Kodak/Atlab Cinema Collection

Tom Allen (Simon Burke) and Lynette (Danee Lindsay)

The Devil's Playground (1976)

A new 35mm print of this feature is now available on request. Courtesy of Fred Schepisi and Kodak (Australasia) and Atlab Australia

National Film and Sound Archive National Collection
Title Number 11040.

Classification: M rating

Synopsis

Fred Schepisi's script is based on autobiographical experiences in a catholic seminary in the fifties. The film focuses on the conflicts of its young protagonist Tom Allen (Simon Burke) and follows a delicate and intensely truthful path through the minefields of puberty and the perception of boyhood. The films emotional oppositional elements involve discipline and impulse, constraint and freedom and innocence and experience. Schepisi also depicts a sympathetic view on the life of the priests.

Background

Won Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor (Simon Burke and Nick Tate), Best Cinematography, Best Original Screenplay and the Jury Prize at the 1976 Australian Film Awards.

Director
Fred Schepisi

Year of Production 1976
Duration 107 minutes
Format 35mm, (1:1,85) Colour
Optical Soundtrack Mono

Production Company
The Film House

Producer
Fred Schepisi

Screenplay
Fred Schepisi

Director of Photography
Ian Baker

Art Design
Trevor Ling

Editor
Brian Kavanagh

Sound Recordist
Don Connolly

Music
Bruce Smeaton

Cast
Arthur Dignam (Brother Francine)
Nick Tate (Brother Victor)
Simon Burke (Tom Allen)
Charles McCallum (Brother Sebastian)
John Frawley (Brother Celian)
Jonathan Hardy (Brother Arnold)
Gerry Duggan (Father Hanrahan)
Peter Cox (Brother James)
John Diedrich (Fitz)
Thomas Keneally (Father Marshall)

Further Information

  • Devil's Playground - Currency Press publication
    This website provides information on the Currency Press Australia Screen Classics publication by Christos Tsiolkas: " The Devil's Playground".
    http://www.currency.com.au