careful

The

Wendy Hughes

Homepage

SUMNER LOCKE ELLIOTT'S CAREFUL HE MIGHT HEAR YOU

Syme International Productions in assoc. with [the] NSW Film Corporation presents Sumner Locke Elliott's CAREFUL HE MIGHT HEAR YOU. © 1983 Syme Entertainment Pty Ltd. Made with the assistance of the Australian Film Commission. Location: Sydney. Australian distributor: Hoyts. Opened: September 1983. Video: RCA-Columbia Pictures-Hoyts Video. Rating: M. 35mm. 110 mins.

Producer: Jill Robb.
Scriptwriter: Michael Jenkins.
Director of photography: John Seale.
Production designers: John Carroll, John Wingrove.
Costume designer: Bruce Finlayson.
Editor: Richard Francis-Bruce.
Composer: Ray Cook.
Sound recordist: Syd Butterworth.
Sound editor: Andrew Steuart.
Mixers: Roger Savage, Julian Ellingworth.

Cast

Wendy Hughes (Vanessa), Robyn Nevin (Lila), Nicholas Gledhill (PS), John Hargreaves (Logan), Geraldine Turner (Vere), Isabelle Anderson (Agnes). Peter Whitford (George), Colleen Clifford (Ettie), Edward Howell (Judge), Jacqueline Kott (Miss Pile), Julie Nihill (Diana), Michael Long (Mr Hood), Len London (Mr Gentle), Beth Child (Mrs Grindel), Colin Croft (The Magician), Virginia Portingale (Miss Colden), Steve Fyfield (Chauffeur), Pega Williams (Winnie Grindel), Kylie Burgess (Cynthia), Tony Blanchard (lan).

    Set in Sydney during the Great Depression, Sumner Locke Elliott's Careful He Might Hear You tells the story of the six-year-old PS (Nicholas Gledhill), whose mother is dead and whose father has disappeared . PS's peaceful and happy life with his working class Aunt Lila (Robyn Nevin) and Uncle George (Peter Whitford) is interrupted by the arrival of wealthy, Anglophile Aunt Vanessa (Wendy Hughes) from England. A battle over the custody of PS ensues in which Vanessa is successful. However, PS rebels against this decision and is finally allowed to live with the couple who raised him.
    The acting by all members of the cast is generally admirable, though at times overly histrionic, with an exceptional performance from Wendy Hughes, whose character is snobbish, neurotic and sexually repressed, and a subtle, well-balanced performance from Nicholas Gledhill, who gives many a wistful, soulful gaze past the camera during the film.
    The film is in the genre of unabashed melodrama which plays on four main themes: the Anglo-Australian dichotomy of Australian culture, growing up and the loss of innocence, the effects of the Great Depression on Australian society and an analysis of male-female interaction and sexual repression.
    Director Carl Schultz is comfortable with the melodrama genre, aptly guiding it through the nostalgia that is on a par with the best tear-jerkers. The lush period art direction and John Scale's poetic cinematography make this film a beautiful visual experience.
    What is particularly interesting is that an extra effort has been made to reinforce the fact that what is happening is seen from a child's point of view. The movement of the camera, often flowing and swirling, captures not only what the boy sees, but also how his observations make him feel. The framing is often quirky, and the action is sometimes seen through or over objects such as grass, trees, house partitions and blinds. This reminds us of the fact that a child's perspective of the world is a markedly different one from that of adults.
    Sound editing and effects also contribute to the consistency of PS's point of view. Sound is often muddled, multi-layered and somewhat confusing, so that if the viewer does not understand then neither does PS.    The films preoccupation with PS's perspective is one of the most attuned and perfected examples of this style.
    Overall, the film attempts to grapple with sensibilities that are rare in Australian cinema, and sometimes it loses the necessary subtlety, looking more like a parody of what it should really be. Ray Cook's score is at times emotionally excessive; the more sombre, brooding moments in the film are perhaps too Gothic to be relevant; and some of the performances are too emotional to be believable. However, the flaws in this picture are insufficient to harm the final result, which is that this is one of the better-made period films of the Australian cinema.

ANNA GUL

References
'Wendy Hughes', an interview with the actor by Richard Brennan, Cinema Papers, no. 40, October 1982, pp. 428-32.
'Careful, [sic] He Might Hear You', a review by Jim Schembri, Cinema Papers, no. 44-5, April 1984, pp 86-' .
'Captain of the Clouds', an article (with quotes) on actor John Hargreaves by Gail McCrea, Cinema Papers, no. 56, March 1986, pp. 38-9, 40.
'Careful He Might Hear You', a short review by Penny Davies, Filmnews, October 1983, p. 16.