Careful, He Might Hear You (1983)

Good concept, poorly executed.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

This one is from Australia, and centers on an eight year old boy called P.S. (Nicholas Gledhill...this was his first role.) There's a tug of war for custody of P.S., between Aunt Lily and Vanessa. Right at the beginning, Lily tries to explain to the boy why he must go off with Vanessa, but he's only eight, after all. Quite a variation from the Auntie Mame story; here, its all serious education and proper behavior, pretty much the opposite of Mame. So much PINK! have you ever seen so much pink in one room? Large, imposing rooms. And not allowed to get out and play with others. Vanessa kept him all to herself. Not much fun for a youngster who had so much fun in Sydney. Here, he can't seem to do anything right. Vanessa thinks she is doing the right thing for him, but doesn't really know that a youngster wants to just play. Then, stuff happens... which might help turn things around for him.Story by Sumner Elliott. The novel was written when he was about 46... film done when he was about 66; wonder if its his own story. Elliott was born down Undah, and died in NYC. Directed by Carl Schultz, who did mostly television projects. Finally it's out on DVD. Good story.

"Careful He Might Hear You" is a movie that is hard to forget. Although it enjoyed a certain amount of success when it was released in the mid-1980's, it seems little known today. At the time of writing, this is the seventh review on IMDb. By way of comparison, Mad Max has 220 reviews, but I know which one I think is the enduring Australian classic.The filmmakers had a great starting point, Sumner Locke Elliott's haunting novel. Although many a great book has been mangled when made into a film, that wasn't the case here. The film not only captures the essence of Elliott's work but also recreates an era that is now long gone.Set during the Depression in 1930's Sydney it is the story of six-year old PS, played by Nicholas Gledhill in a heart-wrenching performance. After his mother dies, PS is raised by his Aunt Lila and Uncle George (Robyn Nevin and Peter Whitford). However, when his wealthy Aunt Vanessa returns from England, PS is forced to live with her following a custody dispute. Vanessa, played by Wendy Hughes, is beautiful and sophisticated with upper class manners, but underneath are deep insecurities, which PS discovers in dramatic fashion.Vanessa showers PS with gifts and provides the education the struggling Lila and George can't match, but he is lonely and unhappy. He withholds from Vanessa the one thing she wants most, and the only thing he has power over, his affection. PS emotionally destroys Vanessa, who decides to return to England, allowing PS to return to Lila and George. However PS is sensitive enough to know the unhappiness he has caused Vanessa and regrets it. Then fate intervenes in an unexpected way.Surely the biggest challenge for the filmmakers was in creating a screenplay that translated Sumner Locke Elliott's intimate work to the screen, so much of which centred on PS's thoughts. Without resorting to narration, all was conveyed through the abilities of the actors, a beautifully balanced script and an extraordinary musical score that seemed to express their unspoken thoughts.The score for this film was by Ray Cook, an expatriate Australian who died in 1989. He has one other score to his credit, "Silent Reach", a little known 1983 mini-series, although he was also involved in arranging songs for 1985's "Rebel". His score for "Careful He Might Hear You" is in a similar vein to Vaughan William's "The Lark Ascending" with achingly beautiful violin solos that merge with full orchestra. It is wrong to simply define it as one of the greatest Australian film scores; it is a work that can stand comparison with some of the best scores of all time.Although "Careful He Might Hear You" is almost 30 years old, it hasn't dated. Set in a time 50 years before it was made, there really isn't much that connects it to the 1980's. It did justice to Sumner Locke Elliott's novel, but also stands as a powerful work on its own. It's probably a little hard to find these days, but is well worth the efforts of anyone who does.

Nicholas Gledhill's portrayal of a child is one of the best I've ever seen. He was eight at the time, and the character seems more like five---and a really excellent capture of the body language and expression of a child of that age mystified by the odd grown-up world around him. The worst distraction in the film was the music, which never seemed appropriate, like it had been composed for a different film, in an earlier decade. A few acting performances were overbaked, but in general it was OK. Oddly, Nicholas never appeared in another film.

Surely one of the best modern films about childhood, this swept the Australian Academy Awards and remains a thrilling film experience. When a young boy is left orphaned, his two aunts wage a bitter custody war over him. We see the adults' actions from the boy's point of view, with all the wonder, confusion, and naive wisdom such an outlook would provide. The events have a wry edge even in tragedy and remain gripping even in happiness. Stay tuned through the final credits for one of the best epilogues in film history.Wendy Hughes plays the dark side of Auntie Mame, and she is both entrancing and repulsive, ludicrous and heartbreaking. The late John Hargreaves delivers a shattering cameo, and young Nicholas Gledhill deserves to be named in the company of Jean-Pierre Leaud, Anton Glanzelius, and Haley Joel Osment. The child's-eye direction is never less than astonishing, while the cinematography and music are gorgeous enough to take your breath away. If you thought the squabble over Elian Gonzalez was great drama, wait till you see this!