The Bad Seed (1956)

A housewife suspects that her seemingly perfect 8-year-old daughter is a heartless killer.

Director:

Mervyn LeRoy

Writers:

John Lee Mahin (screenplay), Maxwell Anderson (play),

Stars:

Nancy Kelly, Patty McCormack, Henry Jones

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Complete credited 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

Storyline

Christine Penmark seems to have it all: a lovely home, a loving husband and the most "perfect" daughter in the world. But since childhood, Christine has suffered from the most terrible recurring nightmare. And her "perfect" daughter's accomplishments include lying, theft and possibly much, much worse. Only Christine knows the truth about her daughter and only Christine's father knows the truth about her nightmare.

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Plot Keywords:

dream | colonel | medal | truth | lying | 

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Taglines:

Talk all you want about the man and the woman -- but please don't tell about the girl!

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 September 1956 (USA)

Also Known As:

La mala semilla

Filming Locations:

Burbank, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$1,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros

Technical Specs

Runtime:

129 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The book Rhoda claims to have won in Sunday School, Elsie Dinsmore , was a story with religious themes about a pious eight-year-old who, in sharp contrast to Rhoda, was obedient to her elders to an alarming point, even enduring verbal abuse from a nasty parent. It was written by Martha Finley in 1867.

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Goofs

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.

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Quotes

Rhoda: You tell lies like that, you won't go to Heaven when you die!

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Crazy Credits

"You have just seen a motion picture whose theme dares to be startlingly different. May we ask that you do not divulge the unusual climax of the story. Thank you."

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Connections

Featured in The Rotten Tomatoes Show: Saw VI/Cirque du Freak/The Vampire's Assistant/Amelia (2009)

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Soundtracks

"Au clair de la lune"
(uncredited)
Attributed to Jean-Baptiste Lully
Played on the piano by Patty McCormack and whistled by Henry Jones
Played often in the score

User Reviews

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+