Rosemary's Baby (1968)

A young couple move into a new apartment, only to be surrounded by peculiar neighbors and occurrences. When the wife becomes mysteriously pregnant, paranoia over the safety of her unborn child begins controlling her life.

Director:

Roman Polanski

Writers:

Ira Levin (novel), Roman Polanski (screenplay)

Stars:

Mia Farrow, John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon

Top 250 #238 | Won 1 Oscar. Another 11 wins & 9 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Mia Farrow	...	Rosemary Woodhouse
John Cassavetes	...	Guy Woodhouse
Ruth Gordon	...	Minnie Castevet
Sidney Blackmer	...	Roman Castevet
Maurice Evans	...	Hutch
Ralph Bellamy	...	Dr. Sapirstein
Victoria Vetri	...	Terry (as Angela Dorian)
Patsy Kelly	...	Laura-Louise
Elisha Cook Jr.	...	Mr. Nicklas (as Elisha Cook)
Emmaline Henry	...	Elise Dunstan
Charles Grodin	...	Dr. Hill
Hanna Landy	...	Grace Cardiff
Phil Leeds	...	Dr. Shand (as Philip Leeds)
D'Urville Martin	...	Diego
Hope Summers	...	Mrs. Gilmore

Storyline

Rosemary and Guy Woodhouse move into an apartment in a building with a bad reputation. They discover that their neighbours are a very friendly elderly couple named Roman and Minnie Castevet, and Guy begins to spend a lot of time with them. Strange things start to happen: a woman Rosemary meets in the laundry dies a mysterious death, Rosemary has strange dreams and hears strange noises and Guy becomes remote and distant. Then Rosemary falls pregnant and begins to suspect that her neighbours have special plans for her child.

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Plot Keywords:

apartment | neighbor | dream | pregnancy | baby | 

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Taglines:

Pray for Rosemary's Baby

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Genres:

Drama | Horror | Mystery

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

12 June 1968 (USA)

Also Known As:

El bebé de Rosemary

Filming Locations:

Dakota Hotel - 1 West 72nd St. at Central Park West, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$2,300,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

William Castle Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

136 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Before the filming of the scene of Rosemary calling Donald Baumgart (the actor in the story who mysteriously goes blind), Mia Farrow did not know who would be speaking the lines. It was Tony Curtis, and in the scene Farrow shows slight confusion, finding the voice familiar but not able to place it. This confusion was exactly the effect director Roman Polanski hoped to capture by having Curtis read the lines.

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Goofs

When Rosemary is in downtown Manhattan during the Christmas season of 1965 (her baby, we are told, is due to be born in June 1966), the title of the movie on the marquee of Radio City Music Hall is The Happiest Millionaire, which didn't open until the Christmas season of 1967.

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Quotes

[First lines]
Guy Woodhouse: Are you a doctor?
Guy Woodhouse: Yes. Yes.
Rosemary Woodhouse: He's an actor.
Mr. Nicklas: Oh,an actor. We're very popular with actors. Have I, uh, seen you in anything?
Guy Woodhouse: Well,let's see, I-I did "Hamlet" a while back, didn't I, Liz? And then we did "The, uh, The Sandpiper" and then...
Rosemary Woodhouse: He's joking. He was in "Luther" and "Nobody Loves an Albatross" and a lot of television plays and commercials.
Mr. Nicklas: Well, that's where the money is, isn't it? Commercials.
Guy Woodhouse: And the artistic thrills, too!

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Connections

Featured in Nightmares in Red, White and Blue: The Evolution of the American Horror Film (2009)

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Soundtracks

"Lullaby"
(uncredited)
Composed by Krzysztof Komeda
Sung by Mia Farrow

User Reviews

the best supernatural movie ever made?

I'm not sure about that but Rosemary's baby has got to be one of the best, if not the best, psychological supernatural thrillers ever made. The real test of a good movie(or one of them) is can it hold up to multiple viewings? In this case-oh yes.

I cannot even count how many times I have seen this. A good-really good-"scary movie" must have more then the ability to merely scare, it must have the ability to haunt. Rosemary's baby is a movie where certain scenes become etched in memory. Movie as good as book which is almost a non existent thing.

This is not a slow moving picture at all or at least I don't see it as one. What this movie does, as does another Levin creation, Stepford wives, is lure you in. There maybe moments that are not scary but as it goes on and you keep watching you start to get more and more creeped out-the atmosphere is what does it-even if someone were tuning in and didn't know this story already-the creepy feeling that something's very wrong is still there strongly from the beginning, strengthening in tone as you get deeper into the picture until by the end and the final few scenes your blown away.This is definitely more subtley and atmospherically creepy then a "boo" in your face scare fest like "scream". It is the type of movie you very rarely see anymore.

If anyone, by chance has NOT seen it they are missing someone-I don't recall seeing this in the IMDb top 250-while I'm not sure I'd put it in my top 10, I still think this maybe should be there, in IMDb'S top 250, it's been an influence on so many other movies and so few movies have been able to follow the movie's lead in the same well done way.