Cinema
Careful, He Might Hear You
Carl Schultz · 1983
Synopsis
In Sydney, PS, aged six, lost his mother shortly after his birth; he is brought up by his aunt Lila and her husband, George, in modest circumstances. Vanessa, Lila's richer sister, returns from abroad, determined to take the boy away from this life, and claims custody of him in the name of all she can offer him. The child is caught between the two women, drawn to Vanessa but attached to the life he had and to the father he never knew.
Context
The film adapts Sumner Locke Elliott's semi-autobiographical novel published in 1963, the rights to which the producer Jill Robb had acquired; Michael Jenkins wrote the screenplay, and the author said he was satisfied with the adaptation. Backed by the New South Wales Film Commission, it had a budget of 2.2 million dollars, and John Seale did the cinematography. It earned 2,431,126 dollars in Australia, in a year when few of the country's films succeeded, did well in the United States and Canada and was shown at Venice. Wendy Hughes, Robyn Nevin and the young Nicholas Gledhill play the three main roles.
Who it is for
A melodrama in Australian English, seen from a child's level, in the Sydney of the thirties.
Prizes and reception
Eight AFI Awards in 1983, including best film and direction; among the National Board of Review's ten best films of 1984.