whether Australian
in style or not, Schepisi has produced two great films that are definitely
Australian and, as such, should be a positive attribute to the Australian film
industry.
A Medium Sized English Language Cinema
Australian cinema occupies a smaller space in contrast to larger, international cinemas, such as Hollywood, which dominates the world stage of film production. Because of this, Australian cinema is classified as a medium-sized English language cinema. Just because an Australian film, does well in Australia, it does not mean that it would do well in any other country. “The Devil’s playground”, on the other hand, because of the fact that it is not specifically Australian in style, would perhaps have fitted into larger film markets better than other Australian films. This could be backed up by the fact that Fred Schepisi after producing “The Devil’s Playground” went on to make a big name for himself in Hollywood.
Reference List
O'Regan, T, 1996, “Australian National Cinema”, Routledge,
London
PFD, 2004, “Professional CV, Simon Burke”, 21st April
2004,
>http://www.pfd.co.uk/scripts/get.py/actors/?actors+BURKES<
Movies.com Marketplace, “The Devil’s Playground (1976)”,
21st April 2004,
>http://movies.go.com/movies/D/devilsplaygroundthe_1976/<
Rotten Tomatoes, 1995, “The Devil’s Playground (1976)”,
21st April 2004
>http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/TheDevilsPlayground-1005779/preview.php<
Review Index, 2003, “The Devil’s Playground”, 22nd
April 2004,
>http://dvd.reviewindex.com/reviews/B00007G1SW.html<
Efilmcritic.com, 1997, “Devil’s Playground, The (1976)”,
22nd April 2004,
>http://efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=8031&reviewer=104<
Yahoo Movies, 2004, “Fred Schepisi”, 23rd April 2004,
>http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hc&id=1800031958&cf=biog&intl=us<
IMDb, 1990, “Fred Schepisi”, 23rd April, 2004,
>http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0770961/<
Filmbug, 1998, “Movie Stars – Biography”, 20th
April 2004,
>http://www.filmbug.com/db/35240<
Film References
- Levity
- It Runs In The Family
- Last Orders
- Fierce Creatures
- I.Q.
- Six Degrees Of Separation
- Mr. Baseball
- Travelling Light
- Pitch Black
- Passion
- Slate, Wyn and Me
- The Clinic
- The Irishman
- The Russia House
- A Cry In The Dark
- Roxanne
- Plenty
- Iceman
- Barbarosa
- The Chant Of Jimmie Blacksmith
- The Devil’s Playground
- Libido