The Bad Seed (1956)

Director:

Mervyn LeRoy

Writers:

William March (novel)
Maxwell Anderson (play)

Release Date:

12 September 1956 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

"The Bad Seed" is the big shocker!

Plot:

An ideal housewife begins to suspect her loving adolescent daughter may be a heartless killer.

Plot Keywords:

Sleeping On The Job | Shoes | Suicide Attempt | Spanking | Child Murderess

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Nancy Kelly	...	Christine Penmark
Patty McCormack	...	Rhoda Penmark
Henry Jones	...	Leroy Jessup
Eileen Heckart	...	Hortense Daigle
Evelyn Varden	...	Monica Breedlove
William Hopper	...	Col. Kenneth Penmark
Paul Fix	...	Richard Bravo
Jesse White	...	Emory Wages
Gage Clarke	...	Reginald 'Reggie' Tasker
Joan Croydon	...	Claudia Fern (as Joan Croyden)
Frank Cady	...	Henry Daigle

Runtime:

129 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Canada:14A (Ontario) | Germany:18 (DVD) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:Approved

Filming Locations:

Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Rhoda's murderous grandmother, Bessie Denker, was invented; all the other female career killers referred to in the novel and the film were genuine.

Goofs:

Continuity: When giving Rhoda the "vitamins" near the end of the film, Rhoda's mother puts her hand back twice to put the bottle in her pocket.

Quotes:

Rhoda: You figured out something that never happened and so it's all lies!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Scream (1996/I)

Soundtrack:

Au Clair De La Lune

Another '50s movie way ahead of its time!!!

As the closing statement says, "This motion picture presents a premise that is daringly different."

It may seem to be a self-indulgent thing to say, but in 1956, a film about an angelic looking child named Rhoda Penmark (the remarkable Patty McCormack, whose performance is absolutely brilliant, vicious, and mercurial...she transforms with ease from a sweetie-pie to a bristling monster and back to a sweetie-pie), complete with cutesy dresses, disarming curtsies, and blonde braids, who in fact is a homicidal, amoral murderer, was indeed "daringly different". After the generation of Shirley Temple's angelic dresses and bouncy curles and darling dimples, the idea of a perfectly beautiful little girl being a chillingly cold killer is unnerving to say the least. I love this movie, the controversy surrounding its theme: is a murderous personality inherited???

The book HIDEAWAY by Dean Koontz may have been inspired by this classic B&W film. Koontz describes the malefactor in that book in much the same way little Rhoda is contemplated in this film. Something missing in their genetic codes. "The fundementals of nucleotides, DNA proteins..."

As in HIDEAWAY, where the reader was shocked to discover that Vassago's grandpa was a maniac who slaughtered his family, we discover in THE BAD SEED that there was a grandmother back in Christine's (Nancy Kelly) family who methodically murdered her own brood and then calmly left the country, never to be heard from again.

Just the sight of little Rhoda in that infamous scene with the ex-con/yardman LeRoy is enough to have your hair standing on end: "YOU GIVE ME MY SHOES!!! THEY'RE MINE!!! GIVE THEM TO ME NOW, LEROY!!! RIGHT HERE TO ME!!!" Ooh!!! {{{Shiver}}}!!! That is one nasty little seed, that is!!! And not one any sensible person would dare mess with. Poor LeRoy learns this the hard way.

Not a film for the easily upset or faintish. It's not a horror movie, but laden with truly horrific scenes. The "daringly different" premise is brilliant and far ahead of its time of the sweet, Mrs. Cleaver 1950s.

A+