Baby Doll (1956)

Director:

Elia Kazan

Writer:

Tennessee Williams (screenplay)

Release Date:

18 December 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

Her role is raw electricity! Her portrayal is a sensation! CARROLL BAKER

Plot:

Steamy tale of two Southern rivals and a sensuous 19-year-old virgin.

Plot Keywords:

Cotton | Cotton Gin | Sicilian | Marriage | Revenge

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Karl Malden	...	Archie Lee Meighan
Carroll Baker	...	Baby Doll Meighan
Eli Wallach	...	Silva Vacarro
Mildred Dunnock	...	Aunt Rose Comfort
Lonny Chapman	...	Rock
Eades Hogue	...	Town Marshal
Noah Williamson	...	Deputy
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
R.G. Armstrong	...	Townsman Sid (voice) (uncredited)
Madeleine Sherwood	...	Nurse in Doctor's Office (uncredited)
Rip Torn	...	The Dentist (uncredited)

Directed by
Elia Kazan

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Tennessee Williams		screenplay

Produced by
Elia Kazan	....	producer
Tennessee Williams	....	producer

Original Music by
Kenyon Hopkins

Cinematography by
Boris Kaufman

Film Editing by
Gene Milford

Art Direction by
Richard Sylbert

Costume Design by
Anna Hill Johnstone

Makeup Department
Willis Hanchett	....	hair stylist
Robert Jiras	....	makeup artist (as Robert E. Jiras)

Production Management
Forrest E. Johnston	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jack Garfein	....	assistant director
Charles H. Maguire	....	assistant director
Arthur Steckler	....	assistant director: second unit (uncredited)

Art Department
Paul Sylbert	....	associate art director

Sound Department
Edward J. Johnstone	....	sound

Stunts
Lucky Kargo	....	stunts (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Arthur Steckler	....	photographer: second unit

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Flo Transfield	....	wardrober (as Florence Transfield)

Other crew
Nicholas Demetroules	....	presenter
Jerry Gross	....	presenter
Roberta Hodes	....	continuity
Roberta Hodes	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Newtown Productions

Distributors

• Warner Bros. Pictures (1956) (USA) (theatrical)
• Cinemation Industries (1970) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Warner Home Video (2006) (USA) (DVD) (special edition)

Runtime:

114 min | Argentina:115 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System) | Stereo

Certification:

USA:Approved (original rating) | USA:Unrated (video rating) | USA:R (re-rating 1969) | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | UK:X (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating)

Filming Locations:

Benoit, Mississippi, USA

Company:

Newtown Productions

Trivia:

Tennessee Williams's first choice for the title role of Baby Doll was Marilyn Monroe, (who was straining to improve herself as an actress at the time and wanted the role badly), although Elia Kazan preferred newcomer Carroll Baker, whose work he was familiar with from the Actors' Studio in New York.

Goofs:

Continuity: After Silva bursts through the door in the attic, Baby Doll is shown running from him with her blanket wrapped around her. The instant before she falls on to the attic beam, she removes the blanket, and holds it in her left hand. In the very next shot, after she has fallen, the blanket is wrapped around her body once again.

Quotes:

Baby Doll: I feel so weak. Oh, my head is buzzy.
Silva Vacarro: Fuzzy?
Baby Doll: Hmm. Fuzzy and buzzy. My head is swingin' round. Must have been that swingin' that done it.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: 'Manos' the Hands of Fate (#5.24)" (1993)

Soundtrack:

Shame, Shame, Shame

One of the funniest movies ever made

When this classic was released in 1956, it had the Catholic church all in an uproar and everybody else it seems, because it was pulled from many many theaters because of the protests. Today, this Tennessee Williams screenplay seems pretty mild, if not very mild, but it is also one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. I didn't get my first chance to see it until many years later on VHS, and when I did, I didn't think too much about it at the time, except for the amazing tour-de-force performance of Karl Malden. The story takes place in the deep south, and revolves around the 19 year old child bride Baby Doll, Carroll Baker, who agreed to marry Malden a year earlier, but the deal is he can't touch her until her twentieth birthday, which in the movie is the next day. Into the picture comes Eli Wallach as a local owner of a new syndicated cotton mill, which has the locals in an uproar especially Malden who has his own cotton gin mill. Wallach's mill gets burned down, and the chief suspect is Malden, so he makes a visit to the rundown old mansion house where Malden, Baby Doll, and their hilarious crazy Aunt Rose resides. Then Wallach starts making moves on Baby Doll and the results is some of the funniest dialogue you will ever see in a movie. The whole movie is Tennessee Williams take on the old South and he doesn't pull any punches on the stereotypes. I haven't laughed so much throughout the entire movie for a long time, it is absolutely hilarious. And Carroll Baker as Baby Doll is one of the great characters of cinema, and a role she had a long time living down, in fact she was known as Baby Doll for years and years. If you want to have an absolute ball with a movie, and laugh your ass off, then you definitely need to see "Baby Doll". It's one of the most infamous movies of all time, and gives you a chance to see what the moral standards were in 1956, which today is very laughable. It's a truly excellent movie, and I recommend it very very highly. Oh, and it was nominated for four Academy Awards, and won the Golden Globe for the excellent direction by Elia Kazan.