'Growing up can be a special kind of hell...'
FH readers might remember my passion for finding great male nude scenes from films from the 1970's. I was on a roll for awhile but then got sidetracked. Last week, I read an article about the 1976 Australian film The Devil's Playground, and my passion was quickly revived.
Fred Schepisi's first feature is this lushly photographed period drama detailing a young boy's coming-of-age in a strict Catholic seminary in 1950s Australia. , 'The Devil's Playground' is an intimate portrait of Tom, (Simon Burke) a thirteen-year-old struggling in spirit and body with the constraints of living in a Catholic seminary. It is also the story of the Brothers and how they cope with the demands of their faith
One of those teaching brothers is the sexually tortured Brother Francine played by actor .Arthur Dignam. So many movies about seminary schools focus on abuse, and although there are some painful moments in the film, the focus is more on the Brothers trying to repress any sexual feelings, in themselves, and in their students.
The most interesting character in the film is Brother Francine (Dignam), a skinny, long-nosed ascetic who prowls the school's corridors, dormitories and bathrooms looking for evidence of ''the undisciplined mind'' that is the devil's playground.
The New York Times
The story follows a number of students headed by Tom Allen as they make their way through the heated environment, which features, amongst other things, rigid discipline, the arrival of puberty and an obsession with sex... Throughout, the strict requirements of the order. The scene featured here features a Brother Francine in the locker room, as he prepares to check out any females showing the slightest bit of hint in and around the swimming pool.
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