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Often imitated but never really equaled, this chilling 1956 melodrama adapted from Maxwell Anderson's stage play (which in turn was taken from a novel by William March) boldly and unapologetically depicts an angelic-looking girl with homicidal instincts. Patty McCormack stills sends shivers up and down viewers' spines with her portrayal of the innocent-looking grade school student Rhoda Penmark, who deliberately murders a classmate because he won the penmanship medal she coveted. Nancy Kelly does well with the difficult role of the mother who gradually discovers that her precious baby is a killer, and William Hopper is equally good as the adoring father who fails to grasp the truth. John Lee Mahin's screenplay hews closely to Anderson's play, and as a result the film bears many hallmarks of a theatrical production. But director Mervyn LeRoy builds steadily to a crescendo of horror that is all the more frightening because it plays out in a "normal" setting. His handling of the material leaves nothing to be desired, and from Nancy Kelly -- a pleasant but minor actress who'd already been in films for 20 years when The Bad Seed was produced -- he elicits the performance of a lifetime, one that earned her an Oscar nomination. While not as coarse or graphic as today's thrillers, The Bad Seed remains a daring and impressive movie that lingers in the memories of all who have seen it. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

Can evil be inherited? That's the question posed by Maxwell Anderson in his stage play The Bad Seed. This 1956 film adaptation stars many actors from the Broadway version, including Nancy Kelly, Patty McCormack, Henry Jones and Eileen Heckart. Young McCormack plays Rhoda, a too-good-to-be-true grade schooler who occasionally exhibits a vicious streak whenever things don't turn out her way. During a picnic, one of Rhoda's schoolmates is drowned; the victim is a boy who'd won a penmanship medal that Rhoda had coveted. Nancy Kelly, the girl's mother, slowly comes to the horrible conclusion that Rhoda was responsible for the boy's death--a suspicion fueled by the discovery that Kelly, who was adopted as an infant, is the daughter of a convicted murderess. Meanwhile, a moronic handyman (Henry Jones) accidentally tumbles to Rhoda's secret, whereupon he is "accidentally" burned to death. Realizing that Rhoda must be stopped before she can kill again, and reasoning that the authorities would never believe the truth, Kelly tries to put the girl to sleep permanently with barbituates, then shoots herself. The play's ironic ending--the mother dies, while the unsuspected Rhoda lives on--is sacrificed for a "divine retribution" finale in the film, with Rhoda being punished by a convenient bolt of lightning. This alteration is acceptable, but director Mervin LeRoy further gilds the lily with an asinine closing-credits sequence wherein Nancy Kelly throws Patty McCormack over her knee and administers a spanking! The 1985 TV movie remake of The Bad Seed retains the play's original ending, but all in all is not half as entertaining as the 1956 version (its hokey denouement notwithstanding). McCormack later starred in Max Allan Collins' unofficial 1995 sequel Mommy. Hal Erickson

Product Details

• UPC: 085393352424
• Source: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Region Code: 1
• Aspect Ratio: Pre-1954 Standard (1.33.1)
• Presentation: B&W
• Sound: Dolby Digital Mono
• Language: English
• Subtitles: English, Français, Español
• Time: 2:09:00
• Sales Rank: 1,933

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